Month: July 2020

The 15th Noda Token Ichi sales event was held for three days at the Business Hotel Noda from June 24th in our home ground of Noda City.

Before the Event, honestly, my expectations were low because of the all-day heavy rain weather forecast and the fact that people are not leaving their homes in order to avoid the spread of the Corona-virus. In order to meet the expectations of the visitors who come all the way in such a situation, all the staff worked hard to keep the Corona-virus countermeasures in mind so that they would be comfortable to come. While the number of visitors were decreased, I was happy to see the continued enthusiasm of those who made it.  I heard that one visitor was not able to visit the first day although he came to the nearest station because of the heavy rain and another visitor arrived at the parking lot but could not get out for about 15 minutes due to heavy rain. I am grateful for everyone’s perseverance.  I was also very happy when a visitor who made his first purchase of a Japanese sword at Noda Touken Ichi in his third visit, he said to me, “I’m as excited with my purchase as when I received a new toy when I was a child.” We were successful and finished cleaning up, we were tired but we were all satisfied with the results of the event.

The next event, the 16th Noda Touken Ichi, will be held next January, 2021.

In July, I visited the NBTHK to apply for the sword fitting Shinsa. While I was there I was able to see the 26th exhibition of the items that passed Tokubetsu Juyo Shinsa of this year at the sword museum. One of the items that passed the  Tokubetsu Juyo Shinsa was my item. It was Mutokoro-mono, which means six pieces of sword fittings, they were Mumei but were attributed to Joshin, the Third Master of the Goto Tradition.  This Mutokoro-mono is said to be Higashiyama Gyomotsu that means it was owned by Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th Shogun of the Morumachi Bakufu and was also listed in the property catalog of the Maeda Family from the Edo to the early Showa Era.   Finding such a historical item and ranking the evaluation up is very rewarding for me as a sword trader.

Every June, which is the end of our fiscal year, our company takes an overseas trip with our staff and business partners as a way to celebrate our hard work and success during the previous year. This was the 10th fiscal year and we planned to travel overseas, however due to the Corona-virus we had to cancel our trip. I did not want to lose this opportunity due to the virus, so I decided to reschedule the trip to Okinawa. We were fortunate that the travel restrictions were lifted after June 19th allowing us to travel at the last minute.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Seragaki island in Okinawa. Using a rented car from the Naha Airport, we drove to the hotel. We enjoyed the hotel during the day and in the evening we dined in the local restaurants.

It is likely this severe economic environment will continue into the unforeseeable future, but I will do my best to dream of our next trip overseas for this fiscal year.