seattle1

Hello: Mr. Jorgensen's link to Tsuruta san's Aoi-Art posting presents a rather disturbing document for a new collector to digest and act upon, because it is not written by an amateur or uninformed person. Tsuruta san runs a small shop in Tokyo that is well known to collectors in Japan and beyond as is Tsuruta himself. It sells some very excellent swords as well as modest swords at very reasonable prices, however the posting about do it yourself polishing is nothing less than inexplicable. Most experienced collectors and groups of which they are members would tend to condemn such advice and practices. The skill required to polish a sword is very hard won, involves a long and demanding course of study under a professional polisher which provides not only the skills required to polish, but also the knowledge required to know just what they are polishing. Polishing is a reductive process and when gross errors are made, as they surely would be by an untrained beginner, the damage is fatal. Yes, polishing is expensive as it almost always requires a new habaki and shirasaya as well. The training period is long and arduous, skilled practitioners are few, and the waiting periods can be long. If a sword is worth polishing, though many, probably the majority of swords in existence are not, it should be done by the best polisher one can find. To my knowledge there is only one polisher in the US who has had a full apprenticeship, and that is Jimmy Hayashi in San Francisco, however there are other excellent polishers in the US, Bob Benson most certainly, and I have seen fine work from several others who I would not hesitate to use. Each of these men has something no amateur has, and that is not just skill, but caution and conservatism in approach and an unwillingness to go beyond what is appropriate for the blade. Many westerners know Mishina Kenji in Japan, and his skills acquired under a National Treasure polisher, are also outstanding. There are other polishers not known personally to me, who would have similar skills and attitudes. For a rather lengthy discussion of Jimmy Hayashi's background, see Togishi Shigekazu Jimmy Hayashi: A Report and Interview in the JSS/US Newsletter, Vol.31, No. 4-5-6, 1999, pp.51-62. This is a big world and there are doubtless competent, but not untrained, polishers elsewhere, who can do good work. Perhaps other NMB Members could supply some names and experiences. Arnold F.

Hello: This doesn't exactly fit your question, but it might be close. Some few years ago Guelph University in Ontario, Canada had some faculty who were very interested in newer swords and I believe kendo. For several summers they ran a course, not necessarily a for credit type course, where enrollees were taught how to forge a tanto and did so. That took place in St. Jacob's, Ontario where an iron worker had a working forge available for summer use. I met one prof there who was taking the course, he from MIT, and he pointed out to me that his school crest or logo featured a forge harkening back to the origins of that institution. You might contact Guelph University to see if that activity is still underway. I am sorry I do not remember the Guelph faculty members name or his department. Arnold F.

Hello: This has ben a useful and educational thread, however to add one more dimension I would point out that papers, any papers, new or old, should be considered on a confidence level scale quite differently if they are for a mu mei sword, either due to suriage or never having been signed, vs. one that is signed. I have the impression that that differential is much more compressed when expressed in any currency than it ought to be. Any shinsa judge would hold his own certainty more tentatively with an unsigned than with a signed piece and the market should significantly reflect that uncertainty, but from casual observation that does not seem to be so. There is far less wiggle room on signed pieces as a documentary record can be consulted bringing the issue of right or not down very narrowly, aside from any qualitative considerations of the blade. Shinsa judges carry around labels of convenience with which to sort mu mei blades that do not scream their own identity. I don't know what the differential ought to be for a signed blade, other things equal, but I believe it ought to be substantial. That doesn't seem to be reflected in market price. With any unsigned blade the judge can only say maybe. The moral to this story, if there is one, is that earlier papers for signed blades are quite a different thing than for unsigned, and that is no less true today than it ever was. I would be curious to know what list members think the confidence premium ought to be for a signed blade with a paper, and then how that should factor into market price. Those impacts are not necessarily proportionate. Arnold F.

Hello: Thank you Mariusz for the excellent discussion of den, ha and mon referenced from Darcy Brockbank's writings. It is really educational. If I could add a small gloss, probably applicable to either the Den as in Gokaden meaning, or the specification for an individual smith meaning, it would be to point out that it is usually taken as a negative comment when found on a paper, and that belief is so strong that it gets integrated into a somewhat lower price than were it not there for the same blade. The market interprets it as an introduction of uncertainty, and markets not liking uncertainty, the consequence is a discount. I cannot track down the reference, but if memory serves, Tanobe sensei once noted that while it implies a difference from the standard "ideal type", it was not necessarily bad, just different. That would seem to imply that if a smith achieved something nice, beyond the usual expectation of tradition or individual it could as easily be value adding as value reducing depending on what the difference is. Arnold F.

Hello: Shitahara. Arnold F.

Hello: Some pretty good advice was give, however beware of the "its worth what you are willing to pay" dictum, as in fact the object of your affection might be worth considerably less. Willingness to pay and ability to pay are necessary requirements, but the real question, as you posed, is what is it worth? I think Chris Bowen came very close with the notion that the buyer has to have the ability to assess quality as the notion of "quality" captures much of the multidimensional differences that each individual blade carries. The skill of quality assessment implies much study and knowledge of the criteria for a good blade and such can be acquired by book study, show attendance, conversations with fellow collectors and with dealers. There is lots of that kind of help out there for the seeker. Along the way you pick up some insight into a reasonable price by observing, as one does in the real estate market, sale prices, not asking prices, for comparables. Along the way you will also learn something about the rank orders of traditions, schools and smiths, as well as time periods. All other things equal a fine Kamakura era Yamashiro sword should be worth a multiple of a minor regional maker, as fine s that object might be. Good hunting. Arnold F.

Hello: Well Jason you got some pretty good advice, I thought particularly from Dr. Stein. Specifically to your question, what makes a great tsuba, I would with some apology to George Orwell for a slight paraphrase point out: "In aesthetics, the worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them." You can only really answer the question for yourself. Beware of all the canons of "good" or "bad" taste, the superiority of one group or another, one artist or another, for with tsuba what to collect - presumably that follows the question you posed - is very much an individual choice. Do not adopt the tastes of others if for no other reason that there are so many "others". There is no universal rule or agreement as to what is good. It is easy to forget that with swords there have been hundreds of years of narrowing down from the output of thousands of smiths and various "schools" to some pretty generally agreed upon hierarchy of a descending order from the greatest to the ordinary, however for tsuba little strong scholarship, if any, antedated the work of Akiyama Kyusaku, d. 1936. As was also true for the typing of the gokaden for swords, the preliminary grouping of tsuba goes back no further than Meiji times. Few of the boundaries of groups, to say nothing of the ranking of individual makers, if they are even known, are firming in place today. Collect what you like and what you come to like can be honed to some extent by exposure to the literature, particularly good illustrations from great collections with good reflective commentary on the individual objects. Meeting other collectors in regional groups or at shows and sharing views and appreciation of individual objects can be very helpful. Some collectors will focus on period, some on tsuba-ko or kinko, some on sukashi, some on signed or not, some on the "big ticket" stuff only, others on excellent tsuba that will not break the bank. Always remember that all boundaries in this area are in flux and no one person's opinion is supreme over all others. To get started I would suggest that you ask yourself if workmanship and technical expertise is the basis of the tsuba that interest you the most, or is it the aesthetic power or projection of the object? Only in the hands of the greatest makers do those two things combine. Each is worthy of admiration, but they are not the same thing. For me personally the the greatness comes from the meaning of the design. I do not mean the "story" that so many tsuba display of some incident in Japanese history, the sort of things detailed in Henri Joly's LEGEND in Japanese ART, though they are loved by many, endless and fun to noodle out. I mean what did the devices on a tsuba, particularly on ko-tosho and ko-katchushi, mean to the samurai who carried that tsuba on his sword on a day to day basis? It is that evocation of sentiment of the times and the hopes and fears of the individual warrior that I find most interesting. But latch on to what interests you, what you find aesthetically pleasing. Our tastes are our own and no one's is superior to that of another. De gustibus non est disputandum. Arnold F.

Hello: Thanks Peter for the very interesting new thread, its originality witnessed by the quality, if not always fully agreeing, responses illicited. I have noticed many of the "quirks" of Japanese collectors, but never put them together in a useful paradigm. Did you major in anthropology or what? Arnold F.

Hello: I sense we are now on the same page Curran and as I suggested in my first post trying to stir up some interest in the topic, a careful buyer might do well at the forthcoming Bonham's sale. However, again it is the play of opposite forces that really matter. It will be like the beef boycott ploy mentioned earlier. Will the net effect of the temporarily lower price lead to market entry and increase demand through some sort of cascade effect, hence driving up prices (at Bonham's from this analogy), or will the boycott effect be net stronger? In any event some (helmets?) may go for less than otherwise, even if the gross revenue derived from the sale is depressed. Good luck! Arnold F.

Hello: Well Curran I don't think the initial post related to the insights of a business finance course, it was a simple attempt to play on the implications of how auctions, and direct sale markets for that matter, can be affected by the unknown. The funding issue is the main actor in the story, the second, if they join hands, is the debt limit and its entirely unknown impact, beyond of course, chaos. The issue is not the 1% as no major auction house in the world could avoid bankruptcy if that was their entire clientele. The suggestion was that perhaps the uncertainty of the extant and impending might - might - benefit some selective buyers. By risk free we mean free of the risk of default, the premium over the nominal for the US bond being the lowest, zero I suggest, in the world. It is nothing more than the risk free opportunity cost, the nominal, of the borrowed funds. With default that advantage is lost and prior to revaluation the value of everything else is simply unknown. It is not a currency play issue as I see it. Yes the Cdn. dollar, the Aussie and the Swiss Franc may attract interest and some other currencies other than the dollar approach or my even have zero default premia, but none are world reserve currencies. The Japanese, the Chinese and others have drunk the Cool Aide on that from time to time, but without takers. If the US defaults and I don't think it will once the pols take a cold shower, but should it the consequences will far far over shadow anything at all having to do with art auction markets. Arnold F.

Hello: Henk-Jan it is exactly a distinction that I tried to make between the conventional notion of art buying over time, or at a time when "the coast is clear" which were the themes of the references you supplied, vs. the impact of an exogenous shock like a US debt default which is the setting for the Bonham and other auctions scheduled for the near future. I believe that the most obvious effect of very much heightened uncertainty is for people in the art market to hold off, however as I said it is a matter of net effects. The directions of some effects are both clear and contrary to one another, it is the empirical weight that matters, and for that it is anyone's guess. The current unanticipated uncertainty might provide a good buying time for some, but it might not. That is not circular, just an expression of unknowns. A standard introductory economic question is to ask students if a boycott of a high priced product, suppose it is beef, would fall if a consumer boycott is organized. Most say "yes", however the more thoughtful ones might say, correctly, that some folks will violate the boycott and buy the temporarily cheaper beef and substitute it for, say, pork. The strength of that effect will leave beef prices unchanged, not be enough to counter the downward trend in price, or raise it. From argument alone, one can't say. As for Bonham's I think I would rather be a selective buyer than a seller. Curran, again I don't think you addressed the black swann. As for holding non-USD denominated assets, are you kidding? The risk free US borrowing ability is literally the foundation upon which every other priced asset, government bonds, foreign currency, equities, hard durables like houses, etc. in the world is priced to a greater or lesser degree. There is no where to hid should the US default. That is not a scare scenario. The politicians haven't got it yet because of all the distracting political noise, but I think there is a good chance that they will. Arnold F.

Hello: Well yes KM I do think the 1% does care and care vitally about money; they didn't win it in a lottery and most didn't inherit it. Even more strongly I think auctions, Bonham's number just came up, are very substantially affected by abrupt market conditions. I also think that no auctions would be held for swords and armor and the like if the market were just the 1%. Again, I have no data but I suspect the typical buyer at most such auctions are quite a few percentiles away from that major upper 1%. Chris Bowen is exactly right on the Compton - I couldn't go, teaching economics of all things - but I understand they really did not know what to expect, though after the first few sales, the champagne began to flow, figuratively speaking. They had put their chips on red, and red came up. I do hope that the budget foolishness does get over this weekend and that the debt limit issue will be faced squarely (there is no reason to have it at all except for the political mileage that can be made out of it), for if it does lead to a US default, watch out as you've seen nothing yet! Arnold F.

Hello: What impact will the current economic impasse in Washington, DC, have on the forthcoming Bonham's auction in NY, Oct. 8? Who knows, but it will be interesting to watch. I have no data to present, however I have observed on several occasions that expectations about an auction have been badly derailed by some unanticipated event - a stock market cave in, a political crisis, a major terrorist threat, etc. That demonstrates once again the "black swans" representing the unknown, the exogenous event, anything that confirms man's inability to see what is around the corner, can occur. There is a rather nice sale planned for the 8th and undoubtedly no one saw the economic storm clouds coming. It is bad enough that Congress cannot agree on the financing of programs they themselves had approved, but it is much worse that the impasse may carry over to the perfect storm of a join up with the issue of a US Federal debt (borrowing) limit. If lifting the limit does not occur the US will face an historically unprecedented crisis. It is bad enough that aggregate Government expenditure will cease as tax revenue alone will not cover programed expenditures, but worse yet bond and stock markets world wide will be in chaos. The public does not yet realize that the mechanism for the latter is related to the now current risk free Government obligation rates that characterize all US Federal debt. Once risk is introduced US borrowing rates will rise and the Federal rates will spill over into all bond rates domestic and foreign. Insofar as stock and bonds are alternative assets, stock prices are partial functions of bond rates and then stock values every where in the world will, for a while, be beyond calculation. Markets will fall. What about auction sales? The uncertainty over the foregoing will make most buyers reluctant to buy anything, and insofar as some buyer of swords and armor believe they are making "investments" (they are not), they will step out of the market until the DC struggles are over. The moral to this story is that for a careful buyer the things they are interested in will likely go for less than they otherwise would. This in fact might be a good time to buy! That implies "all other things equal" of course, but they never are. Buyer X might not be bothered by other variables, however buyer Y might be, for example if he thinks a borrowing impasse in Washington will devalue assets he owns and that so called "wealth effect" will make him poorer, so why spend at an auction? Expectations are everything and while I do not how the sale will be affected because it is impossible to know the auction performance before the fact, even if there were no budget or debt impasse, I do know the market does not like risk, and new risk is always a threat. The overall net effect of the foregoing is what cannot be known. Arnold F.

Hello: While my knowledge of armor isn't substantial, it appears very nice to me. The tall standing rivets are uncommon. If a couple might be missing I'm sure in the hands of a restorer the problem would not be substantial. Well done. Arnold F.

Hello: Jean, your English is fine; I lived in a country for years that had French as its second official language, and even street signs continued to be a challenge. Yes fake, gimei, reproduction, etc., can all get easily misplaced. Anyway, should anyone be interested in the source of the quotation from Mr. Han, it is in the NBTHK's Token Bijutsu, Summer, 1981, No. 9, pp. 42-43. He doesn't say who did the "appraisal" work, but I would assume it was the NBTHK. Mere police registration would not be doing any sort of authentication appraisal. It would be interesting to get current NBTHK statistics. From what we see from recent shinsa over here by the NTHK groups, the failure rates can get pretty high, but of course their criteria are broader than just mei, some failures obviously having no mei. Perhaps Chris Bowen might have some of those breakdowns. Arnold F.

Hello: Jean states that in decades past there were not as many fakes as today. I wonder. In a lecture given to the To-ken Society of the Netherlands, August. 26, 1979, the late Han Bing Siong, in my opinion one of the very best students of the sword in the post war era, said the following: "...To develop the capability to determine whether a sword signature is authentic or a forgery is absolutely a prerequisite. That one must always be very careful and never blindly believe what is inscribed on a sword's tang is illustrated by figures published on swords in Japan in 1972. At that time an estimated 1,200,00 swords were registered in Japan. Of the swords submitted for appraisal three-fifths were unsigned. Of the remainder, however, one half were judged to be false..." That 50% failure rate was 42 years ago. Arnold F.

Hello: What a fun topic! It is obvious that there is a lot of good and well intentioned advice, some doubtless tempered by the school hard knocks, offered. Here is my two cents worth. 1. Join a club or group of local collectors. There are some terrific groups in the US and Canada and the way to find them might be as simple as to ask someone with a few swords on his table at a local gun or antique show. 2. Join the Japanese Sword Society of the US, the Northern California group, the NBTHK, the NTHK, etc., and there are other worthy groups. You will get a publication full of interesting stuff, show announcements, buy and sell, etc. 3. Attend the major sword shows in the US for a starter: Tampa, Chicago, San Francisco, and others. Keep your wallet in your pocket, talk to dealers, and others wandering around. Most table holders are more than happy to show you material, but be sure you know how to properly and safely handle anything you are allowed to pick up before you do it, and always ask for permission, sign or no sign. In a couple of years off to Tokyo for the Dai Token Ichi held at the end of each October. I think it is a diet a little too rich for a first year newbie, but maybe not. 4. Start building a library. Some books are quite reasonable, some quite expensive, but they all tend to hold their value. Buying them is almost like a refundable deposit you might pay for something borrowed at a resort, as you can always get your money back; and maybe more, much more. To mention only a few I would recommend: Nakahara. Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords: A Collector's Guide; Nagayama. The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords; NTHK. Novice Course (as reprinted by the Northern Callifornia JSC); Yamanaka. Nihonto News-Letter ("News-Letter is a major misnomer as it ran monthly for years and is a rich source of sword and sword smith information); Fujishiro. Koto and Shinto volumes; Nihonto Koza as translated by Harry Afu Watson (5 volumes on swords); Iimura. Koto, Shinto and Shinshinto volumes; Kataoka. Koto and Shinto Zuikan. This listing runs roughly from the less to the more expensive. 5. I would suggest that a newbie find a reliable dealer. Dealers are often the kicking boys of the sword world, and that is a mistake. Yes, there are dealers who will take advantage of new, or any collector, as the knowledge difference is very asymmetric; some will bend or really twist the truth and might see a greenhorn as an easy mark, however that kind of thing gets around and pitfalls can be avoided. To state the obvious dealers are market makers, they sell and they buy, the buying or taking of trades is the often forgotten side of the coin; they know what is where and will help collectors to achieve their collecting goals. Most that I know are honest and helpful people and their word is their bond. A really amazing amount of money changes hands in the sword world on nothing but a promise to deliver or a promise to pay. If one wanted to do a study of ethics by hobby activity, that would be the place to start. 6. When the newbie has his goals in order and if they include buying unpapered pieces, don't forget the shinsa. If a newbie buys an unpapered sword, other things equal, the risk is greater and that should be incorporated into the price. The resolution is the shinsa and the cost should be implicit in the purchase price. While the NBTHK hasn't done a shinsa in the US since the early 80s, both versions of the NTHK do them more or less regularly. While no shinsa is perfect I believe their judgments, particularly on signed blades, can be taken at face value. Often they are given out of polish mu mei blades of very poor quality, and they can only more or less guess. A collector should not expect miracles as only the smith, the person who shortened it and God knows for sure who made any unsigned sword. 7. Finally the new collector should think about collecting goals and collecting criteria. If he wants only signed blades that will rule out many fine Heian to Early Kamakura swords, but after that if an unsigned blade is purchased its cost should significantly reflect that fact, particularly if it is a Juyo. For some, unsigned Shinto are okay, and more so if only suriage to a limited extent, but the rate of discount should clearly be there; however I believe unsigned Shinto are a dead end Most collectors will want ubu signed and dated shinshinto and gendaito. I believe serious thought should be given to whether post war, that is "post use" swords are on the menu. Once that gate is opened supply is large and price can paradoxically be very high. Just some thoughts. Arnold F.

Hello: Thank you for your reply David. I wish I could answer the question about ceremonies in the evening or at night. I checked several books on the tea ceremony and even looked for candle holders in the huts, but found nothing. I can only say that the ceremony itself tended to eschew light, believing that muted light was the most pleasing and appropriate. Some of the hut designs display considerable shoji screening, and so with a strong moon, it probably would do just fine. I really am not making a case that it is meant to suggest a tea ceremony, just that it could and that the broom is probably not associated with Jittoku. Cheers. Arnold F.

Hello: The image posted of a Minatogawa "stamp" by Dr. Barrett is not! That has been pointed out in the literature many times and for confirmation one should go to the definitive study of Minatogawa Jinja swords by the late Herman Wallinga as published by the JSS/US. They are all individually cut. Arnold F.

Hello: Jittoku is a rather inspired guess on Shoshin's part, with even more imaginative guesses following, but sometimes the more obvious might be closer. It does look Akasaka and confirmatory layers of metal in the vertical spaces might confirm that though they are not always present. Jittoku is almost always seen in the company of his side kick Kanzan, the latter with a scroll in hand, and Jittoku is inside a building, often in a kitchen sweeping it out as that was place link for both of them. The broom and pine alone suggest something else to me. I suspect the theme alluded to is that of a tea ceremony about to take place in a small and humble hut under the pines. The host will thoughtfully sweep the walk to the hut his guests are about to enter. Arnold F.

Hello: For those interested in the armor at the Bonham sale this is to let you know that Andy Mancabelli, who might be serving as their armor man, I am not sure, will be talking on Sunday the 6th about (the armor?) at what I assume is the auction house. He is very well informed in that area and for those interested in the armor it might be helpful. Check with Bonham's. Arnold F.

Hello: Well they are certainly good buys for $100.00! To discuss them first, I suggest that no matter how good the image it is always good to give the width and height in mm's and the same for the thickness of the rim and the seppa--dai (the area around the nakago-ana), as those dimensions are critical for judging age. The top one could be made by a swordsmith, however it looks post 1600 from what appears to be the thickness and because the hitsu is designed for a kogai which, when standing alone, usually means a later piece. The other one with the raised rim is meant to be armorsmith inspired from the presence of the raised rim, however again it is late as it has a design which anticipates the need for a kodzuka, though it might be that all the sukashi is later, that is added. A ko-katchushi will usually be 3 mm or less and it looks thicker, but again I cannot be sure. I would guess early Edo to mid Edo on both. The Sasano suggestion is a good one though for tsuba as a whole its scope is limited. An excellent overall tsuba book, tosogu being a broader term, is Tsuba An Aesthetic Study by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert E. Haynes. Haynes is a student of Torigoye from the 1950s and the latter is directly in the Akiyama Kyusaku line, probably the most import single tsuba scholar of modern times having passed away in 1936. That book is not expensive but might be a little hard to find, last having been reprinted by the Northern California Japanese Sword Club. It covers all the groups. Beyond those you can spend lots of bucks on tsuba and tosogu books, but start with Sasano and the Aesthetic Study first. Arnold F.

Hello: I would be interested in reading a further discussion by Chris on "hardening" and "tempering" as I realize these terms are sometimes used interchangeably to say nothing of misused. I have thought that if "hardening" is used with care it is used to describe the process of heating a blade with its clay coating having been applied and partially wiped off to determine the hamon proper, and then being plunged into a water trough at just the correct temperature. A second quenching following a reheating is then employed to relieve stresses in the metal induced by the initial yakiire process. When saiba is involved that can be for a blade that has lost all of its hamon due to say fire, or it can be done selectively to repair a clay loss somewhere during yakiire or perhaps an entirely lost boshi through breakage. Why would a retempering, given the above usage, be done at all unless part of an entire re-do of a blade sans hamon? Arnold F.

Hello: Very nice indeed! Both should go to shinsa. The first looks like it might be Ko Shoami, possibly slipping into very Early Edo. The theme is pine needles and chidori (?), and the Shoami attribution is derived from the strength of the metal structure, sort of between Kyo sukashi and Owari, the robust seppa-dai and the symmetric balance and the feeling of suspended motion. The other appears to be Higo, Nishigaki, perhaps Kanshiro and Early Edo. Lucky you. Arnold F.

Hello: That is a good question Ken; I hope someone who really knows chimes in. If I had to guess I would say that nanako tends to be associated with kinko work and traditions. It would seem to me that the skill required to do it on soft metal or iron would be about equally challenging as both media would be unforgiving of error. From an economic point of view I imagine that some craftsmen just become very skilled in working on, say, shakudo, and transferring the skill to iron presents slight adaptation changes that are prone to more error. Iron just seems to be a less pleasing medium for nanako and there would be fewer hyper specialists doing that work on iron. Aesthetics are an individual matter, but it seems to me that such a tsuba would be, in the eyes of the Japanese, what a Westerner might appreciate in the Meiji era when no amount of "workmanship" was sometimes expended on stuff meant for the West. The site is Japanese, but of course if that theory is correct it could have been re-exported to Japan more recently. Arnold F.