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Clive Sinclaire

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  1. A trifle unjust and hurtful to attribute soley commercial reasons to what I said. There is little doubt that shinto blades whose nakago is altered in the manner of this sword, are considered less desirable than those that are ubu. This is not the case so much with koto of course. I am sure most, other than Stephen apparently, would far prefer ubu swords. Clive Sinclaire
  2. Gentlemen The kanji on the Tadayoshi look fine and well cut but there are a couple of problems apparent on this sword's nakago. These are the machi-okuri and the suriage, both undesirable on a shinto blade. Further the mei reads HIZEN KUNI JUNIN TADAYOSHI. I believe that with this so-called Junin-mei there is always "saku" at the end. This has obviously been lost in the suriage, again devaluing the sword somewhat. A look at the blade might be interesting. Coincidentally I recently came accross another Hizen-to with similar problems, but this was a Masahiro> May I take this opportunity of wishing you all SEASON'S GREETINGS Regards Clive Sinclaire PS It seems many "grandfather's swords" are coming up for sale recently. As a grandfather myself I must be caqreful!
  3. Gentlemen I think that it is important to remember that this book was translated from Token Kantei Dokuhon which was designed as an aid to Kantei. It happens to be packed with much basic info that is of use to both the beginner and more advanced student. I particularly like Nagayama sensei's individualistic oshigata. These are not oshigata of actual swords but serve to illustrate certain features of particular schools and swordsmiths (I actually have some originals). As I assisted in the production of this book and wrote the Intro, I was fortunate in receiving a complimentary copy from Kodansha. Whilst I can see that there seems to be a great variety of prices being charged for second hand copies, these prices pale into insignificance when compared to the price of swords and so, comparitively speaking, they are inexpensive. Whilst I appreciate that collectors want their references at as keen a price as possible, it seems churlish not to buy it when you need it, at whatever price you can. I apologise if I repeat anything already mentioned (I have been out of touch with the NMB for a few months) Regards Clive Sinclaire
  4. Gentlemen I am sure many of you have already seen the Christie's New York, March 18th sale. In it there is a fabulous articulated dragon by Myochin Nobumasa. It is accompanied by a very interesting essay on the subject of articulated animals written by my good friend Victor Harris, who is Hon Presdident of To-ken Society pf GB. I am pleased that we have obtained permission to reproduce this on our website at http://www.To-ken.com. You may wish to read it there. Regards Clive Sinclaire Incidentally, the dragon is estimated at $200,000 - $300.000 !
  5. Thanks chaps - there is certainly plenty of room for thought there. Regards C S
  6. Gentlemen You may be interested to see a short profile on a senbikizaru (1000 monkeys) tsuba on the To-ken Society of GB's website which may be found at http://www.To-ken.com Any comments or additional information would of course, be most welcome. Regards Clive Sinclaire PS: I bought it azt the Birmingham (UK) Arms Fair 2 Sundays ago.
  7. Gentlemen We have just placed an Obituary on http://www.To-ken.com for the recently deceased founder members of our society, Mike Dean and John Harding. These two gentlemen may be known to older collectors of Japanese sword, active especially in the 1970's Clive Sinclaire
  8. On the subject of oshigata, I have just been asked if there is anyone in thew US who draws oshigata?? Anyone help? Clive Sinclaire
  9. Guido I see it also says Sasaki sensei and Nagayama Kokan O-sensei amongst others Clive S
  10. Gentlemen I was also at that lecture and am in that photo (the smartly dressed dude with the shirt and tie) I must also say that I am not surprised that you are pleased with your polishes. I have had many swords polished by Mishina over the years and never been disapointed. Interestingly, I always thought that all shinshinto blades were muji-hada but Mishina is skilled at bringing out the usually tight jihada in these swords to great effect. His family have been very good to me and my family over the last 25 years or so and I count him amongst my best friends. Whilst I hope I have your attention, may I tell you that about 3 weeks ago, I sat at a table in Saitama-ken looking at swords and later drinking much sake, with no less than seven polishers, including Mishina sensei and sasaki sensei (also a family friend for many years) and at the time I had no swords requiring polishing! Regards Clive Sinclaire PS I agree with Guido, sensei is the correct form and shows due respect even when on the NMB
  11. Gentlemen Since coming back home from Japan, I have been keeping my "web master" busy with updates to the the Token Society of Great Britan's website at http://www.To-ken.com The entries are on various subjects relatef the Japanese swords and I would greatly welcome any comments you might care to make. The topics are: 1) Diary of the Restoration of a Japanese Armour - Part 8. This job which has taken slight;ly in excess of 2 years is now complete and I am very pleased with the result. It is now on display in my sword room at home. 2) in our UK Sword Register, the latest, No.129 is a blade signed ]Hizen Kuni Ju Fujiwara Tadayoshi. I strongly suspect that this may be Tosa (no) Kami Tadayoshi and I would especially like to hear other opinions, although I think iit may be difficult to tell from my poor oshigata. 3) Whilst in the Dubliner's in Shinjuku I got chatting (as you do) with an Irish customer who showed me a cutting in that day's Japan Times, of a surrendered sword that was recently returned to the family of the World War 2 owner. This is reproduced on our site but you may have already seen it on the ubiquitous Paul Martin's s website. 4) And finally, we feel it may be necessary to state our Societie's position, should members encounter difficulties with disreputable dealers, agents, polishers etc - it is a wiicked world we live in! Clive Sinclaire
  12. Gentlemen, Earlier this year. at a UK Birmingham Arms Fair, I bought a wakizashi in "Satsuma Rebellion" koshirae of no great interest but the blade was signed with a Tadayoshi go-ji mei. I believe it is a rare Tosa (no) Kami Tadayoshi but this is only my personal opinion. It should be back from the polisher later this week. As it was only a couple of humdred pounds sterling, I considered the koshira as incidental but, if I am correct in my appraisal, it will be the first blade by this smith that I have acquired. It is always worth checking out the blade in these otherwise usually low quality koshirae. Anyhow, it was a great New Year present to myself! Regards Clive Sinclaire
  13. Ian I certainly don't think you should rule out farmers. Satsuma had a very large percentage of Samurai in the population as many farmers were promoted to samurai rank when Hideyoshi invaded Kyushu in the 16th century. They retained this rank for ever even though they returned to the land after fighting. Clive Sinclaire PS Enjoyed the day at Tower of London East meets West.
  14. Miha I have catagorised it as a tachi blade because the nagasa exceeds 60 cm, the slim sugata siggests a tachi and it is signed tachi-mei. I believe would have been difficult to catagorise it in any other way. Don't be afraid of asking "wierd newbie questions" Nice one Wah, I see that it was made one year before mine when he was a young man only 81 years old. Regards Clive Sinclaire
  15. Gentlemen We have just put a sword by the Teishitsu Gigein swordsmith Sugawara Kanenori onto the UK Sword Register No. 127 at http://www.To-ken.com. I believe we may have discussed this before but this now includes a rather poor oshigaata and, as always, I would value your comments. Regards Clive Sinclaire
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