MJS

This is utterly amazing! Just the other day I spent hours trying to find examples from a particular smith, currently published on web sites of museums, dealers, or NMB. But aside from the investment of time (googling and writing smart AI prompts), this was still limited to current listings. In your database I found several examples I had not found, and it took all of 5 seconds. I have not checked everything in my very small collection but there is at least one that I think I can contribute. Jessi, would it be useful for you if we submit candidates for your database in a particular format, e.g. XLS or CSV with the column headings of the file you shared?

Thank you Jacques. I assume you are referring to the way that this particular kanji is chiseled. Will look further into that.

An earlier thread covered a similar topic: It was mentioned that the 2nd generation mei started with ‘ichi hizen’ and the first and third typically did not. However in Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan I find that there are also known mei from the first generation that start with ichi hizen. So, any help is greatly appreciated!

Hi all, Could someone help me figure out which Fujiware Yukihiro this is? The signature comes from a naginata made with Dutch steel. Comparing it to a juyo naginata by the 1st generation that was once offered on Aoi Art (mei below), I would think that it is probably 2nd (or even 3rd?). Their mei changed throughout their careers, but the manner that e.g. dewa is chiseled is very different between the two. I hope I'm not asking something incredibly obvious here, just starting out with deciphering mei :-) Thanks, Mark

Georg, thank you very much for bringing it to the NBTHK-EB meeting in Berlin, and for sharing your fantastic story. The blade looks amazing in person, even better than the wonderful pictures in this thread.

I am using these Ionic lights, from UFO Lighting. Nice and small, on a magnetic rail. https://www.fiberopt...-lighting-system.php

VERY nice! Excellent books, too :-) Cheers Mark

That looks great! I love the idea of including lighting with different color temperatures. The supports for the swords look very interesting, too. I really like the minimalistic style of back wall mounting, so that nothing in the display is distracting from the art. However, for more flexibility I decided to go with regular stands, but now I feel some doubt again. I have put in professional rail lighting from UFO (Ionic SX series, https://www.fiberopt...-lighting-system.php), they make fantastic bulbs. Super small, individually dimmable, several lenses and snoots, etc. I have a set of 3000K with a variety of lenses (mostly 16 and 20x50 degrees), but I might swap a few out for 4000K after reading about two different temperatures. The glass doors are 6mm extra clear double-sided anti-reflective, with anodized aluminium frames (https://www.vitris.e...and-furniture/Supra/). There is currently a brush in between the two doors to minimize dust coming in, but I don't like the looks of the vertical aluminium element in the middle. Might go for something more subtle, but I'm not sure about an alternative that would be a) pretty dust-proof or even air tight, and b) very subtle. It is a lot of fun to do this project: not knowing beforehand what it will end up like, but step by step ending up with something really nice anyway. Thanks for all these great bits of information and wonderful ideas. I'll post updates as I go. Mark

Hi all, I would like to display my small collection of nihonto in a showcase at my home. I did a serious Ikea hack using two large Bestå units to build the ~0.5 m3 case itself, and bought a high quality sliding door system and a nice lighting system using a rail and small LED spots. The photo shows the case as I have it currently, although the interior is entirely temporary and will need quite a bit of work. I would love to hear your well informed advice on the next steps. First off, I would really prefer to show the swords without their saya, which will require a lot of planning and good care of the climate inside the case. Swords that I've seen so far in (western) museums seem to be displayed without oil, from a display perspective that would be my preference. That would at the very least add more requirements to climate control. Specifically, my questions are these: Do museums actually display their nihonto without oil? If so, what are the climate control requirements (aside from RH 45-50%) and maintenance procedures? The interior of the case is made of multiplex that has been stained and then dried/aired for a long period of time. Based on these materials, can I expect any issues with corrosion if there will be a low air-circulation situation? Does anyone have construction drawings or something similar to make sword stands? I intend to use cloth to cover them, unless someone convinces me to use perspex or some other funky material . If using cloth to cover the stands, would white be a better color or should I use a dark color? I've seen both and most museums seem to go with white. I would be really grateful for any advice on these points. Of course, if anyone is interested, I would be more than happy to post details on the construction of the display case so far. Cheers, Mark

Hi Sean, I can still see only the first image on Imgur. All subsequent ones are random pics.

That's a great display case. Looks really nice. Probably quite a distraction from your work!

Some really great examples here, many thanks! Turns out that a lot of people are using macro lenses already, I had no idea. There are some lenses, among which the OM System 90mm macro, which can enlarge by insane amounts. Microscope-like. See, for example, a picture of an iphone 14 screen on Ken Rockwell's site (https://www.kenrockw...es/OM1D1663-crop.jpg on this web page: https://www.kenrockw...f35.htm#sampleimages). Would a such a huge magnification of 1-2x bring out activity that you would otherwise miss? Regardless, time to go shopping.

Hi all, Curious about your thoughts if 1-2x macro images would add interesting aspects to the photographic documention of a blade. I don’t think I’ve seen it used very much so I have my doubts here. But the quality of modern macro lenses (like the 90mm OM System) is so fantastic, that thought I’d ask anyway. Any thoughts are welcome, and in particular good examples of super macro sword photography. Cheers Mark

If anyone would like more photographs or wants to have an in-hand look: please let me know. Best, Mark

It was a wonderful event, and I very much enjoyed your presentation Jussi. Interesting subject, and you brought a lot of information together in a very enjoyable way! Cheers, Mark