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Hello: Another very good suggestion Peter. An excellent essay that provides some of the economic and cultural background that helps "make sense" of our fascination with the samurai and their weapons. Without that context the role of the sword would make about as much sense as would collecting postage stamps without understanding the meaning of a postal system. Lots of good references for further reading too. Arnold F.

Hello: The Nagamori serial number seems too low for that year, though I don't have full comparators. Arnold F.

Hello: Thank you Peter for the excellent citation. I believe that all collectors of Nihonto, particularly newer collectors, can significantly enhance their understanding of the sword and its social context by exposure to all things complementary to the samurai culture such as you posted. Arnold F.

Hell: Yes outstanding digression Ford! That seems to open a window to what sort of thoughts go through the mind of a shinsa judge in trying to sort out the appropriate points or grade of paper to award to a particular piece, along with of course many other considerations. Arnold F.

Hello: Doubtless a wonderful blade and as a mu mei to have a particular attribution. Nudging as it does into Early Kamakura it is interesting to note the rather atypically large kissaki. Arnold F.

Hi Grant: Thanks for the info. I had used them before for getting some of that old fashioned oshigata paper I believe. Worked out fine. Arnold F.

Hello: Does anyone know of a source for high quality boxes for tsuba, kozuka and other sorts of kodogu? Arnold F.

Hello: Part or all of the following has already been mentioned, but a couple comments might be value adding. 1.Designated blades at the level of Juyo Bijutsuhin (now disestablished as a category), Juyo Bunkazai, and Kokuho cannot be taken or sold outgoing from Japan, and as far as I know all registered sword dealers must get signed off before any sword, irrespective of level, that they sell, can be exported. 2. The NBTHK is at most a quasi-governmental organization, and the overall authority over all antique items rests with the Cultural Ministry. The NBTHK makes no award or designation above Tokubetsu Juyo, though the Sword Museum, as it is often referred to, is a custodian of many most highly rated blades as are other museums and institutions in Japan. 3.All things related to the sword "matter" including tosogu, koshirae, katchu, etc., are collected, preserved and treasured. Sword koshirae, when in use, last about a generation, and early koshirae are very rare to extremely rare. 4.Given #3 of course many koshirae will be much newer then is its go with blade, but no blade if in top polish is ever put into any koshirae, rather it is stored in a shirasaya. 5, See #3. 6. Japan is probably at the top of any list of countries that care for and societally admire all their historical cultural objects, and they go to great efforts to keep the technology of making those things alive, rewarded and appreciated. The modern shinsakuto are a good example, but the same holds for textiles, carpentry techniques, ceramics, etc. Arnold F.

Hello: Is there a single (?) kanji showing on the obverse left?? Arnold F.

Hello: In the newly published Yushu volume of the NTHK (NPO) published in 2015, and very closely following the three earlier similar volumes done by the Yoshikawa version of the NTHK when under the direction of Yoshikawa Koen sensei, there are two Masamune, both described as "Den, Soshu Masamune". I believe I was able to handle one of them in Japan, if it is indeed the same blade, and it is a very fine and healthy 2.27 shaku sword and dated to Shoo (1288-93). I have seen a number of other Masamune in Japan, but not in hand, and some of them cannot hold a candle to the one illustrated in the NPO catalog. The sword, however, was most assuredly not in the Tampa shinsa. By the way for the collector willing to spend a few bucks on books, all four of these NTHK catalogs are very well worth having. The Koen versions have somewhat more text and are available in translation, but certainly OP now, and the NPO version is fresh but not quite a rich in text and at least for the moment not in translation. What is most valuable about all four is the examples shown, which by implication, give you a feel for the criteria differences between the NBTHK's Juyo selections and the somewhat different, but no less valid, criteria of the NTHK. I believe that the various bookdealers have them, at least the older ones, from time to time. Arnold F.

Hello: Backwards on the left; will be nice to see mei. Well thought out and executed piece and reflecting an earlier time. I would guess Bakumatsu armor maker, or otherwise by a sword smith. Certainly would paper. Now how is that for sticking one's neck out? Arnold F.

Hello: Somewhat difficult to judge age with a cleaned nakago. The Kaifu blades have a general bad rap on account of the tool-like examples done during shinshinto times. The NBTHK paper is unhelpful as to date. Koto Kaifu is an entirely different story. Harry Afu Watson had a translation quarterly some years ago that contained an excellent article on blades of that area. Ujiyoshi was a good line and some rate well. The article praised their general quality in koto times and particularly their Soshu utsushi (copies). If memory serves it pointed out that there have been some successfully passing as Go Yoshihiro. If so it would be hard to find higher praise. I don't have that article anymore but Grey Doffin might be helpful. Arnold F.

Hello: Well worth attending. Mark Jones does a great job as promoter. Arnold F.

Hello: You might be on the right track there Mike, but your conclusion is rather restrictive. With so many thousands of men working as smiths during the koto era it is unrealistic in almost all cases to say that a particular smith's name given has a 1.0 probability of being that man, however from an expert judge you can get fairly close. Characteristics of shape, jihada and yakiba will allow a fairly close focus on time, tradition and school. Within the school designation, once arrived at, the judge will have a hierarchy of names, if he thinks he can go as far as a particular name, that is one of more than one with that name, and the name chosen will tend to reflect the quality the judge sees in the blade which can correlate to a particular smith. By the same token when a particular name isn't mentioned within a school, the school alone can be mentioned and you can be fairly sure that a responsible judge doesn't feel that he can narrow to a man. To go one step further in some cases a judge can't even be sure of the time period within a school or even the school within a tradition, thus yielding calls like Tegai, or Sue Tegai, or Mihara if not quite as good as Enju, or Enju in place of a step up to Rai. I consider those sorts of calls, as frustrating for the owner as they might be, just the product of an honest judging system where particularity is impossible. Arnold F.

Hello: For sure poaching and the demand for ivory are an intertwined problem threatening the elephant, particularly in Africa. However we should not assume that an absolute ivory ban, hopefully restricted to contemporary ivory, is a sufficient solution to species threat. Human population in Africa is projected to grow very rapidly over the next few decades, faster than anywhere else on earth, and the elephant is a food competitor for man in the African agricultural environment in that a mature elephant must consume prodigious amounts of vegetation every day of their long lives. When man and animal come into completion for food and growing space, the loser is inevitably the wild animal, and the fact that it carries ivory is beside the point. In US terms the Fish and Wildlife folk repeatedly try to reintroduce the wolf into areas of their former habitat, and when the odd sheep or lamb provides a meal for the wolf the rancher protest are loud and clear and local politicians and state officials who get the word know what they have to do for the wolf gets no vote. Arnold F.

Hello: #3 above with the gold and shakudo, the picture not doing the later full credit as it is a gorgeous blue/black shakudo (which Brian might make himself?), made for a rather large and thick nakago of a koto naginata-naoshi in 2012 was $1,250.00. I would consider that a reasonable price and it once again, at least for me, demonstrated that the best workmanship in Japanese sword restoration costs little more if anymore than the run of the mill, however wait time can be an entirely different issue. As Raymond says however, along with his other valid observations, there is not just one price for a habaki or saya as small differences presented in each situation might seem simple and straight forward, but they could present real time consuming challenges for the craftsman, thus increasing cost substantially. Arnold F.

Hello Oleg: I did not mention Hon'ami Koson as I was staying within the group closely identified with the NBTHK which had been the focus of the thread. Koson is controversial as it seems, for reasons not entirely clear to me, though he certainly had substantial stature prior to WWII and he had a number of well know students including Albert Yamanaka, John Yumoto, Murakami sensei of the Toen-sha, and I believe Nakayama Kokan if memory serves. I have never had a sayagaki by Koson though I do treasure one of his kinpunmei on an Enju Kunitoki. I have had a couple of sayagaki by the late Yoshikawa Koen who is very much respected by many who knew him, quite a number being in the US. His sayagaki were somewhat brief but he did add some textual additional information that was not just descriptive. Kajihara (Kotoken) the polisher also did sayagaki, some in the US and Canada, and I believe he might also have been a student of Hon'ami Koson. Frankly the neatest sayagaki are by the smith himself and there are a few gendai smiths who did that, so in that sense they are really from the horse's mouth. I believe there are some shinsakuto smiths who do that as well, and as such they should be looked at just like the inscribed boxes of ceramic artists, painters and the like, and as Darcy says about swords, they're very complementary. Arnold F.

Hello: This has been a long and educational thread with lots of interesting input, however I think that too much weight ought not to be given to the length of written sayagaki or even to the elaboration of its content. Tanobe sensei (Tanzan) is an outstanding and highly respected scholar and his comments and opinions are always of interest and value, however the lengthy examples, somewhat positively correlated with the time of their writing in his career, are perhaps a particular personal trait of his as much as anything. Other respected scholars who have written sayagaki have often been much more terse in all examples. Homma Junji (Kunzan), for example wrote a number of sayagaki and the examples I have seen have tended to be short and to the descriptive point and they are certainly value adding. The weight was in his willingness to certify a blade in that way, and that alone was sufficient. Drs. Homma and Sato (Kanzan), the latter also writing many sayagaki on the shorter side, were the two co-founders, I think it would be fair to say, of the NBTHK. Arnold F.

Hello: Sayagaki tend to be value adding in several ways, and if papers are lost, stolen or destroyed and if Juyo is mentioned in the sayagaki, that can be very helpful in securing a re-confirmation of the original paper. If you have a Yushu saku blade then a sayagaki from either Yoshikawa sensei or Miyano sensei, depending on the issuing NTHK group, would be really nice. I don't know if either does sayagaki but the late Yoshikawa Koen did and they are quite wonderful. A market inference alone should point you to getting one as Tanobe sensei is quite busy with demand for them. By the way the Fujishiro kanteisho are much respected, at least by me. Arnold F.

Hi Everyone: I emailed Chris Bowen, who is now probably totally exhausted, and asked him to add more comment about the shinsa when he can. It was great to see that Miyano sensei made it as up to a day before departure he had misplaced his passport and I believe he was also briefly hospitalized, but did not want to disappoint once again by having to cancel. Arnold F.

Hello: The above posts primarily discuss what was to be the forthcoming Tampa show and the get together of NMB folk once there, so what follows tries to describe for those not attending what the show and shinsa was like. I hope Chris Bowen, who organized and wrangled the shinsa to the point of fatigue,will pitch in with further clarification of the shinsa outcome and highlights. The Tampa show was terrific, held as usual at the airport Marriott, a favorite for fly in folks on logisitic grounds. It was well attended with quite a few local visitors on Saturday The usual US dealers were there with many real treasures on view and for sale. I didn't see any dealers from Japan who were set up, but Mr. Ando, a major Japanese dealer, was there walking around for several days, saying hello to his many friends and probably taking some nice stuff back home. The show was promoted by Bill Green, it featured the usual auction as well as educational demonstrations by Japanese archery practitioners, a cutting session by Bob Elder with hands on tries by show attendees, and a terrific display by the NBTHK, American Branch, of off the wall things actually carried by samurai such as outsized fittings on koshirae, hidden compartments in saya, a concealed telescope in a saya, and the like. On display there was a wakizashi koshirae from the Muromachi era. It looked ordinary at first glance but stood out for its rarity as such things are far rarer than blades of the same era, being that koshirae were regularly replaced as time past and fashions and techniques changed, and the old koshirae were discarded. The shinsa was busy from Thursday morning through Sunday. It was conducted by the NTHK (NPO) with Miyano sensei as sword judge and Ohashi sensei as judge of tosogu and koshirae. As far as I could tell the quality of things presented at the shinsa were better than in past shinsa and the points awarded tended to be higher in proportion. A designation of 78 points and above was an implicit invitation to send the item to Japan for consideration for the organizations coveted Yushu designation. Attendees were happy to see that Miyano sensei was able to come as his health has not been well. He is a renowned sword judge and has won more NBTHK judging contest than anyone in Japan according to Chris Bowen. For me the most interesting event was held late Saturday when Miyano sensei delivered comments on a half dozen or so excellent blades which I believe had not been in the shinsa but were made available for his off the cuff comments without prior preparation, followed by a Q & A session open to any questions everything being interpreted by Chris Bowen. Miyano sensei pointed out that the Gokaden we are now so familiar with is a quite recent categorization system innovated by Hon'ami Koson about a hundred years ago and everything does not fall neatly within it. In the Q & A session he mention at least a half-dozen times that the key to identifying groups and smiths was the hamon, probably meaning the entire yakiba, and it has been his focus of daily study throughout the years. He linked that observation to the caution not to believe that book study alone is sufficient, and by implication I took that to mean that when he stressed his study of hamon each day that he meant with blade examples actually in hand. He pointed out that judgments about who made a mumei blade were just opinions and those judgments could vary viewer to viewer, but good assessment required the blades to be in a good state of polish. Interestingly he urged us to participate in kantei contests as published regularly by the NBTHK in Token Bijutsu, and by the NTHK, and if we have questions to "send him a postcard!" When asked about his favorite smith he said he had no favorite, a wonderful blade is a wonderful blade, and like the comparison between two beautiful women, well its in the eye of the beholder. He did point out that for blade type he preferred the handling qualities of a rather straight Kanbun style sword and contrasted that with the more awkward kinetic feel of contemporary blades made in emulation of early koto tachi shapes, though he added that impression was derived from his own earlier participation in kendo. Had he been on a horse rather than on foot he might have felt differently I thought. When asked about gendai blade qualities he said he thought that gendai were better than shinshinto, however I believe he was expressing admiration for shinsakuto rather than gendai in its more narrow usage of blades made between the Haitorei and 1945. Perhaps Chris could clarify. Finally Miyano sensei was asked about the state of collecting in Japan today and in particular about the appreciation of swords by younger people. The answer was the expected observation about ageing older collectors and the lack of sufficient interest on the part of younger Japanese today. He said that women are getting interested in swords but that was driven by some passing media phenomenon. Arnold F.

Hello: By the sword in the Compton Collection Wah I assume you mean the one that sold in the March 31, 1992 sale. That one was signed Yamaura Tamaki Masayuki with the very value adding sayagaki of Homma Kunzan. It was not a Juyo, was estimated at $20-30,000, and sold for $242,000. It is not clear whether the sword Tsuruta san is selling is the one that he refers to from the sale room. Could be, but recall that the JPY in 1986 ranged between 200 and 154 to the USD, so if we assume it was the same blade then the dollar cost was around 285,000 at the mid-point, and 27,000,000 JPY today would be around 235,000 USD. A bad investment? Well art investment, when RISK is taken into consideration, is not the kind of thing you want your financial advisor to put you into. The only return on art objects are possible dollar appreciation (in real terms!), and the psychic income you get from ownership. If we assume they are the same sword, that inflation can be ignored and that it actually sells for the starting price, then 50,000 USD difference is the psychic return derived over 30 years of ownership, or about $1,700 per year. Some folks would consider that a small "cost" for owning a fine Kiyomaro/Masayuki and a foregone dollar gain well worth it. Arnold F.

Hello Wah: No disagreement at all. Arnold F.

Hello: Thanks for the name correction Joe; not enough coffee this AM! I have a Hideaki myself. Yes Wah, there are a number of unknowns, however I would think that working with material from the Battleship Mikasa with its connection to Admiral Togo and that great Tsushima victory for Japan would not just be another day at the office so to speak, and would have the best practical effort of any smith. My theme on that blade is that whatever combination of material and labor inputs that went into them, they are something special and last night's buyer should be pleased. Arnold F.

Hello: After all the confusion over duplicate and different prices which led to no correction by Aoi, the tanto sold last night for 361,000 JPY from a starting price of 280,000 JPY, with four bids (not necessarily four bidders) in the run. Wah suggests that "...Mikasa tantos with a few exception were mass produced and do not hold up to Toshihide's general work. They may even be made by his students." I don't know about the quality comparison but I do grant that students may have helped to some extent. I believe some folks know how to distinguish between master and student, though doubtless there is no data as to proportions of the total, that being 1,653 blades made up of 229 swords and 1,424 tanto ot two grades. I would take exception though to the term "mass produced" as that term speaks less to absolute number than as a reference to the division of labor, I doubt that a division of labor was employed in manufacture, but I believe that each blade was made by one man, and most of them probably by Hideaki himself. Fujishiro Okisato, reporting on the Nippon To Tanren-Kai at the Yasukuni Jinja, has stated that without the use of machines 15 blades per month is "...probably the maximum practical number possible without using machines." The production period for the Mikasa blades was 53 months and if we assume, reasonably I think, that tanto could be made at twice the 15 per month rate, and that tanto were 86% of total production, then 1,424 tanto could be made by one man in 47 months, leaving 6 months for an output of 90 blades. That leaves 139 blades unaccounted for with just one smith at work. The number of assistant smiths is unknown but it does not seem unreasonable that some combination of tanto and those blades could have readily been accommodated within the 53 month period by using very few assistants and perhaps none at various times. The useful Fujishiro output reference by the way is found in Programme 134, Nov., 1987 of the British Token Society. Finally, the whole import of the Mikasa blades is the "special sauce" added to the blade making process by the historical and spiritual addition of that particular steel, though its proportion must have been quite small. That is the same aura that is associated with blades made at the Yasukuni Jinja and at the Minatogawa Jinja, and which also set them off as something special. Arnold F.