MEIHIN KATANAEZU SHUSEI Index

[bjmoose]

A while back I obtained a copy of MEIHIN KATANAEZU SHUSEI By Tanobe Michihiro. A truly exceptional book. It came with a bare-bones 4 page English index, giving just basic info - swordsmith, mei, owner, status (kokuho, etc), page number.

 

Well, I like to know more about the swordsmiths than just their names, so I set myself a project to expand the index a wee bit and to include stuff like the province, the era, the school, the father/teacher, and various ratings by Hawley, Toko Taikan, and Fujishiro. For a little more fun, I thought I would attempt to translate the dates, if included with the mei.

 

I used various sources available on the internet: Nihonto Club, JSSUS swordsmith database, The Japanese Sword Index, and a really neat little program called "NengoConvert.exe".

 

Anyhow, after quite some time (and a lot of typing!), I am finally finished. There may be a few errors, what with all those generations of swordsmiths in each family; but overall I think I got most of them correct. If anyone sees an error, please let me know.

 

So, here's the expanded index for any of you who have a copy of this book. I hope you enjoy it...

Meihin Katanaezu Shusei Index.pdf

[Surfson]

Hi Ian. Sounds very useful for those who have the original book. I don't, but tried to download anyway, but the file was stated to be damaged. Could you please email me a pdf at surfson@rcn.com? Do you recommend buying the book and know where it can be purchased? Cheers, Bob

[b.hennick]

Thanks for the effort. I am sure that it will be useful. I like the fact that as a pdf file I can search for a particular smith.

[Mark]

there was one for sale at the SF show. i forget the exact price but i think it was $1100-1200

[bjmoose]

Hi Ian. Sounds very useful for those who have the original book. I don't, but tried to download anyway, but the file was stated to be damaged. Could you please email me a pdf at surfson@rcn.com? Do you recommend buying the book and know where it can be purchased? Cheers, Bob

 

Hi Bob,

 

I'll email you a pdf - it was done with Adobe 9, but it should be backward compatable.

I do recommend the book, but it ain't for the faint of wallet, as it was limited to 600 copies. It's available at :

 

http://www.ricecracker.com/japanese_swords_books/books.htm $1500 USD

 

http://www.nihonto.com.au/html/sword_accessories.html $1200 AUD

 

http://

http://www.japanesesword.de/?site=book& ... i8e1chtk90 1350 EUR

 

Best Regards,

 

- ian

[bjmoose]

Thanks for the effort. I am sure that it will be useful. I like the fact that as a pdf file I can search for a particular smith.

 

Yup, that search comes in handy. I had fun converting the dates - thank heavens the original index had them in Romaji - made it much easier!

[Brian]

Ian,

Good work..wish I had the book. Opens fine for me, and I'll add it to the articles section.

 

Brian