Jim P

Hi ,Curran / David, Its not mine :D someone asked if I could workout the kanji he was unsure and I must admit I did not know for sure so I will pass on the info thank you

Hi all, Having spent some 2h on this I have only 1 of the kanji (明 Aki) :? and having no skill in tosogu mei (make that all mei )will ask for help with Mei/school please Thank you :D

Hi harvg, I am with Bazza/Hoanh on this one

Hi Chris, Thought this sounds good so tried to get some but it looks like it cannot ship to Australia only US tried Amazon,Americana arms, brownells its getting a joke they won't even ship a bottle of cleaner :?

Hi Mark , My photos Do Not Do the Exhibition Justice. I know there are some much better photos that have been taken. I posted these because there was a few guys that could not go from Melbourne and it was simpler to post on the NMB. I also thought some of the Tanegashima guys may like the display they had been in a warehouse for a long time. So some better photos of the swords/Tsuba would be great :D Can you also convey “A Big thank you to NGV and all the collectors that made it happen “Well Done”

Last of them, My crappy photos do not do it justice if you can make the time, Go

HI Matt,this is one of the info cards ken I was lucky they were looking the other way for me :D

Last Ones,

Some More,

Some More,

Some More,

Some More,

HI Guys, I went to the National Gallery of Victoria Exhibition in Melbourne that’s just opened” Bushido Way of the Samurai” it was one of the best I have seen in OZ. and had something for everyone :D It’s a must if you are in Melbourne, well done to the people that made it happen. Some pics from my phone so sorry for the quality

Hi Barry, I would love to see it sitting on a beach 70 km north of tropical Cairns sounds great :D and just what the Doc ordered. Amazing that its run in Oz, and as we are speaking about things Japanese you would know this! but for the Melbourne guys that don't there is a Exhibition Bushido Way of the Samurai on at the National Gallery of Victoria on between 04 Jul 2014 – 04 Nov 2014 and a thanks to Justin O for the info Bazza thanks for the post make that a Nice Red The link http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhi ... he-samurai

Hi David, I agree it’s got a better chance without the distraction

Hi T Spencer, Yes this sword has been discussed here before it was listed first by bassy58 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/171243262611 ... 1423.l2649 http://s854.photobucket.com/user/Bassy5 ... 1.jpg.html If I remember David Stiles posted a comment on it check his posts to find it. I had this to say in a conversation on a other board about it. IMHO,(It looks Gimei, (as in this case not SA and bad kinzogan mei) to me it does not have the attributes one would expect from that school from the little we can see and its osuriage and reminds me of a Momoyama blade with a bad kinzogan mei or later Shinto .) and I dont think Barry (Baza) would mind if I quote Him on the same sword (Gentlemen, a kinpunmei I think not. It looks more to me as if someone has put this SA kanji on with gold leaf. If not gold leaf then hira zogan/nunome, whereas I would expect a SA kinzoganmei to be truly inlaid (not "onlaid") in an elegant style. In fact, IMHO the whole shebang is dreadful. Anyone can get a General's tassel from anywhere and put it on any-old-sword and beat it up to be more than it is. To misquote one of our sayings "Buy the sword not the tassel" - or the kinpunmei.) Hope that helps PS, What do we call a sword like this ? Gimei is not quite right, or is it still called Gimei even though no mei ?

Branson, Some of us in oz use Camellia oil it a light oil that works well http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CAMELLIA-OIL ... 56640713a7 If you find the Fujishiro oil & uchiko kits can you let us know I think there is a few looking for them thanks

Fujishiro kits are hard to find on the net, I was asking Darcy about Fujishiro Uchiko not long ago he said that he could not think of a website that has them on line? He got his in Japan.

Jordy, This will explain things http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/suriage.html also the holes (mekugi-ana) do not matter both can have one or more in a Suriage or O-Suriage blade. Hope that helps

Hi ken, 27 inches of continuous chikei, I also don't think its chikei do you have a photo? Jeffrey, I also think that some of these things are more of interest to the smiths than collectors

Hi Ken, IMHO. I think most of those are governed by skill and gods work mix. I only have a superficial view of ferrous metallurgy from what I can read on line and sometimes wonder how much of that side of the process should I need to understand as a collector ? Hi Chris, One of gods work/skill mix I remember reading in Token Bijutsu vol 3 how a tanto by Kunishige started as a hiro-suguha that turned into a shallow notare. I dug up the vol , Gods work :D

Hi Nathan, recommendations yes, look at the top of page. Links. Restoration. and maybe have a think if you want to have (quality modern materials)or old parts mixed with new eg, fittings-tsuba,menuki,fuchikashira. preferable to most collectors than all modern materials

Hi Kam, I posted the photos the right side up for you

Hi Jim,as I a Jim too I fixed the photo right side up for you, It looks like even with a better photo it going to be harder as there is some damage to the Mei also one of the reasons for not putting nihonto in Chinese stuff is the wood on some of them is an unknown and potentially can cause rust over time. Hope that helps :D

Hi Matt, IMHO I think you got it right :D