Tcat

Gorgeous, goes together a treat! Congrats Jean

Thanks for the upload! That purple same wrap is quite something...with those chartreuse highlights! Wow. Wonder if that is acrylic I really like that other tsuka as well, with the three skin types used. Is that blue same I see in there? '

Saran wrap and mineral oil worked well for me in the past.

Thanks! This is great.... Clem, I believe this water is for the benefit of the wood and lacquer work under those hot lights to prevent them from drying out too much.

That is such a cracking blade Jean

Thanks Brian! Great thread I would love to find a partner (fuchi) for this lovely katana sized Higo kashira. If anyone sees a suitable mate please let me know, I'm willing to offer a reward to the "matchmaker" Regards Edit: Apologies for lack of ruler/exact measurements but this size is for daito mount.

Looks like it would be very good for field dressing deer/boar or cleaning medium sized tuna. I want one.

Vern, that looks like a very nice blade. In order for us to get a scale of its size could you possibly provide measurements? Of most interest would be total length of the blade and tang, then the length of the sharpened edge (this is measured from tip of the blade to base of habaki in a straight line). Thickness and width would be interesting also! Real, and original for sure, should be very nice indeed after professional restoration.

Any chance of some more detailed shots of the blade? Best,

Tsunami ito (fake leather) has been good to me and has lasted quite a few seasons now.

Beautiful tanto. Nice find!

Dear All, Thanks for the replies. I thought I would leave it a bit before I elaborated on what I personally think this would be best for... Habaki have been mentioned...I can't comment on tolerances here. I was initially thinking more along the lines of say, a blade that required a new tsuka, one could scan the nakago with the habaki in place and voila - one has a "blank" for shipping around with minimal weight, cost/insurance and worry. I then got to thinking that perhaps a nakago would not be enough blade for a sayashi to work with, in which case a whole mock blade could be sent, but obviously the best situation would be where we could simply email a 3D model of our blade directly to craftsmen who have their own printers. Chris get your guys on the case!

Hi Peter, I have always taken his to be the closest succinct description (conveniently found on Wikipedia): What I have extrapolated from this is: aikuchi are without tsuba in order for them to be worn closer to the body. This can be desirable for the wearer in certain situations with or without armour. The aikuchi "style" and its development are linked to both use of armour and court fashion. Reading between the lines, it may be easier to quickly draw an aikuchi mounted blade when worn close to the body by virtue of the fact that it has no guard to catch on loose clothing, armor, or nearby objects. Swords like this are also marginally easier to conceal under clothing.

Dear Sirs, forgive me if this is a repeat. I have used the search function and despite adding a + can not get the system to search the term "3D scanner". My idea is as follows, there are now readily available for hire or purchase, hand held 3D scanners capable of producing scans accurate to within 0.1mm, as well as 3D printers capable of reproducing these scans in a tough plastic resin. (There is also a plethora of 3d image editing software for edits to the models etc... ) Does this mean we can now print copies of our swords (or simply the 3d scans themselves) and send them off to have koshirae made without the worry/cost/hassle/lack of control entailed in mailing valuable blades all over the world? If not today then very soon? Just a happy thought Has anyone experimented with this yet?

I believe a rice paper wrap is often used to stop sweat and oils messing up the Ho wood finish on shirasaya. It looks like a diagonal wrap, like a napkin rolled around a french loaf :D Im not sure how the Japanese did it exactly but you could make a rudimentary one which could be fastened discreetly with a small amount of sellotape. How it looks in the end will depend on the level of your freestyle wrapping skills I like Barry's suggestion too.

I think it is always interesting to hear the personal reasons people have for wanting work by a specific smith. They are not always obvious, there are often nuances and the topic often strays into the very personal and subjective opinions of the collector. For me that's rather fascinating.

Marvelous collection Thierry! Thank for sharing.

Hi Justin, the question of investment is a complicated one and as posters commented tends to be in a constant state of flux related to vogue, national and international economies etc. I think in the long run 'high-medium' to high quality nihonto and tosogu will always have a market, unless there is some kind of armageddon. Two things currently control the price of Nihonto - 1 The Japanese economy, 2 Collector interest outside of Japan. These two factors operate in very different ways, however I think that the high-point for Nihonto in general as seen in the 80s won't be experienced again in our lifetimes; though it may increase somewhat from its current point. My anecdotal experience says that you certainly can't rely on ANY one piece to increase in value relative to the national/international economy within a hypothetical time period, even the so called best pieces. Far safer is to snatch true bargains when you see them then sell them on in another capacity. Quickly if possible. I have "collected" and sold a few fittings over the last 5 years in a hobby-like endeavor. A handful of tsuba, a few kozuka, a wari-kogai, an iron kojiri spring to mind. A small number of medium quality/low priced items. Everything I have sold has generated profit, I purchased at what I considered low/bargain prices then sold through a dealer with pricing on his advice; after his very modest cut I still had +15-20%. What I am about to say flies in the face of conventional wisdom and I am preparing for a flaming but here goes... :lol: Everything I sold for a profit was sourced from Ebay. I wouldn't really say this was a time efficient profit process though, at all, in terms of the amount of time I spent trawling 'investable' ebay tsuba compared to the amount of money I made. I learned a lot, however. My most recent successful purchase was a momoyama tsuba I found on ebay, I paid about 550 USD for it with shipping from Japan and sold it in London for 550 GBP. I think really this was only profitable because I got a deal on the purchase and it was bought in dollars then sold in pounds. Perhaps most importantly, the dealer is a good guy. Another thing I should probably add is that I hand delivered all items to the dealer and on average each took about 2-3 months to sell. I don't have much to add except for that it is very difficult to make any money at all when buying from large established sources eg: auction houses, any brick and mortar dealer or the larger online dealers - unless they miss a trick. The way these guys make money is to buy low and sell high. That really is the only way to make a business out of it. Buy high and sell very high doesn't usually work. You have to get a good deal initially and then be on the ball for your resale.

Wow... I love the look of this exhibition and have been daydreaming about designing/planning/curating one in a similar vain for years. Not quite as much anime in mine but Still...this is really encouraging and we ought to be seeing a lot more of these kinds of exhibition - helping to bring the arts back to the forefront of (young) peoples minds. There I am daydreaming again..I'll shut up now. Seriously though...this looks so awesome.

Without wishing to sound foolish I would like to pose a question - would some polishers from the old times (~500 years ago) have also used "special water" or secret water, as Mr. Kunitaro mentioned, or is this purely a post war thing? It is possible that the process sprung entirely from the necessity of cranking out acceptable looking gunto, but something tells me that it is unlikely that the concept was born entirely from this. Wouldn't the old polishers have had some kind of water with certain additives (only considering those lacking abrasive properties) which made the process "work better" or made the final product look a bit better...? We call it "acid" now and have been trained (brainwashed?) to believe that the use of "acid" is a very new fad and very bad thing when it may have been used for many years..or is that ridiculous to suggest? (It is a given that acids derived from lab chemistry are obviously a different thing to a squeeze of lemon in a bowl of water or its equivalent, and that stronger acids may "work faster" but also entail the negative traits more associated with their use.) Any thoughts?

Great video...thanks for sharing.

Not from my experience shipping to London addresses. Royal Mail?? Parcel Farce??!!! Please tell me you are joking. They have never delivered anything on time for me...

Very nice sword indeed! My experience is that when I use FedEx shipping to UK I never get charged for anything. The package just arrives on time every time hassle free. It's more expensive but never gets held up in customs...so far.

Re Hostility, indeed Keith, I know you're just a tease. My old timers remark ruffled you a little I see I too wish there was better or at least more accurate "anime stuff" out there, though artistic representation is often fantastical to some degree. Sometimes fantastical scenes with realistic elements can provoke thought on the potential "reality". Take chanbara movies for example. Many contain unlikely stunts and performances from actors which in "real life" would most likely not pan out as they in the movie.. but they are thought provoking, nay, inspirational for some. From chanbara we get fantastic action, which inspires real life curiosity. It is only after this curiosity is sparked that the will for serious study can emerge. Without something that grabs the imagination there will be no further interest in the subject. The inspiration I speak of may come from visiting a museum, a grandfathers war story or an inherited sword, chanbara movies or samurai kenshin x; but I'm not going to write someone off because of where their interest was originally sparked or the road they traveled to arrive at nihonto; I'de like to encourage those that are heading in the "right" direction - which is of course a serious interest in real nihonto Regards,

Thank goodness this pursuit is not about profit, but having said that if no profit were ever to be made from the sale of art and swords then then both would die a slow and sorrowful death. I know a dealer that wouldn't be fascinated, the same stand up old timer that taught me keeping ones eyes peeled, buying 'low' in dollar and yen and selling 'high' in pound sterling is as good a way as any to stay in the black I just think its better to embrace all channels of potential interest stemming from youth culture or new culture or pop culture and tap them to keep these crafts alive rather than exhibit this seemingly hostile outlook towards them.