Moritsuchi

Hi all, I was wondering why so many blades and teppo have relatively new torokusho, often from this year orlast year . As far as I know, or at least with my recent purchases, I didn't recieve a new torokusho after I registered the blade with my board of education. Maybe this is different in other prefectures? Florian

The National Treasure thing is afaik the reason why you need an export license in the first place, because these are prohibited from export, while everything else only needs confirmation that it isn't a national treasure or designated cultural property or something. I remember the first time I went to Japan when I was 17 I bought one of these unsharpened aluminium alloy Iaidos and shortly before boarding they asked me to come to the counter and open my luggage and the customs officer put a maget on it, and two years ago I bought a naginata from Japan where the export permit took ages, so I presumed they were very strict. (And my experience living here also has given me a lot of contact with the Japanese bureaucracy)

Thanks, yeah, when I leave Japan in August/September, I'll take these things in my check in luggage. the thing with the "National Treasure" is losing me some sleep. Sure I know that the rusted broken yari I got from a Nominoichi or some Jomon pottery shard, or whatever is not a national treasure. And no reasonable person would assume they were. And even if, I have somewhere a book where all national treasures are listed and shown with pictures. But I fear the Japanese tendency of asking for Form A38 (Idk if this Asterix reference is widespread) will hit me at the airport. I'm German and I find Japan overbureaucratic, on the brink of weaponized autism, that says something...

Hi, I've written another post about a similar topic regarding export of non-sword antiques a few days ago, but now I was wondering what the export procedures for blades without a torokusho and a blade lenght of just below 15cm are (hence why this knife I am currently looking at probably has no torokusho, Afaik the Japanese law only classifies blades over 15cm as weapons) Does anyone know more about those/ has already bought something similar? Kind regards, Florian

Hi all, I'm currently living in Japan, but as my time here nears its end (my flight home will be in 3-4 months), I'm starting to think about how to best get my treasures from all the flea markets yahoo auction etc. home. This includes apart from a slightly rusted yari (and a hinawaju I am currently buying) mainly a lot of archaeological stuff, jomon/yayoi/kofun period pottery, stone tools, arrowheads, beads, some sword fittings, medals, coins etc. None of it was more than like 30-40.000yen (200-250USD/EUR) per piece. I've read that pieces with a value under 200.000Yen are exempt from needing an export license, is that true? My Japanese is sadly not enough to really get legal language and read the law myself and understand it, so I hope maybe some of you have experience with such smaller things. Also I don't have a reciept for most of the stuff, and the reciepts I have are hardly more than a piece of paper with a price, "Antique goods" and a stamp. Greetings, Florian

Hi all, I've found a very cheap Yari on a Flea Market in Himeji yesterday, so I just had to buy it (around 250$). It is signed 河内守國助 Kawachi no Kami Kunisuke. Nagasa is 13.5cm as per Registration Card. I can't really tell if the polish is any good, there are some very visible scratches as well as some small flaws in the steel, but my experience is rather limited. And now to the elephant in the room, the broken Nakago... It broke at the mekugiana, which isn't that surprising, as the steel is very thin at that point and it is visibly bent at this weak point. I'd be very interested what you think of this piece as a first yari in my collection and if I can do anything within reason and budget to improve the condition of the blade. Kind Regards, Florian

What is the value? I really have a hard time figuring out for what I need one, bought several prehistoric stuff as well as some very cheap Tsuba and a Yari (will make a post about it soon), the yari with 40000yen (around 250€/$) being the most expensive of that, on a flea market. I currently live in Japan so I have some time to figure out how to get this stuff back home

Sorry for my late response. Had a lot of work the last two weeks. I am going for this: Helmet from the MET. I thought this may be a good place to start, because of the small parts and I think bronze is easier to work with. I haven't found out how to make the round top part, my guess would be that it is either casted or punched. I've got a DC1 Steel now, that was easy to get and cheap, so if I make mistakes (which I surely will) it isnt a huge financial loss. Thank you for the papers, I'll take a look at them when I am home. Do you have any resources you could reccomend for someone starting to get into Japanese armour making? I've got the book by trevor absolon and one by suenaga masao which is in prewar Japanese, so beyond my reading abilities at the moment, but neither of them go really into details of how to start. I made a cardboard mockup of some kozane and tried lacing them together which I then want to repeat in nerigawa/tetsuzane when I have found the best dimensions and worked out, how many of which type of sane I need.

Hi, I've noticed a lot of you guys are making armour, so I thought this would be a good place to ask: What modern Steel is the best equivalent for ancient Japanese steel? I've got some papers analysing impurities, but I have no clue about modern industry steels, which comes closest to the historical stuff. EDIT: These are parts per million, Carbon content was around 0.3% down from likely 3% in the raw material (these are samples for the Nara- and Heian-Period, I am going for a Kofun-Helmet I want to reproduce, thats the closest analysis I found. I've found also tables for newer material, that changes a bit of course, but the general gist of high Titanium, Aluminium and Nickel stays the same.) Probably the best would be Tamahagane? But buying 30kg of Tamahagane is out of question, I guess most of you also haven't won enough lotteries, so what do you use? Florian

What? 15cm head on 64cm shaft? That sounds more like a yeri, doesn't it? Ive seen such blades listed under the category of yari. How much do they weigh? Florian

Hi all, I've recently aquired some Yanone. As they are pretty rusted, I think the'd greatly benefit from polishing/restauration, but I don't think a Japanese Togishi has the time to work on something as trivial as arrowheads, nor do I think the cost of sending to Japan and back and polishing them stands in any reasonable relation to their value. Is there anyone in Europe/Germany who is able to professionally restore them for reasonable price? What would a reasonable price be? I've never sent a sword for polishing, so I have only a rough idea how much it would be for a sword, and no idea how long one arrowhead would take compared to a sword. (They are like 150€ each) Or are there any other things you could advise? I can't even sharpen a knife so there's no way I will abuse any antiques with anything other than a piece of cloth and oil, no worries, but that won't bring them to shine, so what would you reccomend? Florian

PS: this are all arrowheads, if the full picture helps in any way with identification:

Hi all! I've recently aquired some Yanone, some of which have mei. I can read a good chunk of it, but maybe someone can help me identify if my readings are correct and if they refer to a known smiths. Also if you have any information on the period and usage of each type of yanone, I'd be grateful. Yanone 1: I think it is 信 and 高, my guess would be Nobutaka? This one is Katakana, does anyone know why? I read it as Sunonfusa, but I probably mix up some katakana... (embarresing for a second year student of Japanese studies, but I never use katakana ) Edit: Suke- or Suchifusa might be possible, too This one is probably 石道, which I would read as Sekimichi This is twice with the same characters, I've chosen the best pictures, but I am lost on the first, the second is 助 I think and finally, this one are the same characters as above, but I can't read the second... So if anyone has thoughts on them, I'd be grateful. Florian

@Matcha That sounds very interesting, but I somehow can't open the link. Do you have a PDF or something? Edit: Nevermind, I googled it and saw that I already have it as PDF, but thank you anyways

I found this Naginata online, with koshirae etc. what do you think of it, has it got any red flags I don't see? It is signed: omote : "河内守包定"　　ura : "延宝四年八月吉日" Thanks, Florian

What about the nagasa, can it also be viewed as a general trend that they become shorter as time goes on? The ones @Jussi Ekholm has in his presentation from Kamakura and Nambokucho all have blade lengths of ~70-90cm, with equally long nakago. The ones from Edo I saw were only around 40cm in blade length

@Matcha Thanks, the first one looks really promising. I'll definitely take a look into it. The SCAPIN are a really good source for the american perspective, I've also been shown a lot of Documents around them here, and best is: they are in english, I don't need half an hour per page to read haha

Hello all, before I look further on Ebay or so I thought I'd ask here first. I am looking for: - A Naginata, with full koshirae - Period is secundary, although I prefer pre-Edo-blades - EU only, Germany would be perfect, I'd be willing to pick it up in person - Budged would be around 2-3k, but I wouldn't let my dream blade pass if it is a little more, expecially if papered by a reputable source. (If you have a yari with full koshirae, I'd be interested, too) Kind regards, Florian

Well most obvious would be that the Tsuba was not intended for a naginata and just put on it, wouldn't it?

I mean I wouldn't mind having a later koshirae, even if it is edo or gendai, ANY koshirae would be fine to me. My Muromachi Era Katana also has a late Edo koshirae. I even asked around if anyone could make one, but I haven't found anyone who makes naginata, not to speak of a shaft for one. I'd be very interested in your powerpoint or pictures, as I have seen close to zero of actual (pre-edo) koshirae for Naginata.

@Jussi Ekholm I am a second year student of Japanese in University, so reading Japanese sources is not impossible to me, yet not like reading English. My primary interest is in pre-Edo-Blades. From what I saw I like the shape of Nanbokucho best. The biggest problem would be that I have found absolutely NOTHING on koshirae for a Naginata. On Facebook in the Japanese Polearms Group were some with shaft, but the few I found online for sale all had at best a shirasaya. Edit: I've ordered the book by Knutsen. Looking forward to reading it, hopefully it arrives this week. Edit 2: Here's the picture I found online from which I deduce my liking for Nambokucho:

Hi all, are there any good books or texts about Naginata (and Yari), comparing different schools, mountings etc? I've got a huge faible for polearms and want to buy one soon, but have no knowledge beside seeing two blades at the Tokyo National Museum and one lecture of Naginata-do at a Japanese High School and what can be read on Wikipedia. So is there anything you can reccomend?

Well, I've started writing on the more general parts of the paper, like the history of Japanese swords in general and on the modern manufacturing process. I've found some Japanese sources which I am translating at the moment and some weird additional american documents of which I am unsure how they relate to the sword hunts, but when googeling some of the SCAPIN document numbers, some strange document showed up in the results. I'm not sure where I saved it, but when I find it again, I'll post it here. When I finished the more general parts, I'd be glad if someone with more knowledge on modern (I'm mostly interested in Kofun-period warfare, so anything after 8th century is modern to me haha) Japanese swords looks over it that I make no mistakes. I have to submit my paper at the End of september, so around that that time I can share my results with you all. Also, a question i just ran into whilst reading about the sword manufacturing of gendaito/shinsakuto, is that the jap. government limits the number of how many swords are allowed to be made, and that the training of the smiths is highly regulated. Does anyone know, how many swords are made each year, and why it is limited? And where I could have a brief overview how the smith training works, how long it takes etc?

@SteveM thanks for your Help, that really speeds up my research. I really appreciate that. I would be looking for more or less exactly what you did, so if you could share your results/notes or give me names, document numbers or even just keywords that I could use to search the national archives, that could help me recreate the thought process that led from the order to destroy all swords to the recognition of the artistic value, at least from the american perspective. I guess to find documentation on the Japanese perspective it would be most effective to write to the NBTHK directly, wouldn't it?

Thanks a lot, that is already a good chunk of what I was looking for. EDIT: For american people: Is there some archive or institution where you can ask for access to documents? Or ask where some information is located and have it scanned?