Kiko

Well, my Japanese is somewhere between "travel survival kit" and "hey look I can read one signature out of a thousand", so yeah, it will take time ^^

I use the original Japanese books, and must say that "It is bit complicated at first" sounds like an understatement to me ! I sometimes have the feeling of a strong desire for hermeticism on the part of Japanese authors on these subjects...

Thanks again Chandler, will try to make my way from there, and if I happen to find how the tsuba volume and the Nihonto Zuikan work, I'll post it here.

Hi, not an expert at all but as a beginner netsuke collector I don't feel it. Carving seems quite crude to me and my mind screams "chinese fake". Concerning the signature, it looks like semi cursive script and I'm a bit unsure what the first character is, but I would go for 正友 which could be read as Masatomo or Shōyū. Moreover, looking at the himotoshi, they are probably drilled and it's not a good point...

Thank you very much Chandler, the JSSUS index will indeed be of great help ! But as you seem to know your way around the Nihonto Koza, could you explain how it's organized ? I mean, is it by school, province ? When I look at the index of the fourth volume about shinto swords for example (from page 11 of the second part), I only get that it seems divided with references to routes as the Tokaido, but I can't wrap my head around what to do from there, even when I know which school the smith I'm searching for is from. And if I switch to the 6th volume concerning the tsuba, this time I don't have the tiniest clue about the order used...

Hello everyone ! Newbie here, and this message aims to beg some help with Japanese books : I recently had the chance to get my hands on Nihonto Koza and Nihonto Zuikan (shinto, blue one) and the least I can say is that I'm really lost on how to use them. Could any of you please give me some clues about the way this books work ?