kusunokimasahige

any new ideas on the blade yet? cant seem to reach mr. Benson... KM

best as in very patient, and not fussy at all! or just................edit....... (not you BTW Peter!! i know what you went thru... ) :lol: KM

fully agree brian. KM

Daimyou at it again! KM

But thankfully....(though not for the patient) Milt comes back into the room after a while, gets the drill out and asks the guy once more........ IS IT SAFE ???? :lol: :lol: :lol: Ve have Vays to make you talk..........! KM PS Guido, what i find so very fascinating in the exhib is the total difference in approach of the Chinese versus Koreans and Japanese....... as if the further you travel east, the more perfection you get!!!

Guido what a very informative site!!! i have learned a great deal from the articles!! pity we in Europe do not have these kinds of exhibitions that often...... KM

Justin would you so kind post some photos of the entire teppo's??? TY in advance! KM

it absolutely looks like an earlier sengoku type to me. KM

they sure are beautiful tsuba Guido! KM

Personally I wouldnt know, however i do have a question, couldnt it be that it was made earlier than the 17th century? maybe the 16th? looking at the patina of the tang and the shape of the blade... and werent there thousands more smiths in Japanese / sengoku history that have never been discovered/described by anyone? what is the general rule in this? do shinsa people/collectors only look at the known smiths, rather than add or discover (scientifically) the existence of new, yet unknown, but period smiths? KM

would be funny to see that guy appearing at shinsa and demand they take a look at it! :lol: :lol: KM

Guido, would you think classical Japanese is very much more difficult than modern Japanese? KM

IKIRU is a beautiful film!! I am happy to own the Kurosawa collection, love all his films!! where tigers tread is also great! and the film about the doctor, redbeard! gives a good understanding of the position of doctors in the Edo period! KM

found a teaser, no trailer......... here is the direct link: mms://prgvod01.digi-c.com/shochiku/ichi ... r1_300.asf btw... what do you think of Yaji to Kita? KM

very nice blade indeed!! say, is the red lacquer i the grooves Urushi or another type of lacquer? i also see this in Yari......... best wishes, KM

yep, i also have a very big reserve/NO GO feeling about this seller....... this blade also is definetely etched and in a way "damascened"....... however no where as nice or as near as this truly damascened Roman gladius Hispaniensis.... we are just discovering in some Roman swords that pattern welding was indeed done, starting probably towards end of the first century AD. KM

As Roman Buff and Re-enactor of Imperial Rome i must agree with the VEGETIvS explanation!! Nice to see that also Ancient Rome has left something in the eastern hemisphere!! btw...... at http://www.romanarmy.com 's forum we have a long, ongoing (anachronistic) thread about what would happen if a Roman Legion would meet a Samurai army........ (without the use of Teppo!!) Pesonally I am still convinced the Samurai would win... KM

very nice titles! i also like the shogun series, though i am more interested in the real Anjin sama (dono is more correct for the era, due to the fact the official san and sama denomination are of later date....) wo became hatamoto to Ieasu!! KM

well as long as they dont come at you carrying drawn daisho it will be allright! :lol: KM

Hello all, just wondering which films you favor about the samurai, bushido, and the sword..... mine are: SEPPUKU CHUSHINGURA KAGEMUSHA, RAN, LADY SNOWBLOOD, MUSASHI 1-3, RASHOMON, YOJIMBO, SANJURO, SHICHIJIN NO SAMURAI, HIDDEN FORTRESS, THRONE OF BLOOD, THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI, SAMURAI FICTION SAMURAI REBELLION, SHOGUN ASSASSIN, WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN THE HIDDEN SWORD ZATOICHI MEETS YOJIMBO (or the other way around..) what are yours? KM

was a nice docu on animal planet about the island of awashishima where a lot of macaques roam! km

If this was a nihonto, why is it totally flat? The blade has utterly been destroyed IMHO, and to pay a high amount for the fittings and saya and tsuka seems very strange..... what name is the mei? what era? isnt it a naginata variant form/shape? anyway i'll go with Brian in this case, but would like to add i would still not go there.... KM

The mounting may be correct, the blade ..... Brian convinced me its real... if he states the saya is made out of wood it would mean that this is a late war saya, since metals were scarce at that time... At the moment there are a lot! of Chinese fake blades roaming e-bay, in gunto mountings, which are these days also copied a lot! however most of them are crude copies... if you check my masayuki posting there are a few clear pics of real type 94 gunto mountings you will see the difference almost immediately. also i have a tip for checking on chinese or not.... Check the kissaki(tip) compare it with real Japanese swords.... also check the fake swords article you can find above... a second clue to a sword being a chinese fake always is the terrible grain in the blade, check: http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/repro.htm they are polluting the market, and again, i would stay well clear of this particular auction, as well as several of the other WWII gunto auctions on e-bay at the moment.... 190063134687 190062900260 130058113719 280061034528 Etcetera etcetera etcetera! Always mind crudeness of the castings on the saya, tsuba, its a tell tale sign! best wishes, KM

I will listen to your advice and will have someone open a window... btw, i also noticed today that someone in the past has delt a severe blow with it... the blade is slightly warped/bent to the right looking from the back of the sword, cutting edge outwards... a little above the center... so a straightening job also would probably be needed.... Thank you for your advice, it is all very very welcome... someone said it wouldnt be meiji, but later, and before 1930... i wonder if a polisher also could shed some light on it.. KM

http://www.jidai.jp/shinken.asp is also a fair link... KM