Alphabetical overview of all articles on this site. For an overview of Tôken Bijutsu articles click here.
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About reisho script on shinshintô swords
About shintô-gotetsu inscriptions onf Myôchin works
About the correct translation of certain sword signatures
A brief outline of the changes in workmanship of the later Bizen tradition
A kinzôgan-mei with a deeper meaning
A kôgai that has passed through many hands
A Natsuo motif on a Kajihei blade
A reference to Kotetsu’s scholastic background
Arita Sadatsugu’s revival of old traditions
A very brief history of the dissemination of sword knowledge (and my humble place therein)
A very special tsuba by and for Natsuo
Breakdown of price for sword blade
Challenges of translating period Japanese sword texts
Chūmon-mei: An example with interesting historic context
Copies, homages, and reinterpretations
Cutting ability nicknames of swords
Egawa Tarōzaemon Hidetatsu (江川太郎左衛門英龍)
Era name changes in signatures
Forgotten Masters – Haruakira (治剣)
From the life of a rural Edo-period swordsmith
From the life of Fujieda Tarô Teruyoshi
From the life of Unno Shômin 2
From the Meiji-era sword world
Genji-hachiryô – The Eight Armors of the Minamoto
Gotô Chôjô – The secret saver of the Gotô family?
Historic overview of aesthetic requirements for a tsuba – Part I
Historic overview of aesthetic requirements for a tsuba – Part II
Hôki no Kami Masayoshi’s (probably) last blade
Honma Junji’s “Kun” in “Kunzan”
Hosokawa Tadaoki’s hot temper and his Higo-koshirae
How honorary titles were conferred
Japanese sword trade with Ming China
Kanehira and the problem with the early smiths
Kuji-jiri – A very special koshirae
Late Edo-period nyûsatsu-kantei
“Mondo no Shô” and “Shume no Kami”
NY Token Kai Meeting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
On a probably fake kinzôgan tameshi-mei
On Sengoku-era inscriptions on Nobuie-tsuba
On the eve of one of Japan’s most famous historical incidents
On the eve of another famous historical Japanese incident
On the nickname of the Ogaki-Masamune
On the origins of Akasaka-tsuba
On the practical use of Edo-period armor
On the Rai school’s character “Rai”
On the simplification of Japanese characters
On the supposed missing link Sukenaga
Oroshigane mentioned in signatures
Raikirimaru (雷切丸) – The Thunder Cutter
Rare mentions of forging techniques in sword signatures
Report: Samurai Art Museum Berlin
Ryukyuan swords and Japan’s foreign trade loophole
Signature Supplements of Satsuma Masayoshi
Some thoughts on Sue-Bizen horimono
Sorting out legends around Ôhara Sanemori
Suehirogari – A small but fine tsuba by Natsuo
Sword-related Japanese sayings
Sword-related Japanese sayings 2
Tameshigiri with a ko-wakizashi
Tenshō-suriage and Keichō-suriage
The blade with which Sen no Rikyū committed seppuku
The case of the 5th generation Hayashi
The contestant Nobukuni Shigekane
The correct reading of certain names
The difficulties in classifying Kamakura blade shapes
The difficulties with elegance
The great flood of the Yoshii River
The Hasebe School and Hasebe Kunihira
The horimono-shi Nagasaka Yûhôken
The Inoshishigiri and the travels of Masazane
The Kabutowari-Kanesada (甲割り兼㝎)
The Musashi Masamune – One blade, four oshigata
The Muramasa ban and signature alterations
The “new” oldest extant sword document
The pitfalls of removing signatures
The reading of the characters for Mino province
The rise and fall of the Bingo smiths
The secret world of mekugi-ana
The specialist for treatment of sword cuts
The sword polisher Takeya Rian and the Twenty Six Martyrs of Nagasaki
The swords of the Tokugawa-Shitennô
The Tsunahiro connection of Suishinshi Masahide
The whale motif on sword fittings
Thoughts on the earliest known sword experts
Tosa-Myôchin/Akasaka collaboration
Tsuba with the “bird of prey catching a monkey” motif
Uncommon kanji for sword terms
When the signature stays in the background
Why Hosokawa Yûsai did not want to give up Tanabe Castle
Markus Sesko 
Good morning. I would like to email you a question but I cannot find an email address for you. Could you please email me? It’s regarding a Muromachi period, Naminohira katana with two family Mons repeated on the Koshirae, of the saya and tuska. Kind regards Michael