Tcat

2, 5 (not sure about 6 ) ,7, 8 and 9

Eric H, source?

Laurent, SBG is for low-priced, non-traditionally made, modern replica swords of various types, it is a good forum and has its place in the 'sword world', I am a member there also, however this forum is exclusively for the discussion of real Nihonto and related arts. The two are really quite different Regards,

Dear All, It has come to my attention that there seems to be widespread disagreement regarding the dates for various Japanese historical periods. Take for example, the Muromachi period. One history text book gives it as starting between 1336-1338. http://histories.cambridge.org/extract? ... 223546A006 Then there's Encyclopaedia Britannica, which gives 1338-1573: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/top ... chi-period Japan Guide, which gives it as 1333-1573 http://www.Japan-guide.com/e/e2134.html The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, which gives it as 1392-1573 http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/muro/hd_muro.htm Art and Archaeology, which gives 1392-1573 http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/time ... machi.html The Web Museum in Paris, which gives it as 1338-1573 http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/Japan/muromachi.html The University of Idaho, which gives 1392-1573 http://www.caa.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwe ... period.htm And the Asia Society, in America, which gives 1392-1568 http://www.asiasocietymuseum.org/region ... apterID=39 And Wikipedia gives 1337-1573 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muromachi_period Though the majority seem to think that the period ends in 1573, not all do, and there are many dates given for the start. Can someone please tell me the correct dates for the Muromachi (and/or all) period(s)?

Swimming in Japanese armour: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19878571

No limit budget? Yoshimitsu...

Thank you very much for this Stefan! I remember your website, and looking for it recently and being disappointed that I couldnt find it. I think this should be a sticky or go in the articles section, excellent resource.

Fastastic news Ken! When's the next one?

Thanks to the knowledgeable NMB contributors and to our kind host Brian! It is worth noting that although giving/getting advice here is free, running a website is not. Im good untill March when I will renew my annual membership "fee". I hope that all can give something to keep NMB floating and ship-shape for years to come.

Hi Brian M, Looks like this blade could have two fatal flaws in the kissaki area alone. The first is the Ha-Gire (means a break or crack in the 'ha', 'ha' meaning edge), and there also appears to be Nioi-Gire (in this case nioi referring to the hardened hamon area, the phrase meaning a break in the hamon or hardened crystalline edge). In this sword the hamon appears to run off the blade around the oddly positioned yokote. Because there is 'nioi-gire' here, there is no boshi. Boshi refers to the integral tempered area inside the kissaki, since the temperline runs off the blade at that point, there is no tempering in the kissaki, and thus there is no boshi. As Brian stated, it is important to remember that although it makes sense logically, one cannot rely on the presence of a decent habaki and shirasaya to judge a blade - these may be indicators of a decent blade but they can also be made quickly (or sourced second hand, contrary to popular belief, not all habaki were made for the swords on which they currently sit..! and even shirasaya can be modified to fit other blades). These are essentially 'props' used for the purpose of SELLING otherwise dud blades. I know it sounds bad but it will do you good in the long run to be extremely wary of all sellers (who are not personally known to you), but especially those on Ebay. Treat the Ebay folk and their wares to the same discerning eye you unfairly reserve solely for used car salesmen. You MUST be at least an accomplished novice collector before you start to play around on ebay snaffling up every sub $1000 blade you see expecting not to get burned. If you do not, 95% of your purchases will be sub-par blades and you will only recoup your losses getting lucky and selling to misguided and ignorant parties. Would you take your car expert friend to a used car sale then ignore every piece of advice he gave you? Please read http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/kizu.htm Afterwards, please read that whole website. Familiarize yourself with the canonical knowledge regarding Nihonto. I can not understand how you can be so interested in Nihonto and yet simultaneously be so opposed to the uptake of any information the people here offer you. (Are you just trolling?? ) That said...each to his own - but when you hold a true, properly polished Nihonto masterpiece in your hand you wont look back!

Ken, the following is completely personal opinion...I enjoy refitting blades originally in incomplete, broken or low quality koshirae with a complete set of presentable koshirae. Some might say that I should be able to appreciate a blade in shirasaya, which I can, but honestly I just prefer to look at and handle complete swords, I get more pleasure from it. In the case of your Kiyomaro, if it were I, I would as Barry said, either purchase a complete koshirae and have it remade for your blade, or simply commission an entirely new koshirea from someone whos work you really admire. I would tend towards the latter, what with such a blade being unique and personal. Fantasizing now, it would probably take me a year or so to decide upon the general designs and theme of the koshirae...who would make it would come down to who had the time, but would be between less than a handful of people I know of, (two of which are not Japanese) all of whom make some of the finest contemporary fittings available today. I would say, if it is for your personal enjoyment, make it personal (commission your own work). I believe that in the end, your enjoyment will be even greater.

Grev, Looks like you actually got a pretty nice sword there. Maybe you went about it the wrong way but you ended up with something not bad at all, well done on that front. Please share with the board your UK customs story. Im sure it was a lovely experience. I have discovered only one way around this farce - FedEx - who as a company clearly bungs HM's Customs to keep their business model in check; if customs looked at all FedEx packages their model would collapse and the company would go OB. There must be something lubricating the wheels.

Also copying Hidento's header style...

I don't know what was his personal favorite but remember something about him testing blades for Akihide.

Never heard anything about a "functional edge", nor am I quite sure what you mean by it. A battered old koto blade with a chipped and rusted edge is still 'nihonto' - Japanese sword. Nihonto means Japanese sword, as in a real sword made in Japan...but nothing about condition or polish or sharpness or edge. lol wut? This I can agree with..to some extent at least.

Does anyone know about which of the ko-ryu use "long" wakizashi, and if so, how long these blades tend to be?

I have no doubt it is a good point, but this is quite interesting... Franco, when you say "become a fixture", do you mean that Edo soldiers would carry a wakizashi to battle rather than a daito, or just in addition to a daito?

Oh boy here it comes...

Hi Keith, (in another thread...) I agree...I think it could be misleading when people talk about all Japanese swords around this length referring to them as "wakizashi", irrespective of the period they came from - perhaps they were not intended to be "wakizashi" as we understand the terminology today; they could instead have been the *first* sidearm (as in "main" sword), rather than a secondary sidearm. Would this be correct? Also worth noting...I have heard advice from several collectors stating things like "stay well away from swords of this length" citing reasons like they were likely for merchants (spit) rather than 'true samurai'. I ask, is it not possible that a 'true samurai' at some point in time (mid 1500s) carried a sword with a blade just under 2 shaku?

Hi Keith, I agree...I think it could be misleading when people talk about all Japanese swords around this length referring to them as "wakizashi", irrespective of the period they came from - perhaps they were not intended to be "wakizashi" as we understand the terminology today; they could instead have been the *first* sidearm (as in "main" sword), rather than a secondary sidearm. Would this be correct? Also worth noting...I have heard advice from several collectors stating things like "stay well away from swords of this length" citing reasons like they were likely for merchants (spit) rather than 'true samurai'. I ask, is it not possible that a 'true samurai' at some point in time (mid 1500s) carried a sword with a blade just under 2 shaku? PS. Should probably continue this in the other thread....

Thomas, Thanks for taking the time to reply. Great info. I suppose my question should have been more along the lines of, would a sword this length (59cm+) have been carried alongside another sword, and if so, would this other sword have been longer or shorter? (ie, would the 59cm sword have been the "long"sword of the two or would it likely have been the shorter?) Or...is this something we simply can not speculate on? I have heard of some swordfighting schools and ko-ryu stipulating "very long" wakizashi as companion swords, but have never really gotten to the bottom of just how long these "long wakizashi" are. It would seem to me that 59cm being so close to 2 shaku it could almost count as 2 shaku in terms of usage and technique employed in use. My real question is, generally speaking, given the timeframe of the sword I mention (mid 1500s), would it have been considered a short long sword or a long short sword? (Today we call it a long short sword because of the Edo classification - in this case, would this be correct or neglectful of original intention?)

From another thread: I have a 59 point something cm ubu blade from around mid 1500s. "Technically" speaking it is a wakizashi, being slightly under 60cm in length, but should I really consider it a smaller uchigatana...or, dare I say it...a "katateuchi"?? (http://www.shibuiswords.com/katateuchi.htm) The sword is ubu with a ha of between 59cm and 60cm, it was likely made around 1550, would that make this kind of blade meant for Katate-Uchi?

Correct - don't sweat it. Also, keep posting pics of your blades, Im enjoying seeing the details of your collecting This is interesting. I have a 59 point something cm ubu blade from around mid 1500s and I dont really consider it a wakizashi...more of a smallish longsword. "Technically" speaking it is a wakizashi, but should I really consider it a smaller uchigatana...or, dare I say it...a "katateuchi"?? (http://www.shibuiswords.com/katateuchi.htm) If a sword was 59cm and made AFTER 1532, would this then not be a Katate-Uchi?

I imagine you are going to sell it faster and probably get more combined total for it if you split the menuki, FK and tsuba up and sell them individually. They are nice as individual pieces but none are matching... Probably goes without saying but keep the saya (+kurigata and kojiri) intact and sell as is.

Hello there good sir! Always good to see a kindred spirit..