Clik here to view.
Easter eBook Super Sale IV
I just started, like last three years before, an Easter eBook Super Sale where ALL of my eBooks are reduced by 50%! This offer will be valid for until April 6 so you have enough time to decide what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KANTEI 4 – YAMASHIRO #36 – Heianjō (平安城) and Go-Sanjō (後三条) Schools 3
As mentioned at the very beginning of this Heianjō and Go-Sanjō chapter, it appears that the Heianjō lineage is older than that of the Go-Sanjō. According to tradition, the Heianjō lineage was founded...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tenshō-suriage and Keichō-suriage
Ok, I am leaving for the Chicago Sword Show tomorrow morning and am looking forward to see you guys there. So this is just gonna be a very short post but I thought it might nevertheless be of interest....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hon’ami Kōson (本阿弥光遜)
Time for another portrait of an important figure in the sword world, Hon’ami Kōson (本阿弥光遜). Kōson was born on April 29 of Meiji twelve (明治, 1879) as Kawaguchi Teikichi (川口定吉), son of Kawaguchi...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On vacation
Ok, we are leaving for Italy tomorrow May 8 and I will be back in office on May 23. I will be able to reply to emails of course but I would kindly ask you to wait until the 23rd or 24th to send me...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raikirimaru (雷切丸) – The Thunder Cutter
Whilst doing cataloging work for the Samurai Art Museum, Berlin, I came across a fuchigashira set by Gotō Ichijō (後藤一乗, 1791-1876) whose motif I had troubles with identifying. Now as you can see in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old sayagaki inventory
This is going to be a very brief post. Background is, I was asked about a certain sayagaki which I explained to my client but which I thought might be interesting for some of my readers. Now as most of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KANTEI 4 – YAMASHIRO #37 – Heianjō (平安条) and Go-Sanjō (後三条) Schools 4
As mentioned in the previous chapter, evidence base for everything before the famous Muromachi period Nagayoshi master is very limited. For example, basically all we have on the first generation of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A very special tsuba by and for Natsuo
This time I want to introduce a Natsuo tsuba which is not “just” a great masterwork like they all are but which is oustanding as it marks a very important stage in his career. The above shown tsuba has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nasu no Yoichi’s Sword
Many of you may know Nasu no Yoichi (那須与一, 1169-1190/1232), the famous Minamoto warrior who shot down the fan the Taira put atop a pole on one of their ships with a single shot during the Battle of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KANTEI 4 – YAMASHIRO #38 – Daruma (達磨) School
The Daruma School is kind of living in the shadow when it comes to treatises on the Yamashiro tradition, but that is actually no surprise as this school was only active for a short period of time and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Altering tsuba signatures
If you are following me for a while, you may remember my article from a few years ago here about Muramasa signatures being altered after they have become “unpresentable” with the Tokugawa coming to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sōei (宗栄) alias Usaku (右作)
Usually when it comes to details in a swordsmith’s career, we are dependent on written records which were either compiled by period sword scholars, by fief/government officials, or by the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
@swordtranslator goes to NY
In a month from now, I will be visiting researcher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for a full year, assisting the Arms and Armor Department with its vast collection of Japanese swords,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Setouchi City Crowdfunding #1
Some of you might be aware of the plans of Setouchi City trying to raise finds through crowdfunding to but the famous meitō Sanchōmō (山鳥毛). I am not directly involved in the crowdfunding but was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Early sukashi motifs 1
A few weeks ago, I skimmed through a Japanese blog post and briefly had to halt at an expression, a kind of a tongue-twister, because I was sure I have read that somewhere before but I couldn’t put my...
View ArticleMukansa/Ningen-Kokuhō List
Please note: Apart from swordsmiths, this list in work in progress and will be updated as soon as more detailed information is located. To the very left, the year the rank was granted is listed. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alteration vs. Correction
I have written a couple of times about the issues of removing signatures from swords, for example here and here. Now in these two examples, the signature was removed due to lack of knowledge in the one...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gotō Ichijō’s personal sword
Before we start, I want to apologize for my recent posts being more brief than usual. Those who follow my page know why and when things have calmed down, i.e. when I have settled in with my new job,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oroshigane mentioned in signatures
Translating a signature the other day in which the swordsmith refers to a particular steel he used to make that very sword, I remembered that I had a halfway finished article on a related topic on my...
View Article