atm

The meaning of “den” has been discussed a lot here at NMB, including: here It is good to remind ourselves from time to time how it is intended within context.

I think your display looks great so far. I display mine, too, as I enjoy looking at them even in passing. I keep mine in shirasya, though. I made sword racks that are screwed to the back of the display case. Each rack has six slots and is made from MDF that I cut with a scroll saw and then smoothed out with a router. Since you’re covering them anyway, they don’t need to be pretty. I bought a cheap sword stand from Amazon and used it as a pattern to design and construct mine—mainly to get the spacing and shapes. Once cut, I glued thick felt to it to cushion the shirasaya and koshirae. Over that is a white satin sheet (also from Amazon), which hides the stand and helps highlight the swords and fittings. But with your dark background, a black satin might also work well to highlight the swords and fittings.

I like it a lot. In hand, Tanobe sensei’s attribution makes more sense to me than NBTHK’s attribution. And I like the combination of the big, weighty (albeit shortened) Nanbokucho form with the elegance of the suguha hamon.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your intent, but you seem to suggest this is a reason to question Tanobe sensei’s credibility. But these things are not mutually exclusive and more context is needed. A blade having kizu or ware does not automatically disqualify it from achieving Juyo or receiving Tanobe sensei’s praise if it meets other criteria. Yes, Tanobe sensei is human and one person. That said, I am more likely to place his opinion over a shinsa panel due to his depth of knowledge and expertise. Others think the opposite, which is fine, too. As discussed on NMB earlier this year, I have a TH mumei sword that NBTHK attributed to Den Aoe. When submitted to Tanobe sensei for sayagaki, he declined to write it as Den Aoe and explained his reasoning. Instead, with my consent, he wrote a glowing sayagaki as Ko-Mihara Masaie. If you look at this sword, I think you’d agree that the NBTHK shinsa panel got it wrong. After all, they are also human. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/47932-seeking-advice-on-tanobe-nbthk-different-appraisals/

Anyone who does not already have the eSwordsmiths and eEncyclopedia books should grab them immediately. I refer to them constantly.

A good student of any discipline learns from many sources, including hands-on/in person experiences, books, written descriptions, and videos like posted above. The best asset any student has is an open mind.

Some Uda school, early Edo Norifusa, and Hankei blades have matsukawa-hada.

Pierre—you’ll find a lot written about the very famous Norishige and his unique matsukawa-hada here at NMB and in many other sources. There are other swordsmiths with matsukawa-hada, but Norishige’s is distinct, in my opinion. It is beautiful.

Here’s what Robert Hughes emailed me earlier this week: Tokyo DTI Additional Events For 2024 1) Sword Study Session at Cinq on Thursday, October 31st.. On Thursday, October 31st, there will be a sword study and dinner party again in Ginza at the Italian Restaurant Cinq (same venue as previous years). Location is quite convenient. Participant fee is yen 5,000 (for the venue) and the dinner party will be sponsored by Mr. Hisashi Saito of Seikodo. Once again, the date will be Thursday Nov. 16th. Arrival time will be from 5:30 p.m. for the sword study. Discussion of swords at 6:30 and the dinner party will follow the sword study at around 7:15 ... Attendance by advance reservation only. Cinq - Access For the Thursday study session, it is very easy to find the venue "Cinq" from inside the Metro System (subway). You go to Ginza Station (on the Ginza line), then go up one level from the platform to the underground concourse and find the B-6 exit. The restaurant/club is called Cinq and it is half way up the exit stairwell. So, you don't even have to exit onto street level, it is right inside the metro underground network. It is very convenient....no long walk or need for a taxi. Pay participant fee on arrival at the venue. The actual street address for Cinq is Ginza 5-4-3 Taikakukan B1 which is the building with the B6 subway entrance, so go down the first flight of subway entrance stairs and you will find Cinq at the first stair landing. Cinq address: 東京都中央区銀座 5-4-3 対鶴館 B1 〒104-0061 Taikakukan B1, 5-4-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo cinq - Access - cinq - Access - 2) Saturday, Nov. 2nd Yakatabune Tokyo Bay Cruise..... Arrangements: This event is being planned for Saturday, November 2nd! As in the past, participants would leave from in front of DTI (Tokyo Bijitsu Club) at 6:30 p.m. Cruise to start from 7:00 p.m. Participation by advance reservation only. Notification to attend is also a commitment to pay if event is held...Cost yen 12,000 per participant (tax included). If you plan on going directly to the venue for boat boarding without riding the bus, please notify me in advance as I do a head count prior to the bus departure. Participation will be by advance reservation only. Reservations are finalized 48 hours prior to the event. No cancellations after reservation commitment please…Notification to attend is also a commitment to pay. Cost yen 12,000 per participant (including sales tax) to be paid by 12:00 noon at the DTI.

I have never been to the Dai Token Ichi. My calendar this year has freed up to where I could go, but it would have to be a quick trip—arrive Friday afternoon and leave Monday evening. Not having more time in Tokyo is not a big deal as I have been there several times before. So for those who have been to the DTI, is it alone worth 30+ hours of travel and the cost of flights? And how limiting is not knowing Japanese? The photos and catalogs I’ve seen make it look pretty amazing and probably worth the time and expense. Any advice is appreciated.

@Lewis B Are you willing to share a link? I think it would be helpful to see more of the sword in question to better understand the context.

When I was about 19, I was working a summer job for my former high school history teacher. He learned that I collected militaria. One day near the end of my shift, he explained that he had a Japanese sword and a German rifle in his garage that had been there for decades. Long before I went to high school, a tornado destroyed the old high school. He said the sword and the rifle had been on display in the school at the time (clearly times have changed) and no one came to claim them after the tornado. So he took them home and they sat in his garage. He decided to give them to me. I did not know anything about the sword, so I took it to a local militaria dealer who explained that it was a traditionally made blade predating the war but in military mounts. It was in rough condition—tired from too many polishes and it probably had been used to hack something by the soldier who brought it to the US. I later traded it for a nice Luftwaffe gravity knife that I still have. I still have the rifle—a matching Mauser K98. It took another 30 years before I acquired another nihonto.

49, so solidly in the average

I saw a couple of rather large wads of cash being exchanged, so some clearly came prepared to pay that way. At least one dealer offered to take a sword back with him and then ship it to me after the show. Had I come seriously prepared to purchase, I probably would have brought a large Pelican case and flown a sword home as a checked bag. That’s how multiple dealers had brought their swords.

There are a couple of Ichimonjis. Bill Rannow has a really nice Ko-Ichimonji that was well out of my price range. Nothing by Norishige (at least that was displayed).

It is such a great show. Lots of fantastic blades. The highlight has been meeting NMB members (apologies if I am missing anyone): @nulldevice @Kyoto-13 @GeorgeLuucas @Rivkin @yurie @Toryu2020 @Mark @Grey Doffin

Some important questions are: (1) does the dealer offer a shinsa service, (2) is it likely to pass TH, (3) are you prepared to wait about a year for the whole process, (4) what value increase would TH bring? I probably would not pursue TH because of the wait, if it were my sword. But it certainly makes sense to do it while it is still in Japan if you are inclined to pursue TH.

Generally speaking, dealers with an English language option on their webpage expect/hope to deal with you—they are purposefully including you among their potential customers.

Thanks for sharing—it is good to know the current wait. With the relatively weak yen, I would guess there has been an increase in international buying that has added to the backlog.

That’s awesome. 785g even with the futatsu ji-hi (dual grooves)! I can see why you think it feels powerful in your hands—because it is! It is a great sword, especially as your first. Congratulations.

Now that I am back from my trip to Japan and somewhat recovered from jet lag, I wanted to share what I saw at The Japanese Sword Museum. The permanent exhibit is pretty small and limited about the sword making process. It is informative at a basic level, although it has nice examples of each stage of the process. The temporary exhibit for this month was swords and fittings that had been newly designated Tokubetsu Juyo Token, along with a handful of swords from the museum’s collection. The list of items exhibited can be downloaded below, and you can get more information on each one by scanning the QR code at the top right of the page. As a fan of Koto swords, I was thrilled to see this exhibit. It was so cool to see so many top level swords by top smiths in one place and easily compare them. My wife even enjoyed it, asking me to show her the differences between jihada. Unfortunately, they did not allow pictures in the exhibit area. The museum building is really nice, and they’ve made it fairly easy to see the swords despite them being behind glass—much easier than at the Tokyo National Museum. I really enjoyed the visit. Scan Jul 14, 2024.pdf

Japan Post EMS insurance limit is 2,000,000 JPY, and that costs under 5000 JPY to obtain. But a sword valued at more than the insurance limit obviously carries a risk of loss during shipping unless there is supplemental insurance. And then you need to ensure that the supplemental insurance covers items lost or damaged in transit.

I am hoping that @Jim Manley can add more details. This is troubling, especially as a Salt Lake City resident expecting two swords from Japan in the next month. Thankfully, I have previously received three swords from Japan via EMS without issues. Once they cleared customs in Chicago, they were all delivered to me the next day by a post office employee separate from my regular mail carrier. I will have the two swords added to my valuable property insurance before they ship, since their individual values are greater than the EMS insurance limit. Of course, that would not replace these swords that are irreplaceable, but I can at least protect against the financial loss.

I did not meet Tsuruta-san, unfortunately. There were two younger people working there (I did not get their names). The woman was busy packing boxes for shipping and answering the phone. The man helped me, spoke decent English, and was nice, although he wasn’t as knowledgable as the woman and asked her for information several times. I liked that he was accessible for questions but he did not stand over me or rush me as I examined the swords. Aoi is also a fairly small shop (and a bit cluttered) with a seating area for examination and a few display cases with swords. Most of the inventory is in a storage room. I had previously told them the three swords I would like to see. Those three were out of the shirasaya and waiting for me to view on my arrival. The man also provided me with an iPad that already had the Aoi listings for the three swords. They were well prepared for my appointment. The others I visited: Japan Sword was tidy and had several American tourists in it. It was bigger in size than Aoi and Yamashiroya. I did not ask to view anything there. The salesperson was speaking good English to the tourists. Ginza Seikodo is very small but tidy, with few swords on display. Unfortunately, Saito-san was not there, and I did not ask to view anything. Ginza Seiyudo was about the same size as Japan Sword. You ring a bell to be let in, and they have signs stating the store isn’t for browsing. There was one sword I specifically asked to see. A younger man took me to a private viewing room in the back and let me examine it. He also showed me a couple of other swords they thought I might like. It was very professional feeling, and he spoke decent English. I only had one day allocated for sword shopping. With the stores being spread out around the city, and my desire to see specific swords at Aoi, Yamashiroya, and Seiyudo, I unfortunately had to limit the number of other stores I could visit and limit my time in each store.

I had looked at his inventory online before visiting. I was focused on seeing one sword there before going to an appointment at Aoi Art, so I did not have time or ask to see more.