CSM101

Dear members,

Better you take a seat. Take a deep breath. And remember what I wrote before: Don´t take this too serious. This is just an experiment.

Whatever your judgement is, it is not important. You never had the chance to hold one of these blades in your hand. All you got was a single photo with a part of a blade.  So, here we go…

Seems so, that I forgot a very important single word.

The name of the game was indeed Find the Tokubetsu Juyo Token…(plural). Means, there was not just one Tokubetsu Juyo Token in the gallery but three.

Bad news first: since it was only an experiment I deleted the gallery. But why comes later. Here is THE LIST:

1. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Tametsugu – Juyo Token

2. Tachi, signed Nobukuni - Tokubetsu Juyo Token; thanks to Markus Sesko you can find more information about the blade here: https://markussesko.com/2016/05/30/kantei-4-yamashiro-26-nobukuni-%E4%BF%A1%E5%9B%BD-school-1/

               Picture 7

3.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Rai Kunitoshi - Juyo Token

4.   Katana , signed Koyama Munetsugu - Juyo Token

5.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Sa Kunihiro - Juyo Token

6.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Hosho - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

7.   Wakizashi, kinzogan mei Akihiro, attributed to Nobukuni - with Fujishiro papers

8.   Katana, unsigned, attributed to Rai Kunitoshi - Juyo Token

9.   Katana, signed Awataguchi Omi no Kami Tadatsuna - Tokubetsu Hozon token

10. Tachi, signed Bishu Osafune Nagashige - no papers (if I remember correct)

11.  Katana, signed Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

12.  Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Wakasa no Kami Ujifusa - Hozon Token

13. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Ukai Unji - Juyo Token

14. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Ko-Bizen Kageyasu - Tokubetsu Juyo Token

http://www.japanesesword.de/?site=sword&id=68

15. Wakizashi, signed Bizen Kuni Morimitsu - Tokubetsu Kicho Token

16. Katana, signed, Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

17. Katana, signed Shinano no Kami Fujiwara Daido - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

18. Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Kongobei - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

19. Katana, unsigned, attributed to Shiga Seki - Hozon Token

20. Katana, Kinzogan mei, attributed to Rai Kunimitsu - Tokubetsu Juyo Token

https://www.nihontophoto.com/arbeitenfuermuseen

21. Wakizashi, unsigned, attributed to Enju - Tokubetsu Hozon Token

22. Tanto, signed Akihiro - no papers and the worst tourist crap I have ever seen

So, why did I do that? Well, mostly fun. And I didn´t want to do another kantei.

It was an experiment: Can I make a photo that shows all the qualities in a blade when I only show a part and are you able to make a conclusion about the status?

And the simple answer is: “No! No way!” Because the better the sword the harder it is to show all the details. And the way I do it is maybe technically correct.

But if you want to see the beauty in a blade, than you should  take a long and close look at Darcy Brockbank photos. And so the answer to Chris question about

finding the Tokubetsu Juyo Token is “You can´t!” You can make some educated guesses. But that´s it.

On the other hand, if there is no quality at all you can hide that fact with a photo. See #22.

Years ago Michael Hagenbusch did almost the same. He presented 6 blades and you should judge the quality of the blades. A gimei Muramasa, a saiha, only the

core left, kizu en masse and one Juyo blade. So the correct answer was one 1 and 5 x 6 (or one A and 5 x F). And I failed big. But it was a good experience.

A few words about some of the swords. The Juyo and Tokubetsu Juyo blades + the Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi and the Nagashige are all in the possession of the

Samurai Art Museum Berlin. You have three blades by Rai. And #3 is my personal favorite when it comes to Rai. Sometimes I guide a group of people (not very

often) and I always ask: “What is in your eyes the best sword?” 4 meter distance and you can only judge by shape. 30 seconds to pick a sword and the answer

is always #8. Rai Kunitoshi.

This year a catalogue about armor will come out. Maybe October/November.  And next year swords and tosogu. And here you will find all the blades. An overall

view and some detailed photos. So you have a chance to see all the photos again. And more.

I will post some photos of the other blades in the evening. I hope you liked the experience. Conclusion is: You have to hold a sword in your hands to make a correct

statement. Don´t let yourself fool you by a photo. Especially not when it comes from me!

And so I say Good Bye for the moment. Hope you enjoyed it. I have to go to jail (Don´t worry, I am the First Royal Bavarian Legal Officer and I work sometimes there.

But for what I do with photos I should better stay there).

Uwe G.

Taikai Naotane

Uwe G.

In 24 hours I will give the anwser. But I recommend another long and close look at the photos.

Uwe G.

Hi Chris,

don´t worry about your question. I already work an a very long explanation.

Uwe G.

Okay, Spoiler alert!

I wanted to give the correct answer next Tuesday. But since you have asked....

Uwe G.

Edit Admin......no no no...not yet

In the upper left corner are some arrows. Downsize the pic and you can see the number.

Uwe G.

Dear members,

Please, dont take this too serious. It is an experiment and I just want to see, if it is possible to show the quality of a blade in a single photo.

When you click on the link a site will open. Click on the square in the upper left corner and you will see a part of a blade in full screen. Wait a few seconds and the arrows on the left and right will disappear. With those arrows you can navigate.

And now the game. The name of the game is: Find the Tokubetso Juyo token!

This is no kantei. You don´t need to put a name on the sword (only if you like). Just give me a number. And you can make comments: “Paperweight!” ,“Letter opener” or “Paul Chen!”, if you like something or not…         22 different blades.

https://www.nihontophoto.com/galerie

Have fun and I will give the answer next week.

Uwe G.

As far as I remember it was 1220 -1240. That´s enough for the moment because I want to play a game in the next future.

Uwe G.

Sorry, forgot an explanation: 1 = Iga no Kami Rai Kinmichi; 2 = Ko-Bizen; 3 = Rai Kunimtsu

Uwe G.

A few more. With the komaru against the omaru from Paul.

Uwe G.

Dear Krystian,

You are not alone.

Uwe G.

This is a blade from the Ott collection, inscribed Hankei.

The blade never came to the auction. Two possibilities, first one: the blade were stolen. The other one:

no one knew, what it was and so they threw the blade away.

Uwe G.

The daisho with the blue glass, I think the katana is a Daido and the waki a Yamato Shizu.

Uwe G.

Iesuke is correct. Since it is only slightly suriage my guess would be at least bijutsu-hin. One katana by Magoroku Kanemoto and a wakizashi by Nobunaga.

And the tsuba are also impressive: 2 Matashichi, Ko Katchushi, Hirata Hikozo and Rakuju. One mitikoromono is Goto (7. master?).

Uwe G.

At the moment there is a small but fine exhibition in Vienna. Only a few swords and tsuba. But high end.

Don´t miss it!

https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/ausstellungen/die-eleganz-der-hosokawa/

Uwe G.

Just a few words once again from my side:

The meeting was well attended and very interesting. First of all I want to say Thank you to the Hypo Kunsthalle and the staff there. We were allowed to hold our meeting there for free. So Thanks to the director Dr. Roger Diederen, Dr. Nerina Santorius and Ms. von Teuffenbach.

Since we wanted to see the collection Barbier-Mueller our meeting didn´t take long. You could see a katana by Gassan Sadakazu. A juyo blade and the youngest juyo blade ever (from 1906). A Sadamune utsushi.

And a daisho by Gassan Sadakatsu made in the year 1933 as a gift for the newborn emperor. The blades were a tachi and a tanto.

A daisho pair of tsuba were displayed by Kyozan Mitsunaka. You can find pictures and a description in Token Bijutsu No. 746; March 2019. But in my opinion the photos are photoshopped to death. Especially when you had the chance to see the photos and the originals side by side.

Uwe G.

The meeting: https://www.nihontophoto.com/nbthk-treffen-18-05-2019

Barbier-Mueller: https://www.nihontophoto.com/barbier-mueller

The reason why Chris was in Munich.

And it was a pleasure to meet you.

Uwe G.

Thank you for the quick answer. That will help me in the future.

Uwe G.

Hi,

I found this tsuba and was wondering why would someone stamp those words in the rim. Just a joke or has it a deeper meaning?

Uwe G

Nein, Nein, ze Chermans DO haf humour, but zay laff on ze INSIDE!

Whee laff onlie in te baissmentt.

Uwe G.

Dear Paul,

no way that the Yukimitsu finds it´s way to you. Mine!  And if Santa brings me something like the other one....

Uwe G.

This goes more off topic than expected. But I hope Grev and all the others will forgive me.

Dear George,

You are a lucky man! Because you had the chance to make some wonderful photos from the Umetada Misutada tsuba: http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b1014-kokusai-tosogu-kai-15th-international-convention-2019

I only had the chance for snapshots. Like the photographer in the photo. 5 shots, 4 blurrish. And if you have no chance to control the light you must go a different way.

That means retouching. Just the major steps...

Uwe G.

Outside of a professional setup nothing beats sunlight, the challenge is the angles and getting right focus. Here's a quick shot with sunlight through my window.

This is where I disagree. Sunlight is too bright.

In your photo you can see an area that is called in german "ausgefranste Lichter". No color, no details. And so I try to avoid sunlight. I work in the shadows. And so a quick shot of mine.

Uwe G.

Dear all,

I have here a pair fuchi/kashira. Signed Hamano Naoyuki. I have the information that I can find this pair in the "Naunton collection" Nr. 1528.

Does anyone have further informations? Thank you!

Uwe G.

Unfortunatelly this is the only one.

Uwe G.