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The theme of the 6th Token Lecture was sword polishing.
As the same as last year, the lecturer was the polisher named Kawakami Yoichiro.

He explained how to polish and the process of using sharpening stones “toishi’. He used seven different sharpening stones appropriate for various conditions of the blade.
The students who participated enjoyed his lecture and asked many questions.

During the second half of the class was about sword appreciation.
Udagawa Sensei carefully explained about kataochi-gunome hamon of Kanemitsu, Sudareba-hamon by Yoshimichi, and Imozuru of Satsuma blades.

 

The students all appeared to be satisfied with the explanations and class.

 

The Dai Token Ichi of this year has been successfully completed. The number of visitors was nearly 3,000 people. This number is slightly increased compared to the year before. I feel a lot of the sword traders were smiling with the large turnout. As a member of the organizing group, this time we changed the rules where instead of a couple requiring two separate tickets to enter the event, we allowed couples to enter with only one ticket. We also changed the lottery system where before the items that could be won were of lower value, but this year it was budgeted to include better and more expensive items that could be won. These changes were much appreciated by the visitors. At this year’s event there were three TV crews walking around and conducting interviews with the visitors. Next year’s Event will be November 17-19 and is scheduled the same place, the Tokyo Bijutsu Club.

On October 31st I submitted the English translation of the Dai Token Ichi catalog. I grew worried about how I could translate all of it because our international staff returned to his country. However, my American friend agreed to support my efforts. Some international visitors have been waiting for the English translation of this catalog. Because of my friends huge support I was able to complete the work on time. Please take a look at the catalog and I hope the English translation will help international visitors to better understand all the items. Please see the link below;
http://www.zentosho.com/daitokenichi/pdf/the_annual_dai_token_ichi_2016.pdf

 

The result of the 26th Jyuyo Examination arrived. This year one Tachi which was Mei ‘Jitsua’ passed the examination. I remember when I purchased this blade about 5 years ago. The previous owner was related to an old Feudal Daimiyo family and I overpriced the blade otherwise he would not have sold it to me.  This year 888 blades were submitted to the Examination but only 149 blades were able to pass. Only 14 of the blades that passed were made after the Shinto Era. As a sword trader, finding a good sword that might pass a high examination is a good feeling of success.

This Event was announced to over 1.4 million subscribers through the Yomiuri and Chiiki Shimbun. Although I expected a fine day, unfortunately the weather was raining. When I left my hotel that morning I started to worry about the oncoming bad weather. However, despite the rain many visitors came to the event, even more than I had anticipated. I did not have much time to say thank you to all the friends who visited from far away. I found myself busy with greeting oncoming visitors. Since the Event location was only 2 minutes from the Chiba train station and provided ample parking, and our ad agency did an outstanding job, we had a great turn out. I really appreciate the assistance of the ad agency. I would like to hold the Chiba Token Ichi periodically and make every effort to ensure it continues being successful.

We will schedule the next Event April 2017, on the 7th, 8th, and 9th at the same location, Keiyo Ginko Bunka Plaza in Chiba City.

     

For the Sword Course this month, we invited Myouga Sensei to attend as the instructor. We were able to appreciate some well noted swords; 4 swords of Hizen Koku Tadayoshi, aka ”Goji Tadayoshi “ and 1 sword of “Mutsu no Kami Tadayoshi, aka “Sandai Mutsu”.
One sword had been evaluated as an important piece of art (recognized by the government), one sword had been evaluated as Tokubetsu Juyo Token, and the others were Juyo Token.

It was a great opportunity to appreciate these great works. Awesome!!

This weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the 13th Event for the Ninjyocho Token Ichi was held. Despite of the bad weather and rain, a lot of patrons visited the Event. One visitor said to me that “the items that are displayed are getting better each time, and this time was the best so far. I am happy to visit today.” I was happy to hear that.

We will schedule the New Year’s Sales Event next.
I hope that the next event will be even better yet. 

  

  

  

Yesterday the staff members of the Dai Token Ichi had a meeting to check the first edition of the 2016 catalog for the event that will be held in November.We carefully checked the catalog item by item in order to make sure everything is correct and to ensure no mistake were made. The staff members are very busy during this season in the behind-the-scenes work in order to be successful. Last night after the long meeting, we went to Izakaya to celebrate. I really hope for a big turn out for this year’s event.

We became aware that a program error on our order page was preventing orders from being processed properly between August 1-15. This error has now been fixed. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused to our customers.

The 9th Okinawa Sword Show was held over a three-day weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. First of all, I was concerned with the approach of the violent typhoon but fortunately the weather diverted its course toward Taiwan.

This event has taken place every 6 months for the past 4 years with Mr. Yamada of Santoryu. Also this time Mr. Fijita of Kanda Tokodo joined us in cheer. We did our best in trying to find and increase people who loves Japanese swords in Okinawa.
The number of visitors set a record high and I was happy to see many familiar faces including the repeat customers who made some purchases.

Also I help consult with a local Japanese sword enthusiast. He plans to open a Japanese sword shop in Naha City near the event place, Okinawa Culture & Entertainment Museum, Tenbusu Naha. I hope to be able to continue contributing to him.

When I put “Muromachi Era” for the “Era” in the explanation of the “Hozon Tosogu Tsuba Mumei (Kachushi)” shown on our website, a customer pointed out that “If it’s Muromachi Era, it should say ‘Ko-Kachushi’ on the NBTHK certificate”, and so I checked with an NBTHK screening committee member.

It seems that not all pre-Edo Era works are sure to have “Ko-” attached to them, but (in principle) it seems that they apply “Ko-Kachushi” for Murumachi Era works and “Kachushi” for Edo Era works.

Incidentally, it seems that the default assumption is that “Owari” and “Kyozukashi” are  Muromachi Era. When a work is through thought to be from the Edo Era, they assign “Owari (Edo Era)” and “Kyozukashi (Edo Era)”, respectively.

This was a learning experience. I’m grateful that it was pointed out to me.

 

I was interviewed for a TV program by J:COM (Jupiter Telecom, Inc.).

This program discovers local spots while strolling around, where local-born entertainer / compass and model Mao Takizawa-san says, “Matsudo  ＠ Nagareyama ＠ Noda DO-local Line ~ local-love TV~”. They appeared suddenly, without notice, so it was a spontaneous interview. My shoulders tensed strongly as I tried to convey the beauty of the Japanese sword in an unplanned interview.
I’m told it will broadcast in August.

http://www.myjcom.jp/tv/channel/kanto/doro_karu.html

The 6th annual (10 times total) Japanese Sword Lectures have started.

With many attendees such as women fascinated with Japanese swords and those who enjoy Iai, as well as repeat attendees who also attended last year, the number exceeded our capacity for 15 people. Our shop meeting room, but I’ll make my best efforts to help you understand the splendour of the Japanese sword.

Today, we all went on an information-gathering trip to the 2016 Shinsaku Meito Awards Ceremony of The Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords.

I’m happy to have had the opportunity to meet the most prominent modern swordsmiths (those of Mukansa rank and those aspiring to Mukansa rank) gathered for the occasion. Screening committee member Swordsmith Miyairi gave a review, which was very informative in terms of giving a good understanding of the perspective on sword making in each of the works reviewed.

Also, Swordsmith Shigenori Ozawa, who gives swordsmithing lectures in the lectures held at our office, received an award for his efforts in the Tanto / Ken Division this year.
Swordsmith Takano, a teacher to whom we’re constantly indebted, was present as well, making it a very familiar awards ceremony.

The works will be on display at the Japanese Sword Museum until July 24.

 

Our staff held a welcome dinner party with Gray-san, who we are contracting for development of our company’s website and who was visiting Japan with his family.

It’s already now 4 years since we first requested Gray-san for system development. He’s an excellent programmer who meets nearly all of our demands and who has skilfully transformed our internet order system. 2 years ago, we were at a loss when we heard that he would move to New Zealand due to the birth of his child, but using Skype we’ve been able to proceed with business as usual.

The other day, there was a serious problem with the website due to the delay in renewal of the Symantec security certificate, which he handled respectfully. He’s a diligent person who made the utmost effort to respond to the issue as soon as possible.

We’ll continue to move forward working together to develop an even more functional website.