kusunokimasahige

Enjoy it to the max guys !! Looking forward to the photos ! KM

More on Shimōsa : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shim%C5%8Dsa_Province

WOW !! Heiji 1 !!! Satsuma Namihira Yukimasa 1159 A.D. Gorgeous ! KM

It is quite nice and started really low. Good to see you won it. Followed it in my Ebay list. KM

For those of us who did not know Keith Austin, here is a video by Paul Martin on him : And an article : http://www.ncjsc.org/article_keith_austin.htm KM

Well, I can only say that we all have seen the high level historical koshirae our fellow member Kunitaro has posted. That for me was quite a treat. KM

Thank you for the update. I am wondering how extensive their archives are. KM

Replica wakizashi of the same type as my replica katana. One of the better looking ones though compared to much of the muck they sell. KM

That is great to hear Jason !!! KM

Thank you Brian and Hoahn, will check that site out. KM

Gorgeous as always Nick ! KM

Agree absolutely with what Ian says above. Original fabric should not be tampered with by anyone not knowing what they are doing. This can of course be different with chain mail attached on new sleeves, but then again it is difficult when you do not know what you are doing just because of the way the sleeves are constructed. I have a pair of fairly modern suneate in which there are no kikko present. I put kikko in, which was quite some work. But that is okay in my book since the suneate were not old and original anyway. KM

It looks like, just as in the case of Antique books being ripped apart for their etchings, armor sets being ripped apart and other items split that it is done for profit. Wich any dealer can do even though many collectors would want the accompanying koshirae (if it is period original and not a newly made one). I for one would rather have a blade with its (hopefully old and original) koshirae in a good state in stead of just a blade in a shirasaya. But tastes differ of course. KM

Thank you Hoahn, I still need to find a good and FREE sniping program. Even though I dislike sniping as well as shill bidding. Ah yes, and sellers who ask ridiculous and dishonest shipping prices. (Always check the local country' s post office rates!!). KM

And regularly oil the blade itself. Just to make sure.

Hey all. Look at this. Especially the bid times. I put in one proxy bid with the start price of 10.00 us$and a few hours later this happened : Member Id: ***my ID*** ( 180Feedback score is 100 to 499) US $29.38 Sep-29-14 04:38:23 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $28.38 Sep-29-14 06:28:18 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $26.38 Sep-29-14 06:28:14 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $24.88 Sep-29-14 06:28:10 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $23.88 Sep-29-14 06:28:06 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $22.88 Sep-29-14 06:28:02 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $21.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:57 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $20.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:54 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $19.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:50 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $18.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:45 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $17.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:40 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $16.88 Sep-29-14 06:27:34 PDT private listing - bidders' identities protected US $10.50 Sep-29-14 06:27:17 PDT Starting Price US $10.00 Sep-28-14 14:00:43 PDT

It is probably due to the demise of urushi lacquer on the small rings of the chainmail. Do you have a picture of it ? In Roman re-enactment, with chainmail which is not painted, we regularly put a chainmail in a plastic bag filled with coarse building sand and then start shaking the bag for a considerable time. It gets rid of the rust and afterwards we shake the sand off and oil it. This however would not be advisable with Japanese mail of course. The best thing to do is to remove the chain mail from the fabric of the Kote sleeves first. Be sure to have photos or drawings of the attachment points so you can restitch the mail back in place. (Now whether you would want to do this on an original Edo period suit of armor is another thing altogether). When the mail of the Kote is removed, you try brushing away all active rust with a soft to medium brush so as not to damage the lacquer coat remaining. Then you can still oil it lightly but be sure not to overdo it because oil of course can stain the brocade of the sleeves or if they are made from hemp cloth that fabric. What really should be done is relaquering the chainmail (at least the parts where the lacquer is gone). But that can (in my opinion if you use Urushi) only be done by an armor restorer like for instance Dave Thatcher who is a member here. Alsi Ian Bottomley could help with information in this case. Hope that helps ! KM Here is an image of a modern piece of removed armor which only needs to be reattached to a sleeve (the same goes in general for Haidate and Suneate) :

Iiyama Sensei taught him he just told me on fb. Very nice indeed ! KM

Not really. Both were the same company. The man who was in charge of Ebay changed. Mrs.Takako Shimatani does all sales now. She is very pleasant to work with. And as long as you know that the stuff they sell is not at all top level or sometimes replica there is no caveat emptor. The only problem I have with the company are the shipping costs, but then again when you write a polite letter in Japanese you always get a quick answer and they are more than willing to help out. KM

We don't of course But with the antiques trading and selling shopping or whatever assistant we do know that they take stuff from Yahoo jp. However, this kind of seems to give it away in this case don't you think ? http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d ... terval=365

How do we know that this is the dealer ? KM

Thank you for the heads up ! Blacklisted him. 280,000.00 JPY = 2,561.99 USD

As I said, it is not about the price. It is about making casts of tsuba which are nice. You would have to be a very proficient modeller to paint this so it looks real. KM

Check these two auctions of the same person on Ebay. 1: Quite a nice tsuba, pity about the dents. http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMURAI-Katana- ... 1e92689122 2: A cast in two parts of the same tsuba : http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMURAI-Katana- ... 1e92745342 Now about the price for both Items I am not making this topic, It is just quite interesting that someone made a cast of what looks like a fair tsuba with nice workmanship. An idea for the tsuba makers ? Obviously some Chinese persons will have seen this too so lets wait for the first crudely reproduced items. KM

They sell stuff from Yahoo JP for ridiculous prices. More here : viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12300&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=antiques+trading+and+seller+assistant