New Japanese organization being formed

[b.hennick]

Hello:

I attended the KTK conference in Toronto two weeks ago. At the members meeting Nick Nakamura, Terutaka Kawabata and Yoshio. Watanabe explained that a new organization is forming under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture. Here is the inforation I put together from that meeting.

 

Nihonto Bunka Shinkoku Kai (NBSK)

 

Ministry of Culture asked Terutaka Kawabata to be an advisor and to organize the group. The official beginning of the group will be December 2008.

The president is going to be Mr. Yasuhia Tokugawa, the great grandson of the last Tokugawa shogun. The board of directors includes four living national treasure artisans:

Mr. Amada, the national treasure sword smith.

Nakayama Kohan, the national treasure sword polisher.

Gassan Sadayoshi, the national treasure sword smith.

Mr. Muroasi ,the national treasure lacquer artist.

Other board members include: Miriri, Yoshio Watanabe, N. Nakmura, Miya Kudo, Kazuo Jono, K. Mishina, Kunie Yoshihara, Takayama Masayuki, and Mr. Ida president of dealers association.

There will be non-Japanese board members once the new organization is up and running.

The groups focus will be: education, communication and authentication (shinsa). One of the mandates of the new organization is to interact and to co-ordinate international activities on swords and tosogu.

The shinsa teams will be composed of the foremost people who kantei blades and fittings. There will only be one level of paper. It will indicate if an item is shoshin and worthy of preservation. The purpose of the paper issued by this new organization is to focus on authenticity rather than on workmanship and on monetary value.

 

They mentioned that they informed the NBTHK of this about one month ago.

[Stephen]

:D

[Bungo]

so what's the score with NBTHK ?

heard through the grape vines it's going belly up ?

 

milt

[John A Stuart]

Remember this? viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3356&p=24889&hilit=will+the+nbthk+survive#p24889

 

 

Fingers crossed. We'll all know in 2 weeks. John

[Bungo]

What if the European and US branches of the NBTHK take over the NBTHK ? Would that still be considered a Japanese organisation and be accepted by the natives ?

 

Milt

[k morita]

Thank you for the new information.

Will they issue the new organization magazine?

[b.hennick]

At the meeting no mention of a magazine was made. I would expect something to be published as it would enhance membership. Many noted the changes in Token Bijutsu of late. Kenji Mishina no longer does the translation of parts of that journal. Tanobe san is not doing the kantei pages.

[Brian]

Barry,

Thanks for updating us. It looks like we are going through interesting times. Hmmm.

Will report back with any info we hear in Japan the next 3 weeks.

 

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Many thanks for the intelligence, Barry.

[Jean]

Thanks a lot Barry for the info, it will be very interesting to see the development of this new Society in front of the older ones.

 

Whatever the level of kanteisho given, what impact shall have it upon the market (if any).

 

What will be "the worthy of preservation" criteria?

 

A lot o questions ...?

[DirkO]

Whatever the level of kanteisho given, what impact shall have it upon the market (if any).

 

 

edited for being too dumb a comment, sorry if I should've insulted anyone !

[paulb]

As my dear togishi Zénon states : origami are for the dumb mass, a true collector will always recognize a good piece when he sees it.

I have to say your Togishi sounds incredibly arrogant!

I regard myself as a true collector but as the trend is increasingly towards buying via the internet and unseen at least papers (from a reliable source) offer some reassurance

I am always troubled by comments refernig to "The true...." as it falls in to the Emperors news clothes approach.

A member of the dumb masses

Paul

[Jean]

As my dear togishi Zénon states : origami are for the dumb mass, a true collector will always recognize a good piece when he sees it.

 

Dirk, you are using Zenon out of context.

 

Papers create the market and feed it. Without them the market will be narrow and you will see few good blades and even unable to identify them by lack of references.

 

Without papers, Zenon will not be togishi but unemployed.

 

Not long ago there was a Hozon Norishige tanto available on Aoi-Art for 2 M Yen, how much do you think it would have fetched with a Juyo paper?

[DirkO]

OK, first of all, I didn't mean to offend anyone. Zénon's thought was just that people tend to rely too much on the papers whereas papers are just that - a piece of paper. I think I worded it very poorly in English now I reread it

 

Sorry guys !!!!!

[Jean]

Dirk,

 

No offense, what was really meaning Zenon (that's why I say it was out of context) is that a true collector when holding a sword can recognize the quality of a blade whatever the paper and I fully agree with him. :D :D

 

What I was really aiming at, in my post was :

 

What is worth ($$) a kanteisho from an organization which states "shoshin" and "worth of preservation" compare to the ones of another organization giving the same thing plus a scale in value.

 

To which organisation people shall refer in the Nihonto market?

 

Only future will give the answer

[DirkO]

Jean, mon ami. You hit the nail right on the head. Too bad I explained it poorly

 

Thanks for correcting me

[Roland]

There are some further informations about the new organisation via http://www.thetokenforum.com/index.php...

 

I subsume:

 

The new organisation willl be called NBSK. It has the support of 3/4 national living treasures, the various polishers, sword and koshirae craftsmen organizations. Tokugawa Yoshihisa (Shogunal descendent) has agreed to chair the new organization. It will be recognized by the Ministry of Culture as the only sanctioned provider of papers (!). The NBSK will establish international divisions, perhaps after 1 or 2 years. There will possibly be a dramatic change in in the way papers will be structured: no tier system anymore! Instead of that a corroborative system where papers just affirm "This is a genuine Xxxx from Yyyy period." You may imagine the implications to the market of Nihonto

[kusunokimasahige]

I do like the idea of this new organisation in Japan, also the Tokugawa patronage..

 

but I am wondering who of the Hon'ami family is still living and is appraising swords, and if at all for any organisation...

 

To me personally a sword appraised by a true scholared Hon'ami family member (Yes i mean traceable genetic lineage) who admires it and tells you its probable story rather than just a name and some points, in exchange for a cup of tea or a meal, or even a nice scroll or other gift, has far more value than a paper with a photo and some number punched in it by whichever organistion of people who, out of exclusivity appear to have the arrogance to ask loads of money for their services, papers, photos, memberships and what have you, and even demand the donation of YOUR sword if it is valuable enough, in exchange for a life long membership...

 

With that remark though i do not want to insult anyone studying the sword, admiring it, and sharing their knowledge for free. Its just my opinion about certain goings on in the world of Nihon-to which strike me as perculiar...

 

And yes, maybe one day i will put a sword through shinsa, maybe not, who knows...

 

however, what i do not like is the overly submissive behaviour towards some masters on those events by some people who do not get the message that a paper is just an opinion.

 

Its the same i have seen in some budo sports. That is why i never wanted to acquire any grade or standing unless absolutely nessecary, since it takes away the focus of what things really are about..from a Zen point of view.

 

"

The greatest achievement is selflessness.

The greatest worth is self-mastery.

The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.

The greatest precept is continual awareness.

The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.

The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.

The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.

The greatest generosity is non-attachment.

The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.

The greatest patience is humility.

The greatest effort is not concerned with results.

The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.

The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

 

Atisha

"

 

KM