Pete Klein

I must agree with mon ami Jean.

Hi - the first (upper) circled area reads 'mumei' = without name and the second (lower) reads 'katchushie'. Learning to read kanji will be most helpful.

Perfect! Thanks so much Jussi!

Does anyone have a list of the Juyo shina results from last year's shinsa (2017)? I am interested in the tosogu results primarily. Japanese language is not a problem. Thanks much.

I am thinking early Edo Owari. Notice the asymmetry with the design skewed anti-clockwise. You run across this in some early tsuba. I believe it is designed to compensate for the angulation of the sword being worn to keep the design vertical in sight. The hitsu ana are also a bit narrowed. The birds are also asymmetrical as the two on top face the same direction but the bottom two face away from each other. Interesting piece.

Steve W wrote exactly what I am thinking on the subject as far as fittings are concerned (I do not collect nihonto).

OK - thanks. Let me know if you find any different then. It's not worth the purchase at ~ $80 for what could most likely be scanned if necessary. Thanks much!

HI -- I wold appreciate it greatly if someone who has the mentioned book would be so kind to let me know how many tsuba entries there are. I am trying to decide if it's worth picking up as a tosogu reference. Thanks so much! Pete Klein

Yes, at least ten years of constant, diligent study along with a library which thoroughly covers the area of interest. Internet will not cut it.

Fee schedule: http://nbthk-ab.org/Shinsa_Fee_Schedule.html Shinsa schedule: https://www.touken.or.jp/shinsa/schedule.html There will also be a fee from the agent plus shipping to and from Japan. Figure roughly six to nine months if passes and about four if it fails.

Ted - aka a vowel movement...

Ask Curran - he has an abundance of papers with that on them...

Haynes Index Vol. 1, pg. 741: (sorry it's a bit slanted but the best I could do due to the binding).

Ko Shoami???

I see Darcy got his groove back...

As I don't follow swords you don't have to make a list for me but perhaps others would be interested? Note: The list was added while I was typing. The swords do not belong to the museum so there would most likely be issues with the owners if pictures were taken as they are usually identified in the descriptions. This could open up theft possibilities etc. so I can see why they wouldn't allow the pictures. They also publish a book on the shinsa which unfortunately is quite expensive but that could be another reason. I wish I could have seen the fittings. Oh well.

Adam - was that the NBTHK museum with the shinsa exhibit? (The Japanese Sword Museum) I'm wondering if it was the Tokubetsu Juyo shinsa exhibit?

OK - 'NBTHK Hozon Token' is for the sword. If it was 'Hozon Toso' then it would be for the koshirae ('Hozon Tosogu' for fittings). The only paper shown is for the sword so apparently the koshirae is not papered unless they omitted it for some reason. If it was papered the description on the origami would most likely solve the question I had earlier. Thanks for posting the excerpts Robert.

"It is also notable that the fittings appear to have NBTHK TH papers while the sword has NBTHK Hozon papers" Robert - I am missing this in my reading. Please refer me to where this is shown or implied. Thanks..

Check the wear areas.

I might be wrong but when I go to 3x enlargement I see wear areas to the 'solid gold plate' of the saya fittings which look like the gold is applied to another base metal. The habaki is also gold foil.

Yeah - Umetada is the new Shoami...

"Please Sir - Might I have another Chojiro'...

Simple, actually. They came from 'Kin Gin Kiri Mon Unlimited' which was two doors down from the 'Hirata Hikozo Outlet Emporium' in beautiful downtown Yatsushiro...

Hi Paul!!! Haven't heard from you in quite awhile. I hope all is well. The reason I asked is that I have a F/K which is very similar and wanted to compare them. Here's a picture: Slight differences in execution but an interesting comparison. Thanks so much for the assist! Pete