Japanese Blade from Court

[Lewis B]

@PromoSorry for the hijack. I just read the whole thread and what an amazing journey. I wish I was able to attend the next NBTHK EB meeting in Manching to see it in person. It's become quite a celebrity piece on NMB it seems. It's unfortunate it didn't pass Juyo last Shinsa but I think 2023 was an odd one by all accounts. I'm glad Markus was able to shed so knowledgeable light on the blade and Sayagaki. My Shikkake also has Yuhin nari kanji (優品) and a suggestion by Tanobe sensei that it was a Juyo candidate. Might be worth resubmitting a few years down the road if you feel so inclined. Otherwise I'm sure you're basking in the pleasure of a special blade, with a wonderful and unique story, back in your possession. 

This ranks up there with Andrew's National Treasure Norishige Ebay find. 

[cisco-san]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:15 PM, Promo said:

Bringing it up a last time - hope to see all NBTHK Europe members from this forum in Manching (in Germany) in exactly one week, next Saturday. I'll bring this Masayuki along so that all of you can inspect it in person. Highly looking forward to it!

unfortunately I am not able to join the meeting, even I would like to see this great blade in hands...

[Promo]

Re Saturday: great to have had the chance to also see faces behind nicknames, despite I sometimes felt misplaced among so many knowledgeable people.

[sabiji]

36 minutes ago, Promo said:

Re Saturday: great to have had the chance to also see faces behind nicknames, despite I sometimes felt misplaced among so many knowledgeable people.

Georg, we had to thank you!
Your Masayuki/Kiyomaro is an impressive sword with an excellent polish!

In addition to the master, we were able to study two of his students: 2x Saito Kiyondo and 1x Minamoto (Suzuki) Masao. There is also a sword from the Hamabe school, the school where Kiyomaro was trained at the beginning of his career.

Enclosed a bad photo of the table only (so as not to show any people...).

 

[DKR]

5 hours ago, Promo said:

Re Saturday: great to have had the chance to also see faces behind nicknames, despite I sometimes felt misplaced among so many knowledgeable people.

I can only repeat and emphasize what Thomas has already written.
An impressive blade with a very good polish.
Absolutely excellent.

 

And you were not out of place. This feeling is absolutely normal and not a mistake. I assure you that there were some who knew even less about Kiyomaro or quality criteria than you.

When it comes to this, you can't learn something like that from books or even from the Internet. You only learn and understand something like that in practice with the blade in your hand. Of course it is very helpful if there is someone there who can explain something to you.

And that is exactly what events like this are good for!

 

You did everything right. You didn't fall into any traps. That alone is an achievement that most people wouldn't be able to achieve straight away.

 

So from me again: Thank you very much for your willingness to make the blade accessible to an interested group of people.

[Promo]

I'm leaving for Berlin tormorrow to bring the blade to the NBTHK-EB meeting on Saturday. For the non NBHTK-EB members and those that can't make it to the meeting, there is a written (borrowing) agreement that my blade will at the Samurai Museum Berlin. It is planned to be put up on display starting 23rd May 2025, and approximately one year.

 

Hope that this will allow fellow members to get to look at it in person. And keen to hear what you mayever think of it, if you manage to see it, either at Museum or at Saturday's NBTHK-EB meeting!

[Gakusee]

1 hour ago, Promo said:

I'm leaving for Berlin tormorrow to bring the blade to the NBTHK-EB meeting on Saturday. For the non NBHTK-EB members and those that can't make it to the meeting, there is a written (borrowing) agreement that my blade will at the Samurai Museum Berlin. It is planned to be put up on display starting 23rd May 2025, and approximately one year.

 

Hope that this will allow fellow members to get to look at it in person. And keen to hear what you mayever think of it, if you manage to see it, either at Museum or at Saturday's NBTHK-EB meeting!

And that is wonderful, Georg! Thank you for sharing. 

[MJS]

On 5/8/2025 at 5:38 PM, Promo said:

Hope that this will allow fellow members to get to look at it in person. And keen to hear what you mayever think of it, if you manage to see it, either at Museum or at Saturday's NBTHK-EB meeting!

Georg, thank you very much for bringing it to the NBTHK-EB meeting in Berlin, and for sharing your fantastic story. The blade looks amazing in person, even better than the wonderful pictures in this thread. 

[Lewis B]

Georg, any pictures of your Masayuki on display at the Berlin Samurai Museum?

[Promo]

10 hours ago, Lewis B said:

Georg, any pictures of your Masayuki on display at the Berlin Samurai Museum?

As written above, for what I've been told it is supposed to be put up for exhibit starting 23rd May 2025, so this Friday. I'd assume you are closer to the Museum, so up to you to post pictures of how it is displayed  . Or anyone else, if another forum member makes it there!

 

On 5/18/2025 at 10:23 AM, MJS said:

Georg, thank you very much for bringing it to the NBTHK-EB meeting in Berlin, and for sharing your fantastic story. The blade looks amazing in person, even better than the wonderful pictures in this thread. 

Happy if you have liked it, was fun to be there, getting educated on not to lick on Tsuba and stuff ...  . That room where we had the meeting was fantastic, if not overwhelming. The museum itself is a class of its own. That was a great trip to Berlin.

[sabiji]

There will be another study evening at the museum in July on the subject of the two great yet contrasting characters Kiyomaro and Munetsugu.

But I will try to see how the sword was displayed and described before that.

It's always easy to throw around superlatives, but the past Berlin NBTHK-EB meeting can be described as exceptional simply by the number of juyo and tokubetsu juyo on display (11 juyo and 5 tokubetsu juyo out of a total of 23 blades on show - if my memory is correct).