Jim Kurrasch website archive

[bridgeofdreams]

A discussion on one of the email lists got me digging around, and I thought to share this here.

 

Jim Kurrasch was well known in the US collecting community, very involved in the Nanka Token Kai, and especially visible in the early days of online discussion. His website was one of the first on the subject, but sadly it has disappeared following his untimely death in 2003.

 

Jim was especially kind to me. Early on I joined everything there was to join, including the Nanka Token Kai. Many of Jim's articles were published in their newsletter. Back then I used to travel quite a bit for business, and got to Los Angeles several times a year. One of these trip coincided with a NTK meeting night, and I got in touch with Jim to let him know I was coming. He insisted on meeting me that afternoon at Collector's Armory, as I had asked about places that might be good to look for things to buy. We connected later at the meeting as well, and I was able to attend another NTK meeting on a later trip.

 

His website as it was in it's final version, is archived at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, and can be found here:

 

http://bit.ly/a1RODp

 

Click through the "Collector of Japanese Swords" link, and enjoy. It's well worth a look, and especially if you did not know Jim, be sure not to miss the article on "Sword Cleaning and Maintenance." Jim had very strong opinions about the virtues of uchiko!

 

-Craig

[nagamaki - Franco]

Hello Craig,

 

Thank you. Jim's articles are a treasure in that they rekindle memories of Jim's passion for nihonto, as remembered.

[george trotter]

Hi Craig,

great site, I wish Jim was still with us. I especially liked reading the "Care and Maintenance" section...just good old common sense and the years of practical experience to back it up.

Thanks for posting...

Regards,

George.

[b.hennick]

Jim used to come to all the San Francisco shows and bring an "old sword" i.e. Heian or early Kamakura piece to teach those willing to learn. He got me interested in older pieces rather than in the Hizento that I collected at that time (and still collect). He arranged for me to meet an older gentleman who was looking for someone to take car of his baby - a ko Naminohira late Heian or early Kamakura tachi - one hole ubu blade. It took two years of calls and letters until the owner thought that I was the person to own his sword. Jim's good words I am sure went a long way in making that person pass the blade on to me. It is still my longest blade but not my oldest... JIm has a way of passing his passion on. I miss the guy. I appreciate all that he did for the sword collecting community.

Craig's post let me reread some of his articles. I do have the site archieved thanks to a kind messageboard member who shared it with me.

As long as we keep learning, memory of Kurrasch will stay strong in those who were lucky enough to know him.

BTW the previous sword owner hassed away a couple of years ago. We are all only temporary caregivers for these piece of art and history.

[Curran]

photo

[outlier48]

Craig - Thanks for posting the link. Newbie's like me can still benefit greatly from the expertise of gentlemen like Jim Kurrasch and even though we never knew him while he was alive, we can know him through his work and efforts on behalf of the nihonto community. Respectfully,

 

Charlie Brashear