One opportunity to refine your skills in judging a Japanese sword in a playful or competitive manner is nyûsatsu-kantei (入札鑑定), lit. “bidding kantei,” where you submit your answers to a designated judge who acts as head of the session. According to your bid, the judge gives you a certain and today standardized response by which you should be able to narrow down your bid and nail down the smith in the ideal case. A detailed list of these replies can be found for example at the end of Kokan Nagayama’s standard work The Connoisseur’s Book of Japanese Swords. Well, we don’t know exactly when nyûsatsu-kantei were held for the first time. Fukunaga Suiken says in his Nihontô Kantei Hikkei (日本刀鑑定必携, 1985) that they were quite in fashion during the Edo period and suggested by the Hon’ami family as good kantei practice. Hon’ami Mitsuhiro (本阿弥光博) writes in his Nihontô Kantei Hô (日本刀鑑定法, 1973) that evidence of nyûsatsu-kantei goes at least back to the bakumatsu era, although he states at the same time that the practice is definitely older. And Satô Kanzan wrote in his Nihontô Kikô (日本刀紀行, 1976) that nyûsatsu-kantei has a long tradition which even predates the Edo period. Anyway, references are limited but alone on the basis of the large number of relevant publications like simple kantei guides, meikan, and mei-zukushi released in the late Edo period we can conclude that nyûsatsu-kantei were popular all over Japan at that time.

This time I want to introduce one of the rare extant written records of late Edo period nyûsatsu-kantei. We are talking about several documents found among the records of the Furugaki family (古垣). The Furugaki were retainers of the Miyakonojô branch (都城) of the Shimazu family (formerly Hongô family, 北郷) who ruled the Miyakonojô territory of the same name which was located in Hyûga province and which was one of the semi-autonomous sub-territories of the large Satsuma fief. Incidentally, the Miyakonojô-Shimazu were pretty well off as their lands were nominated with an annual income of 36,000 koku. The kantei documents in question go back to a certain member of the Furugaki family, to Furugaki Genjûrô Toshiaki (古垣源十郎俊彰, 1839-1877), who belonged initially to the cavalry corps of the Miyakonojô-Shimazu holding the fifth of ten of the local samurai rank. Toshiaki was trained in the Tenshin-ryû (天真流) of swordsmanship (which he later mastered) and became in Ansei two (安政, 1855), aged 17, a page of the then Miyakonojô lord Shimazu Hisanaga (島津久静, 1832-1862). Later he was promoted to the rank of bettô (別当), serving at the machi-bugyô office, and after that he was able to get the post of bugashira (武頭) which means that he was the head of the various local samurai kumi units. When he became an escort of Hisanaga’s successor Hisahiro (島津久寛, 1859-1884), he was able to often visit the capital Kagoshima where he refined his fencing and riding skills. He participated in the Anlo-Satsuma War which took place in 1863 and fought in the course of the Boshin War at several places in the northern Ôshû region, that means on the opposite end of Japan. When the Satsuma Rebellion broke out in 1877, Toshiaki was appointed second lieutenant of the government troops and fouht thus against the army of Saigô Takamori. During this campaign, a bullet pierced his chest and killed him. This was on the 16^th day of the sixth month Meiji ten (1877). He was only 39 years old.

Picture 1: Furugaki Genjûrô Toshiaki.

So far the resume of Furugaki Toshiaki’s short but eventful life. As for the kantei-related documents extant from his possessions, we are talking about five writings, namely two nyûsatsu-kantei lists titled Tôken Nyûsatsu Kantei Ichiranhyô (刀剣入札鑑定一覧表), notes to the kantei sessions titled Katana Mekiki Ichijô Oboetome (刀目利一条覚留), a dôzen list titled Tôken Nyûsatsu Kantei Dôzen Chô (刀剣入札鑑定同然帳), an abbreviated version of the sword publication Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen titled Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen Nukishô (古刀銘尽大全抜集), and a mnemonic song on kantei titled Katana Mekiki Kuniwake no Uta (刀目利国分之歌). The latter consists of 29 verses on how to memorize the characteristic of different provinces and was written down by a member of the Ano family (阿野) from southern Satsuma province.

Picture 2: The Katana Mekiki Kuniwake no Uta.

Picture 3: The two extant Tôken Nyûsatsu Kantei Ichiranhyô lists (click to enlarge).

We learn from the kantei notes that the first mentioned lists are two out of nine nyûsatsu-kantei sessions. One list is dated with the 22^nd day of the sixth month Bunkyû one (文久, 1861) and shows the inscrpition “Furugaki-shi kai” (古垣氏会) which means “meeting at Furugakis’.” It is assumed that these lists were kept by the person who held the kantei session at his house, i.e. in our case by Furugaki Toshiaki. As mentioned, the one sheet is undated but we find in Toshiaki’s kantei notes a matching entry for the names of the smiths which is dated Man’en one (万延, 1860). And as the second sheet was preserved with the first one, it is safe to assume that this kantei session was also held at Furugakis’. Also we learn from the kantei notes that judges at the two sessions in questions were a certain Iguro (伊黒) and a certain Ôkawara (大河原). The third name we find in the documents pointing out a judge at a kantei is Yamada (山田). So these three “guys” were replying on a rotating basis to the participants of the nine nyûsatsu-kantei sessions. Incidentally, Iguro must had been a kind of teacher or mentor to Toshiaki as we read in the “imprint” to his handwritten abbreviated version of tghe Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen that the original was a loan from Iguro. Well, we don’t find given names to any of these three judges so we can’t say for sure who they were but at least we find all three family names in the list of retainers of the Miyakonojô-Shimazu family. But back to the actual lists. When you take a look at the boxes (see picture 4) you will find one to four names of swordsmiths which shows us that there were rounds at the nyûsatsu-kantei. The boxes at the bottom of each column show the names of the bidders, that means at the session held in Man’ en one there were four blades and four participants and at the session held in Bunkyû one there were five blades and six participants. The first column to the very right shows what blades were presented for the kantei. To give you a feel for how close the participants were, I want to paraphrase the two kantei lists in the following:

Picture 4: Detail of one of the lists. Box 1 contains the names Kanemitsu (兼光) and Nagamitsu (長光) and box 2 the names Mihara-mono (三原物), Shizu (志津), and Yamato-mono (大和物).

Session from Man’en one (1860):

1^st kantei blade: Norimitsu (則光). Jôzaburô (城三郎) bade subsequently on Yoshiie (吉家), Norimune (則宗), and Motoshige (元重). Hachirô’emon (八郎右衛門) bade on Sa (左), Ko-Bizen (古備前), Kagemitsu (景光), and Norimitsu, i.e. got eventually an atari. Genjûrô (i.e. Furugaki Toshiaki) bade on Chôgi (長義) and on Sukesada (祐定). And Shinnosuke (新之丞) bade on Nagamitsu, on Sukesada but which was crossed-out and changed to Tomomitsu (倫光), and to Sukesada again.

2^nd kantei blade: Tegai Kanenaga (包永) [written on the list with the wrong characters 兼永]. Jôzaburô bade on Mihara-mono, Shizu, and on Yamato-mono. Hachirô’emon bade on Ko-Seki (古関) and on Masaie (正家). Genjûrô bade on Kunihiro (国広), Nagamitsu, and Ko-Seki. And Shinnosuke bade on Katsumitsu (勝光) and on Kanenaga which was atari. Please note that in the box of the bids, Shinnojôs bid on Kanenaga is noted with the correct characters for the smith.

3^rd kantei blade: Sukesada (祐定) [written on the list with the wrong characters 助定]. Jôsaburô bade on Kanemitsu and Nagamitsu. Hachirô’emon on Katsumitsu. Genjûrô on Iesuke (家助) and atari on Sukesada. And Shinnosuke bade on Kanesada (兼定) and atari on Sukesada. Please note that here too, the atari bids of Genjûrô and Shinnosuke were noted with the correct characters for the smith.

4^th kantei blade: Takada Nagamori (高田長盛). Jôsaburô bade on Masafusa (正房), Kanesada (兼定), Ko-Seki, and finally on Takada. Hachirô’emon bade on Gokaji (五鍛冶, what refers to the five Kyôto-based smiths Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi, Ômi no Kami Hisamichi, Ikkanshi Tadatsuna, Iga no Kami Rai Kinmichi, and Shinano no Kami Nobuyoshi), on Sukesada, and on Sadamune (貞宗). Genjûrô bade on Shizu, Sue-Sôshû, and on Yukihira (行平). And Shinnosuke bade on Tadatsuna (忠綱), Mihara, and on Kyô-mono.

Picture 5: Detail of one of the lists. Box 1 shows the character da(su) and box 2 the character son(jiru).

Session from Bunkyû one (1861):

1^st kantei blade: Kôshû (Ômi) Tsuguhiro (江州次弘). Genjûrô bade on “Mitsu/Kô-rui” (光類), Ko-Tamiyama (古谷山), and Ko-Seki. “Mitsu/Kô-rui” means “one of the Mitsu” and in Genjûrô’s dôzen list we find a corresponding entry which lists under the title “Mitsu/Kôrui” about 40 smiths like for example Sukemitsu (祐光), Norimitsu (則光), Katsumitsu (勝光), and Kiyomitsu (清光). No Ôei-Bizen or Kozori name like Morimitsu (盛光), Yasumitsu (康光), Moromitsu (師光), Shigemitsu (重光), or Toshimitsu (利光) appears in this list and so it refers to Sue-Bizen only. And the term “Ko-Taniyama” refers to the production site of the Naminohira school of the same name, i.e. Taniyama. Thus this entry is equivalent to “Ko-Naminohira.” The next participant Naokurô (直九郎) bade on Kiyomitsu and on Ko-Seki. Hachirô’emon did not bid on this one as he was the owner of the blade, marked with da(su) (出) which can be translated as “submitter” (see picture 5). Shinnosuke bade on Ichimonji, Aoe, and Yamato-mono. Hikoji (彦次) on Sukesada (祐定) and Norimitsu (則光), and Jôsaburô on Yamato-mono, Ko-Taniya, and on Heianjô (平安城). It is not sure which Tsuguhiro was submitted because there is no such smith using these characgters found working in kotô-times in Ômi province. There were Tsuguhiro (次弘) working in Bizen, Bitchû, and Iwami and it is also possible that this entry actually refers to a Tsuguhiro who wrote his name with the characters (次広), although no such smith is found for Ômi province either. But in Genjûrô’s kantei notes he had pointed out that the blade lacks nie, has a thick kasane, is of high quality, and shows a ko-midare which is similar to Biyen-mono. So his bid on “Mitsu/Kô-rui” is understandable.

2^nd kantei blade: Motohira (元平). Genjûrô bade on the Oku school (奥), which should actually be atari, but continued bidding on Heianjô and on Mizuta-mono (水田物). Naokurô did not bid this time because he was the owner of the blade. Hachirô’emon bade on Sôshû-mono, Masayoshi (正幸), Yoshitake (吉武), and finally atari on Motohira. Shinnosuke bade on Gokaji, on o-kuni-mono (御国物, local Satsuma-shintô or shinshintô smiths), and on Banshû-mono (播州物, Harima-province work). Hikoji bade on Masayoshi (正幸) and atari on Motohira. And Jôsaburô bade on Yoshitake (吉武), Hirokuni (広国), and on Gokaji.

3^rd kantei blade: Tsuguhiro (継広). Genjûrô bade again on Mitsu/Kô-rui, on the Oku school, and on Seki. Naokurô bade on Echizen-mono and on Mitsu/Kô-rui. Hachirô’emon bade atari on Tsughiro but continued to bid, for whatever reason, to o-kuni-mono, Kunihiro (国広), and on Ôsaka-uchi (大坂打, i.e. an Ôsaka-made blade). Shinnosuke did not participate as he already knew the blade, marked with the character son(jiru) (存) in the corresponding box. Also Hikoji did not bid as he was the owner and Jôsaburô bade on Seki, Sôshû-mono, and on Masahiro (正広).

4^th kantei blade: Bizen Ômiya Kunimori (大宮国盛). Genjûrô bade on Echizen-mono, Taniyama, and Gokaji. Naokurô did not bid as he already knew the blade. Hachirô’emon bade on 2^nd generation Shizu, on Senju’in, and on Naminohira. Shinnosuke bade on Naminohira, Echizen, and on Seki. Hikoji bade only once and on Sôshû-mono. And Jôsaburô bade on Niô (二王), Yukihira (行平), and on Kotetsu.

5^th kantei blade: unsigned Echizen-mono. Genjûrô bade on Echizen-Seki, Taniyama, and Gokaji. Naokurô bade on Shimosaka (下坂) and on Hôjôji (法城寺). Hachirô’emon bade on Ôsaka-uchi, Shimosaka, and Takada. Shinnosuke did not bid as he was the owner of the blade. Hikoji bade on Echizen-Seki. And Jôsaburô bade on Masahiro (正広), Seki, and on Ôsaka-uchi.

Also interesting to observe on these two lists are the numerical remarks in red ink. For example we find the character for “ten” (jû, 十) written over Hachirô’emon’s first-bid atari on Tsuguhiro at the Bunkyû one nyûsatsu-kantei session. So an atari at the first bid counted ten points. The number eight (hachi, 八) is found over Genjûrô’s Oku bid on Motohira and on Hikoji’s second atari bid on Motohira. That means a dôzen at the first bid and an atari at the second bid counted both eight points. Four points were given for example to Shinnosuke when he bade at the second round on o-kuni-mono for Motohira. Also four points were given to Hachirô’emon when he got atari for Motohira at the fourth round and to Jôsaburô for his Yamato-mono bid after the third round for the Kanenaga blade. However, what we don’t know is why some kept bidding even after receiving atari and why on three occasions four rounds were allowed when the maximum number of bids is in all other cases three. Maybe if you were close with your last bid you got a final chance but as all these three cases are only seen at Hachirô’emon, it is also possible that he was a beginner and got thus by default four bids. Another questionable point is why the character da(su) was written over Genjûrô’s bid box for the Ômiya Kunimori blade. If it was his blade, why did he bid three times not even close to atari? So maybe this da(su) must had been some kind of mistake. Or the blade was signed “Kunimori” and Genjûrô did not know which Kunimori and submitted it therefore to see the opinion of the other participants or of the judge. Anyway, Shinnosuke was the winner of the Man’en one nyûsatsu-kantei session. His final score of 20 points (弐拾) is written on top of his column. Well, the Bunkyû one session did not show any winner. Maybe because it was thought that this session was kind of unbalanced as it consisted largely of submitters and of participants who already knew the certain blades.

Let us go over to Genjûrô Toshiaki’s Katana Mekiki Ichijô Oboetome notes. We find therein 53 blades and it is interesting to see that most emphasis was laid on the hamon and bôshi. That means measurements, sugata, nakago finish, and hataraki are not addressed at all. Also the jihada is hardly mentioned, just four times we read masame-hada and matsukawa-hada. But we find for example several times the entries nuritô (ぬりとふ) and jiiro-migoto (地色見事, lit. “steel color magnificent”). It is assumed that, written with the kanji (塗砥), the first term refers to a simple Edo-period way of finishing, namely by applying hazuya over both ha and ji after the blade was polished to the uchigumori step. Incidentally, hazuya is usually used for the ha only. So at nurito (which means literally “greased/greasy/smeared/blurred polish”) not too much attention was paid to the appearance of the blade, but we learn that also such pieces were submitted to nyûsatsu-kantei, causing problems for the participants in properly judging the blade in question. What Toshiaki also noted in his Katana Mekiki Ichijô Oboetome was, on 29 occasions, the name of the owner of the blade and which ones he owned himself and submitted to one of the nine nyûsatsu-kantei sessions (eleven pieces). So he practically provided at least one blade per session and sometimes even two. Some of the 29 recorded names appear in the retainer list of the Miyakonojô-Shimazu family and were rather high-ranking samurai. This shows us how much Furugaki Toshiaki was trusted to loan him precious blades for his kantei sessions. When it comes to the balance of the sessions, we arrive at an about 50:50 ratio of kotô to shintô, although the majority of the kotô blades are Muromachi and only a handful dates back to Kamakura or Nanbokuchô times. For example and apart from the aforementioned Tegai Kanenaga and Ômiya Kunimori, we find in Toshiaki’s kantei notes for Kamakura and Nanbokuchô a Senju’in katana, an Akihiro tantô, a Hiromitsu wakizashi, a Sa wakizashi (mumei, attributed), a Sadamune katana (mumei, attributed), and a Shizu katana (also mumei and attributed). As for shintô, we find names like Dewa no Daijô Kunimichi, Ikkanshi Tadatsuna, Ômi no Kami Hisamichi, or Hizen Yukihiro, but no blades of local smiths like Izu no Kami Masafusa, Mondo no Shô Masakiyo, or Ippei Yasuyo. Instead we find relative many blades of smiths from the Oku school, like Tadashige (忠重), Tadakane (忠金), Kunihira (国平), and the aforementioned Motohira. Also no local Naminohira blades are found, neither for kotô nor for shintô, even if some of the participants were bidding on them on several occasions. Maybe the famous award winning smiths Mondo no Shô Masakiyo and Ippei Yasuyo were just too high-priced for local samurai. And except for the few Kamakura and Nanbokuchô-era smiths, there are hardly any big names found in Toshiaki’s notes what tells us apart from the borrowed blades about the average quality of rural late Edo period nyûsatsu-kantei sessions. In other words, there were just no large numbers of “daimyô quality” blades available but it was obviously tried hard to display the best of what was going round among middle and lower-ranking samurai.

Picture 6: Example page from the Katana Mekiki Ichijô Oboetome.

Picture 7: The Tôken Nyûsatsu Kantei Dôzen Chô.

Toshiaki’s dôzen list is dated Ansei three (安政, 1856), that means he copied or compiled the list for his own use when he was just 18 years old. The way it is bound and folded shows us that it was designed for single-handed use. So we can assume that Toshiaki used it as a quick reference browsing through it with the left hand whilst holding the sword in the right. It does not only contain a simple dôzen list but also presents smiths sorted according to certain features like “shallow hi,” “thick kasane,” “unokubi-zukuri interpretation,” “high shinogi,” or “koshiba or midareba from the center of the blade upwards,” and it is easy to understand how much effort Toshiaki put into this document to make it an as useful as possible reference. As for the abbreviated copy of the Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen Nukishô, we learn that he basically copied volumes 1 and 4 of the Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen which contain the chapters “Basics of Sword Judgement,” “Step-by-step How to Judge a Sword,” “Differentiation of kotô and shintô,” “Superior Smiths from all Provinces”, and “Average and Inferior Smiths.” He diligently copied the pictures and paid much attention to the accurate reproduction of the hamon and bôshi.

Picture 8: Cover and sample page of Toshiaki’s Kotô Mei Zukushi Taizen Nukishô.

In conclusion it can be said that although the data seems to be quite limited at a glance, i.e. just a few sheets and booklets written by a rural lower-ranking Satsuma-samurai, it gives us nevertheless quite an insight into late Edo period kantei sessions. We learned that blades were borrowed from higher-ranking, mostly local samurai, that it was tried that each session was balanced and that at least a minimum of high-quality blades was presented, that points were awarded and a winner was selected, that some of the participants made minute notes of the kantei blades, and that the sessions were held at irregular intervals but several times a year (in Toshiaki’s kantei notes we find the dates fall Man’en one, and first month, fourth, sixth month, and seventh month of Bunkyû one) and at different locations with different persons acting as judge. So apart from the private aspect of holding the meetings in the house of the organizer, these nyûsatsu-kantei sessions were held pretty much the same way as we do it today. So if you are attending a meeting of one of the sword associations or local sword clubs and listen to the discussions about how to get grasp of high-quality blades and who can bring what for the next kantei, bear in mind that it had always been that way and that also Edo-period samurai put on their pants/hakama one leg at a time.

After basically just announcements and book presentations over the last weeks and months, I would like to expand my entry from January this year which was on sword-related Japanese sayings. As mentioned in the first article, some of these sayings might not be that common at all. Anyway, here we go:

aikuchi ni tsuba o utta yô (七首に鐔を打ったよう) – Literally “like mounting a tsuba to an aikuchi.” As an aikuchi comes without a tsuba, this saying is used when something does not match. Variants are kogatana ni tsuba (小刀に鐔, about “like a tsuba on a kogatana”) and kogatana ni kin-tsuba o utta yô (小刀に金鐔を打ったよう, lit. “like mounting a golden tsuba to a kogatana”).

akunin wa katana no tameshi-mono (悪人は刀の試し物) – This saying means about “this bad guy would make a fine test object for my sword” and is rather self-explanatory.

bushi wa katana, hyakushô wa kuwa (武士は刀、百姓は鍬) – Literally “the bushi has the sword and the farmer has the hoe” It means that everyone has a main thing or field where he or she focusses on and/or is good at. The saying might also be used like the English “Cobbler, stick to your last.”

chônin no katana-konomi (町人の刀好み) – This phease means literally “the sword love of the merchant” and is generally applied to something which is unworthy of or ill-matched.

dojô-shiru ni kin-tsuba (泥鰌汁に金鍔) – Literally “loach soup and golden tsuba,” a phrase which points out a very bad match. Please note that the term kin-tsuba is not used literally in this phrase. It refers to a bean paste-filled dessert which has the shape of a tsuba.

dosu no katana de dosu no kobu(どすの刀でどすの首) – This saying means “to give tit for tat” or also “to beat the enemy with his own weapons.”

emi no uchi no katana (笑みの中の刀) – Literally “sword behind a smile.” Variants of this saying are shôchû ni tô ari (笑中に刀あり), shôchû ni yaiba o togu (笑中に刃を研ぐ, lit. “sharpening the blade whilst smiling”), and shôri ni tô o kakushi deichû ni hari ari (笑裸に刀を隠し泥中に針あり, “a sword hidden in the smile and a fish hook hidden in the mud”) and they apply to a person who seems calm and friendly on the outside but who is actually mean on the inside or following evil plans. An English equivalent is probably “wolf in sheep´s clothing.” Please note that the character (中) of the first variant is read as uchi and not chû or naka. It is sometimes also replaced by (内).

entô-ikkatsu (鉛刀一割) – Literally “Splitting something with a lead sword.” A saying which has the same meaning as the English “even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn.” But the saying is also used in the context of something difficult which worked at the first try.

ese-zamurai no katana ijiri (似非侍の刀いじり) – Literally “Only the false samurai is meddling with the sword.” The proverb means that it is mostly cowards who threaten people or act wildly and brandish their weapons.

funabata ni kizami o tsukete katana o tazuneru (船端に刻みをつけて刀を尋ねる) – Literally “looking for a sword where you made a mark at the broadside of a ship.” It means if you loose your sword whilst on a ship, it doesn´t make much sense to mark the spot where you lost it on the ship itself as it moves. A variant is funa ni kizamite ken o motomu (船に刻みて剣を求む) and these sayings are applied when someone tries to preserve some old tradition without recognizing that times have changed too significantly for preserving this tradition.

goke-zaya de saya-nari ga suru (後家鞘で鞘鳴りがする) – Literally “the widow scabbard makes noise.” The phrase refers to the fact that a leftover saya, so-to-speak a “widow saya,” will never fit exactly when used for another blade and thus the sword makes a grinding noise (saya-nari, 鞘鳴り) when drawn. The saying goke-zaya de saya-nari ga suru means if there is constantly some fighting within a group of people or a family.

hiroki ie wa saya-nari (広き家は鞘鳴り) – Literally “even a spacious house can cause scabbard noises.” This phrase refers as mentioned above to the grinding noise a sword makes when drawn from a unmatching saya. It is used when people get a too big house, e.g. when it doesn´t go hand in hand with their status or money or how they live.

jaken no yaiba (邪見の刃) – This phrase means that someone eventually got hurt because of someone´s wrong or evil thoughts.

katana, aruji o erabu (刀、主を選ぶ) – This saying means literally “the one with the sword is the head/master” or “the sword makes the head/master” and means that it actually does matter who is chosen for a certain task or post.

katana ni kakete (刀に懸けて) – Literally “depending on one´s sword.” This phrase means doing something by force.

katana no ha watari (刀の刃渡り) – This phrase goes back to certain fakir-like performances by Buddhist ascets who walked barefootedly over sword blades. It means doing something very dangerous similar to the English phrase “balancing on a razor edge” or “to walk a tightrope.” A variant is katana no ha o ayumu(刀の刃を歩む) which means literally “to walk on a sword blade” too.

katana no kizu wa naoseru ga kotoba no kizu wa naosenai(刀の傷は治せるが言葉の傷は治せない) – “A sword wound can be healed but a wound caused by words not.” This saying is also rather self-explanatory and means that physical injuries might heal fast but mental wounds might never heal.

katana no sabi (刀の錆) – This phrase means literally “the rust of the sword.” As blood causes rust, it is a metaphor for killing someone or being killed but was and is also used in a derogatory manner for someone who isn´t even worth making your sword dirty, like “he/she isn´t worth it.” Variants of the latter context of katana no sabi are katana-yogoshi (刀汚し) and katana no kegare (刀の汚がれ) which mean, expressed very rudely, “you ain´t worth shit.”

katana no sabi wa katana yori izuru (刀の錆は刀より出ずる) – Literally “The rust of the sword comes from the sword itself.” The saying means “being born evil.”

katana-ore ya-tsukiru made (刀折れ矢尽きるまで) – Literally “until your sword breaks and you run out of arrows.” It means to fight until you run out of “weapons” or rather “arguments,” i.e. to be at your wit´s end. It also means to face a complete loss.

katana o urite kôshi o kau (刀を売りで子牛を買う) – Literally “selling your sword and buying a calf.” A variant is ken o uri ushi o kau (剣を売り牛を買う) which means literally “selling your sword and buying a cow.” The saying means to put away arms and live peacefully from now on.

katana-torumi mo kuwa-torumi mo (刀取る身も鍬取る身も) – This saying means literally “wearing the sword and using the hoe” and means being equally a white-collar and a blue-collar worker.

katana wa nukazaru ni ri ari (刀は抜かざるに利あり) – Literally “Advantage/benefit without drawing the sword.” The proverb means solve something by avoiding unnecessary force. It also means that something turns out fine because you left “your sword in the scabbard,” i.e. because you were patient and have not jumped the gun. A variant of this saying´s latter context is nukanu-tachi no kômyô (抜かぬ太刀の高名) which means literally “the fame of the undrawn sword.”

kojiri ga tsumari (鐺が詰まる) – Literally “the kojiri is blocked” and used to express if one is in a tight corner, in deep water, in a fix and so on.

kojiri o toru (鐺を取る) – Literally “to grasp the kojiri,” this phrase means to put an end to something.

kojiri-togame (鐺咎め) – Literally “blame the kojiri.” The phrase goes back to that in feudal times, hitting someone´s saya in passing ended usually in a duel or an argument. Kojiri-togame means now “to make a mountain of a molehill.” A variant with the very same meaning is kojiri o hirou (鐺を拾う) which means lit. “to find the kojiri (of another person).”

komo o kaburu ka kin-tsuba sasu ka(薦を被るか金鍔差すが) – Literally “wearing a reed mat or a golden tsuba” and equivalent to the English “to win the mare or use the halter.”

kotoba ni saya ga aru (言葉に鞘がある) – Literally “words have a scabbard” and with the meaning “to be evasive, to be not entirely truthful, to not be frank.”

Masamune mo yaki-otsureba kugi no ne (正宗も焼き落つれば釘の値) – This saying means literally “even a Masamune is not more than a nail after lossing its tempering” and is applied to someone who is no longer as strong or powerful as he used to be.

Masamune no katana de daikon-kiru (正宗の刀で大根切る) – Literally “cutting white radish with a Masamune sword.” The saying means “doing something the wrong way.” A variant is Masamune de takigi o waru (正宗で薪を割る) which means literally “to chop wood with a Masamune.”

Masamune no katana mo tsukaite shidai (正宗の刀も使い手次第) – Literally “Even a Masamune sword needs a master swordsman.” This proverb is applied to someone who is not able to show his true value regardless of what means and resources he has.

me no saya o hazusu (目の鞘を外す) – Literally “removing the scabbard from your eyes.” This phrase means “to watch carefully” or “to take good care.”

namari no katana de hito o kitta yô ni (鉛の刀で人を切ったよう) – Literally “like killing someone with a sword of lead.” The phrase means something is too soft for a certain task and bends and is used like “this will probably not achieve much” or “this wouldn´t be of much benefit.”

onoga katana de onoga kubi (己が刀で己が首) – Literally “Taking your head with your own sword.” It means to get into trouble, because of wrong decisions for example. A variant is waga katana de waga kubi kiru (我が刀で我が首切る).

Satsuma no saya-wari (薩摩の鞘割り) – Literally “the scabbard breaking of Satsuma.” The saying applies to an irreversible decision. It goes back to the fact that drawing a sword was a decisive thing for a Satsuma-samurai. And some even broke in half their saya after drawing their sword to underline for the opponent and/or bystanders that from now on there was no way back for him, even if the matter ends in seppuku.

saya-hashiru (鞘走る) – This term had the meaning of a sword gliding out of its scabbard and is now used as “jump to conclusions” or “the tongue works faster than the mind.” Sometimes also used in the long variant saya-hashiri yori kuchi-bashiri (鞘走りより口走り, lit. “words faster than a sword gliding out of its scabbard”).

saya o toru (鞘を取る) – Literally “taking the saya.” This phrase means “to charge a fee” or “to receive a commission.”

saya wa naku tomo mi wa hikaru (鞘は無くとも身は光) – Literally “the blade shines without its scabbard,” meaning about the same as “it is the inner values that are important,” or if you want the opposite of “a fair face may hide a foul heart.”

tsuba-giwa (鍔際) – Literally “edge of the tsuba” with the meaning of a “critical moment.” It goes back to the moment when an opponent´s blade hits one´s tsuba. Please note that this term is usually written with the characters shown and not with the character (鐔) for tsuba.

tsuba o waru (鐔を割る) – Literally “splitting/breaking tsuba”, a phrase for a very intense fight.

yoki-takumi to iedomo katana no ayamari naki ni arazu (良き工といえども刀の誤りなきにあらず) – Literally “even a skilled craftsman is not immune to making a sword with flaws,” this saying means “even a great person makes mistakes.”

yumi wa fukuro ni tachi wa saya (弓は袋に太刀は鞘) – Literally “the bow is in its bag and the sword in its scabbard.” This saying refers to restored peace after times of turmoils.

The Tameshigiri book is almost finished. Writing is done and the last chapters are now proof read and then comes final formatting. I mentioned earlier and on the NMB that I am going to write a book on Gendaito in fall. Start of the project will be fall this year after I return from the US early October. I already gratefully received support in the form of books but I have to get some more so that I am able to cover the subject thoroughly. What I now need is further references in the form of blade/oshigata pictures. For that, I have created a separate email address, “gendaitoproject@gmail.com“. Everyone who has data to support this project is cordially invited to send me pictures and texts. I guess everybody knows what kind of pics are expected from such a publication, i.e. tangs in top view with either a white or black background and the like. Please understand that I will not reply individually to each mail. This email address is used to gather reference material and I will report back when there are questions. Thus I say hereby thank you very much for all data you are able to provide! Also please note that the copyright has to be ensured. That means if you have the copyright, you agree to pass it on to me with sending me the pictures. All data will only be used and published in course of the Gendaito Project. As this is still a one-man-show here and I might have to postpone other projects, I would also greatly welcome any financial support to make this project happen “smoothly.” That means I am not going to use kickstarter or any other crowdfunding because I am going to tackle the project anyway. It is just for keeping it on a steady course and not to have it largely interrupted by other projects as everybody knows, bills are not going to wait until this book is finished 😉 So everyone who wants to support the Gendaito Project, please use the “donate” button on the very bottom of this blog. I thank you a lot in advance and all those who do this in a “larger scale” will receive a signed copy of the book when finished of course. As indicated, this publication should be as complete as possible so we are talking here about a price in the upper two-digits or lower three-digits range for the finished book. Thank you for your attention!

I was asked to provide a preview for the KOSHIRAE-TAIKAN. Please take a look at the PDF posted below:

KOSHIRAE-TAIKAN-Preview

As announced on the NMB along this discussion, I make available step by step my signature archive. First the koto blades, which I arranged to a 696 pages hardcover book in the format 8.25″ wide x 10.75″ tall (thus the same format as I used for my Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists). It is a classic meikan format book with pictures of about 2,000 tangs of about 900 koto smiths. A list of all featured smiths can be found as PDF below (the “double-entries” refer to different smiths/generations with the same name). I hope this serves as a reference and also of interest should be the eBook so that one can compare signatures on the spot when going to buy swords. Just like at the previously published Signatures of Japanese Sword Fittings Artists, one can also check a signature to find out if a blade is a promising candidate for papers. The design was kept simple as I don´t like fancy covers, or in other words, a meikan is a meikan and stands for itself.

The price is 89.90 USD for the hardcover copy and 39.90 USD for the eBook. A SHINTO-MEIKAN will follow soon.

Please order via these links:

Hardcover copy

eBook

KOTO-MEIKAN-Contents