Katana signed Hizen no Kuni Jyunin Tadayoshi. Designated Jūyō Bijūtsū on May 10th 1938, and 2 shaku 3 sun 6 bu long. This is JB set # 987 and Yamanaka JB # 9. The owner submitted this blade to the Tsuchiua Police of Ibaragi Prefecture (just Northeast of Tokyo) on September 29th 1945. The police…
Swords of Yamato
by Jim Kurraschfrom the March 1997 Nanka Token Kai NewsletterYamato was probably the second kuni in Japan to produce swords, with the first being Hôki, ?? where Korean sword smiths entered Japan. This early Yamato work started in Nara, about Taiho (701 – 704). The most noted smith of this time was Amakuni – ??.…
Sword Cleaning and Maintenance
By Jim Kurraschfrom the February 1999 Nanka Token Kai Newsletter Once again a question about cleaning paper was raised on the inter-net. I have been thinking more about this problem and feel that the time was probably good to give some more information. I was avoiding answering this because to be completely honest I feel…
Sukesada
A katana signed Bizen no kuni ju Osafune Yozozaemon no Jo Sukesada saku, and dated Tembun yon nen ni gatsû kichijitsu . It became Jûyô Bunkasai on September 5th, 1938, and is 2 shaku. 3 sun 2 bu long – 70.3 cm. On October 10th, 1945 the owner turned this blade over to the Kita…
Relative Security for your Blades
by Jim Kurrasch Shortly after I started collecting nihontô I decided that I would not openly display my blades in my home. I figured that if I came home and found that some little (or big) 16 year old punk was using one of my 400 year old blades to chop on trees, I may…
Rai Kunimitsu
by Jim Kurrasch In Old Japan it was considered lucky to have a tantô by a Kunimitsu. In fact they liked names ending in mitsu. The Kunimitsus of choice were Shintôgo Kunimitsu © of Sagami, or Rai Kunimitsu of Yamashiro. Shintôgo Kunimitsu is considered the 1st true Sôshu Swordsmith, and the teacher of Masamune. He…
Rai Kunimitsu
A tachi signed Rai Kunimitsu, that was designated Jûyô Bunkasai on February 22nd, 1939. It is 2 shaku, 2 sun 4 bu long – 67.8 cm. This was with the Kôkûho Masamune, and JB Nagamitsu, when they were turned over to Sergeant Bimore. It’s JB set # is 107, and it’s Yamanaka JB # is…
Questions and Answers
by Jim Kurrasch 1996 (edited and re-formated by Adrian Schlemmer ) This is not going to be FAQ, but questions that have been asked, of me or in the Nihontô list. Some of the questions are interesting, and worth while, but would not be thought of by the average collector. Others are in the FAQ…
Orange County Hannamatsuri Display 1996
April 13th & 14th. 1996This was a pretty good show. It was not so large that we were swamped, but large enough so we always had something to keep busy with. About 15 members showed up over the 2 days, and there were several hundred visitors. Some of them brought blades for us to look…
Orange County Hanamatsuri Festival and Display
By Roger Davisfrom the May 1998 Nanka Token Kai NewsletterHi all……as promised following is a brief listing of some of the goodies displayed by the So. California Sword Club (Nanka Token Kai) at this past weekends Hanamatsuri Festival in Orange County. There were swords from eight centuries….13th. through the 20th:Katana…1222….Bishû Aoe Moritoshi…..62.4 cm.Katana…1375….Bizen Osafune school…..71.0…