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The tall officer in the middle with glasses is General Hoshino, his sword was sold some time ago: http://www.guntoartswords.com/010802.html

Tom Helm, I'm very happy you responded, and in retrospect should have mentioned you and the Northern California Japanese Sword Club for potential guidance... Chris (Vajo), if your missing something in translation, I apologize, nothing complicated, just a young man looking for information on his inherited sword. Again , no one is suggesting the sword is anything but what it is, but simply encouraging a young person to become interested in researching and possibly collecting Japanese swords... I lived in Ca. for many years and attended several SF sword shows as well as many sword and gun shows. I was invited to a gun/sword show in the Bay area years ago and was bringing a Shin-gunto to gather information. I had managed to previously translate the Nakago inscription. There were many sword dealers at the show and most were interested in taking a look at my sword. Not one was able to translate even a single character of the inscription. This was the case as I moved from dealer to dealer, for the most part they had nothing positive to say but " I'll give ya a hunerd dollers fer er." Eventually, I arrived at a booth which had several nice Japanese swords, the gentleman there was very friendly and asked permission to look at my sword. He removed the tsuka and immediately translated the inscription, instantly knew who, when, and where the sword was forged. How could you not be somewhat impressed. He also pointed out it was well forged Gendaito. I relayed to him what I had experienced with most other dealers there and his response was not at all complimentary toward the others. The gentleman was Harunaka Hoshino. I later began hearing negative information about Mr. Hoshino, and was frankly rather stunned judging from my personal experience with him. I have since heard many negative opinions regarding Mr. Hoshino and not for a moment doubt Mr. Tom Helm's assessment of him. However, I did mention Mr. Hoshino's has a spurious reputation, but I also have to say, in my opinion the guy knows his swords.... Agree with John and Bruce, SF sword show is best bet, Tom Helm and others will be there and am sure they will be happy to help, all friendly knowledgeable people. Also, with all due respect to Bruce, I would wait for the sword show with tsuba, unless you are sure of precise measurements, they rarely fit properly off ebay. Again, good luck and best regards to all ! Dave M.

It is not Harunaka Hoshino, I believe I have an email mail from him. He sent me an email once of the Smith that made the sword. I confronted him once before about it being fake and he gave me this long story and sent me a pic to "prove" it was real. I'll have to search for it. I will reach out to you this evening. We just left the show and are heading to dinner.

So this is not Harunaka Hoshino? Not sure if we know this guy but we are happy to help if we can - please feel free to message me thru this board or email ncjsc.president@gmail.com -t

if you search the NMB for the author Mr Hoshino you will find plenty of information. You can form your own opinion https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/search/?q=Hoshino&quick=1

Jimmy Hayashi - fully trained and licensed Japanese Sword Polisher. Harunaka Hoshino - Fake ninja, fake swordsman, fake kantei, fake polisher... -t

Mr. Hayashi = Harunaka Hoshino? Or am I missing something here?

PSA - and with all due respect to Dave M To anyone reading this forum, please, please, please do not send anyone, even your worst enemy to Harunaka Hoshino. He is a known fraud and is responsible for the theft and destruction of Japanese swords. He is the only person ever to have his membership revoked in the history of the Northern California Japanese Sword Club. David - I have to agree with those that assess this as a severely damaged blade. There will be people who can clean it up and maybe make it more presentable but I don't think Jimmy is the guy. In fact I would be very reluctant to show him such a blade without first having passed it before others. As Dave M says there will be many knowledgeable people at the San Francisco show and honest opinions are readily had. And for anyone who is wondering, yes there will be a San Francisco Sword Show this year! It is our hope that everyone who needs it will have the vaccine by August and travel will be easier for everyone - even if we are still under restrictions we will do whatever it takes to provide safe, social distanced, sword shopping. All the information is online now; www.ncjsc.org please make your reservations, we hope to see you all there. David - you have a neat inheritance there, not an "art sword" perhaps but a neat sword nonetheless. -t Thomas C Helm President - Northern California Japanese Sword Club www.ncjsc.org www.toryu-mon.com

David. Too me, your sword appears to be severely shortened (o-suriage), as the very end of the nakago-jiri (tang) looks to have a partial mekugi ana (hole for mekugi pin). If this is the case, then the blade was (crudely) shortened by several inches, and has suffered most every other form of abuse as well. Depending on where you are in California, I would advise getting the sword to Jimmy Hayashi in San Francisco to take a look, possibly open a window. Harunaka Hoshino and others in the bay area could also provide an assessment.( Harunaka has a somewhat spurious reputation, but knows Japanese swords well)! Mr. Hayashi would definitely be my first choice. Your sword from the photo's shown, does not look particularly promising, however, you never know, and the suggestion mentioned above would be the least expensive and most definite way to find out. The Koshirae , as mentioned is higher grade, present sword could be a lower end replacement for original, but then...many possibilities! Good luck, and let us know what you find out. Dave M.

So I have read the complaint on the internet regarding Mr. Hoshino and polishing, stealing swords etc. Very bad to hear. Can I get some opinions as to whether anyone thinks the info he gave me about my sword is correct? Or is it all bogus and I need to rent another car and find someone else to give me info ? Any responses are appreciated. Thanks.

Hi John I just read your earlier post.......... Look up Gunto Art Swords 010802 Lt. general Hoshino Toshimoto Shingunto. Order made showato with a 30" cutting edge. From memory it was about 45 inches overall length and in excellant condition. Regards Doug

Enpo 9 (1679) handwritten and illustrated manuscript book on kyudo, with some images painted. Author's name rendered by the seller as Hoshino Kanzaemon. The book is 17 pages in length. Condition: Excellent + for a the given 1679 copying date. Auction ending: June 5th Link: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-20-Japanese-KYUDO-samurai-archery-hand-painted-BOOK-/252406337941?hash=item3ac4971195:g:F4gAAOSwn8FXSvzj Sample pictures:

Gabe - If the "Sword society" in your area is the one run by Harunaka Hoshino - run, do not walk, away from this deal. If your sword is worth anything now it will be worth nothing after his $700 polish. I may be biased but I suggest you attend a meeting of the Northern California Japanese Sword Club - our next meeting is tomorrow - see this link; http://www.ncjsc.org Anyone is welcome and you will receive fair, free and reliable advice as to next steps for your new sword. Bob btw is our newsletter editor... -t

If you're talking about polishing services, mr hoshino is not traditionally trained. He also sets up a knife polishing booth in jtown from time to time. He also runs the SF ninja society. You can find more detailed experience doing a google search. That club is also NOT the ncjsc or Northern California Japanese Sword Club which was founded by Yumoto sensei and which holds the token Kai sword show in August.

I found these for sale locally. I am new to collecting so i'm a little unsure of their value. I've researched what i can and it seems the wakazashi checks out to be maybe third generation of this swordsmith. I can"t confirm yet on the katana. Here is the information that was given to me: The Mei reading on the wakzashi is Awataguchi Oomi no kami Tadatsuna. Awataguchi is the name of the swordsmith group. Oomi no kami was the Governor of the Oomi area. Tadatsuna is the first name of the swordsmith. According to three polish experts the sword will polish and require a full polish if you wish it restored. After polish worth $7000+ per Harunaka Hoshino-S>F> sword Society. Robert Gordon-Tokyo has also looked at both swords and agrees. The 2nd. sword is a Katana, and the Mei reading is Mori mitsu. 1136-1596. Requires only partial polish to restore. The experts say it will polish. After polish worth $5000+. Any other information, especially on value would be appreciated. Thank you

Sorry, the drugs didn't kick in. And it was dayquil, not expresso. So I spent an extra few hours face down on a pillow trying to extinguish a nasty cold. Now I've moved on to something my wife called a "hot toddy". I was hoping for something more exciting, but it'll do as I seem to be slightly numb now. :D But I digress... Okay, San Francisco Token Kai NBTHK Presentation. This year they opened it up for everyone -- no admission fee for the presentation. Ted Tenold was the "moderator" of sorts, introducing each person with a little history. He also acted a bit as the guy keeping things ideally focused. My understanding is that he is writing up something about the event for the NBTHK. So I'll be brief with my own take. Remember I'm watching through my interests and eyes, so some things I kinda glazed over and found myself back watching Jimmy working on the stones... It started with Jimmy Hayashi. He had a togi-dai set up and was scrubbing away. He was working an area on the blade first on nagura then to koma nagura then to uchigumori. It was interesting watching how he worked the blade on the stone, the small area he worked, etc. He talked as he worked. One of the best parts of his discussion involved the issue of "fixing" things. He talked about how the first priority is always preservation of the blade. Somethings can be fixed, others should not. And he emphasized the uniqueness of each situation. He pointed out that while on rare occasions a polisher may be able to "touch up" a polish by redoing just the shiage, usually there are shape and condition issues that require a more complete approach. He finished the window he was working on with each stone then set the blade out so we could see how the blade looked in each section. On his chu-nagura everything was somewhat visible. The Koma nagura was slightly different, more refined, and the hamon and hada were both fairly clearly visible. Then onto uchigumori where the hamon really started to "pop" and the hada became very easy to see. It is still a long ways from from a fully polished piece at this stage, but it was very interesting to see how he worked the blade. He also worked a small section of a shinshinto era yari with a gorgeous hamon that had an area that looked suspiciously like a hagiri. But after a few minutes with him first on uchigumori then going back to koma nagura and back up to uchigumori the mark in the area vanished under the stones. So it wasn't a hagiri but an odd scratch. So there was one very happy person there. And it was interesting to see how he was able to work the area to resolve the issue. Next was Brian Tscernega. Brian put out a display of 20-30 very nice habaki. He gave a sort of "cliff notes" quick summary of proportions of habaki and how they're fit. I very much enjoyed his discussion of how a habaki is supposed to fit on the blade and the dangers of using poorly fit habaki (most importantly how a poorly fit habaki can put tremendous stress on the hamachi). He talked about proportions, the depth of the slot on the mune, different styles of habaki, how foil is attached, and so forth. Really quite interesting. Mike Yamasaki ( http://ricecracker.com ) followed up showing off a variety of restored koshirae. Lovely stuff and he talked about how easy it is to screw up a perfectly good old koshirae through amateur restoration. So lots of very nice fittings, saya, etc. to look at. Right about then I started watching Jimmy working on that yari so I missed part of Mike's discussion. Sorry about that, but the yari was really interesting as it was a Yokoyama piece and I've seen a few of those over the years and really like them. And I knew the owner so I was quite interested in seeing how Jimmy approached the problem. Finally David McDonald did his presentation. He laid out an impressive collection of old tsuka cores, some split to show how the internal channel was carved, how it was shaped, how the samekawa was applied, etc. Really interesting. He talked about panel samekawa vs. full wrap and the benefits of each. He talked about different wrapping styles and all the issues involved in putting together a good tsuka. Interesting stuff as the craftsman has to carve things to exact dimensions such that once the same is applied and the ito wrapped everything lies flush and flows nicely. Not a trivial task by any means. One thing I found very interesting was seeing how thin some of the wood cores really even to the extent of a few having areas where the wood was literally paper thin or even gone. These were full wrap samekawa applications and it showed how much confidence they had in the strength of the samekawa and ito combination. At one point during the demo two young men came in wearing what looked to me like Yukata and Hakama. The first thought in my mind after "what the #**$*" was "Good lord, someone needs to show you how to tie those hakama correctly." And one of them was obviously a sword saint kinda guy since he was wearing a white hakama. Anyway, they also had their trusty "made in spain" wallhanger Japan-esque kinda katana thrust through their obi. One guy was banging his saya along the way in on most everyone (which shows how little he knows about the etiquette of wearing katana). Anyway, once things were for all intents and purposes over one of the fashion impaired neo-samurai brings out a sword with a gigantic wood slab handle to show Brian Tscernega the habaki this fella had made. Out of titanium. The slab of titanium was about 50% larger than the mihaba of the blade itself. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to get my cell phone out and photograph Brian's face... At this point Brian mumbled something about "file more" and the topic was changed... What I couldn't for the life of me understand was how the guy could pull that out after seeing all those incredible habaki on the table. On later discussion some of us wondered if they might have been students of the (in)famous Hoshino who apparently lives in San Francisco. Who knows... I must admit I was quite lucky in that later on in the lounge I spent a few hours sitting at a table with Jimmy Hayashi and Ted. Lovely discussion. Jimmy has a great life story and we discussed a lot of things about the craft today, the pressures, and then how the new generations are going to be trained. Jimmy came up in a very traditional training environment. And how he got there was really quite amazing. But that wasn't part of the public conversation and they really aren't my stories to share. I just hope someone someday writes a good article on Hayashi and his history. Later on Brian Tschernega joined us and we commisserated with him about the neo-samurai visition. Mike Yamasaki dropped by a few times but feigned disgust that we were still talking technical things about sword crafts. And for me, well, mostly I sat there trying to listen, learn and remember as much as possible. It was all good from my point of view. Enough for me. I talked with Ted earlier today and he said something about writing down something a bit more formal since he had moderated the discussion. My impressions were just my own and of course I tended to focus on Hayashi and Tscernega's presentations but that doesn't mean Mike and David's presentations weren't also very good. I was mostly interested in watching Hayashi work as I've seen some of his polishes and they are some of the clearest, most dazzling things I've ever seen. And Brian's work is of course totally top notch as well. So I was pretty much overwhelmed by the time Mike and David got to their parts. I'll also say that there simply is no way to convey how much I saw and learned. But what you learn sometimes is simply watching the work being done. And writing it down just doesn't do it justice. It was the highlight of the show for me. And I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time studying a number of Juyo blades. But of course I'm a craft-geek in a sense. I've seen all this stuff done many times but watching guys at the very top of the craft is simply amazing. So there you go, fwiw.

Well Guys I emailed her with this type of back ground I might stand a chance. Really Thanks! 1953 - 61 Calligraphy lessons with Master Hoshino Shûu; acquiring the name “Shô shû†(as a master title). 1961 - 63 Classical Japanese poetry with Prof. Yoshio Ito and classical Chinese poetry with Prof. Yuji Ami. 1980 - 81 Chinese Calligraphy (Yan Zhen Qing/Gan shin kei-style) and classical Chinese literature with Prof. Zhang Zhen Guo of Peking University; acquiring the name (Căo guāng) “Sôkô“ (as a master title). seit 1981 Teacher for Chinese-Japanese calligraphy at the “Schule für Gestaltung Basel†(artistic design school) 1984 Free-lance artist. Numerous individual exhibitions at home and abroad. Various public works of art. Publication of 4 booklets.

well I sent my sword over to Bob Benson. He said it was probably muromachi period which is inclusive of the Eisho period that Hoshino mentioned right? Bob said he was not able to determine anything more specific than that due to the condition of the blade. He also mentioned a hamon called Hajime which is a mixed type of hamon I think.

Rich, if you go to the thread called "My Sword" there is a link to some photos and a post stating the information given to me by Mr. Hoshino. Brian and others, thanks for your replies and good advice.

in California as Hoshino is, them seek out the Northn Californian Japanese Sword CLub http://www.ncjsc.org/ as they will stear you straight. What sword do you have and what information did he give ? Rich [/u]

know that truly qualified sword polishers are few and far between. Has anyone had direct experience with Harunaka Hoshino. I found information on a website that pretty much gives him a slashing. http://www.hizento.net/warning.htm I am getting estimates from the recommended people from this board. How about Louis Skebo, Christopher Lau, Kenji Mishina, David Hofhine, Fred Lohman etc. If you could share personal experiences, costs and turnaround time it would be most appreciated.