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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.

Visitors to our site today saw the following warning message appear in their browsers.

The cause of this message was an error in responding to the expiry of the Symantec SSL security certificate that was installed on the server on Apr 9, 2015. Please be assured that the reason for the warning message was not suspicious. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern that this caused to our customers.

We installed the server security certificate with the intention of strengthening the security of our website and to lead the sword trade in the encryption of authentication and data transmission, but experienced an error related to the expiration of the security certificate, which has been an embarrassment. We are currently making our utmost efforts to resolve this situation. We sincerely apologize for any temporary inconvenience this may cause and thank you very much for your patience and understanding.

Warning message that appeared to site users:

There is a problem with the security certificate for this website. The security certificate that has been presented by this web page has expired or is invalid. The security certificate that has been presented by this web page was issued for another website address. The problem with the security certificate could indicate fraud or the intention to steal information sent from the computer you are using to the server. It is recommended that you close this web page and do not view this website.

Our 11th sales event in Ningyocho, Tokyo was held on a 3-day weekend, beginning Friday, March 11.

Due to our past February sales events being frequently hit by snow, we moved this year’s event to March in anticipation of a cheerful Spring. Despite this, unfortunately, the weather reverted to midwinter cold. However, this didn’t affect our customers’ feet as the event was a bustling success from start to finish.

There were customers who came for the first time after having seen the advertisements on our website, an energetic regular customer from far away who comes to every event in Ningyocho and is always the first one in the door, an avid regular customer who put in 12 consecutive days at work in order to take all 3 days off and come to the event each day, regular customers who always bring delicious cakes, etc. It was a congenial Japanese sword salon event despite the confined space at the venue.

The Ningyocho sales event being packed with things to learn, the next one will be held over three days from Friday, September 23. I’d love to see you all there!

This month’s lecture on Japanese swords was given by the swordsmith Shigenori Ozawa.

Mr. Ozawa, age 48, lives in Ashigarayama, Kanagawa Prefecture, and is a disciple of Yukimitsu Takano. He became certified as a swordsmith in 2005 and has been chosen as the winner at many modern Japanese sword exhibitions. He works with a new modern method of tempering swords which does not involve Tsuchioki (putting earth on the blade during the tempering process).
This was his second lecture, following his February lecture of last year, so there was a very relaxed, at-home atmosphere, and he explained about sword smithing while exchanging stories of daily struggles. Questions flew one after the other, and the allotted time of 1 hour was over in a flash.

The second half of the time was given to sword appreciation. Participants listened attentively to the explanations of Udagawa Sensei and they appear to have absorbed new knowledge.

I went to visit Kyoto this winter.

This makes the third consecutive year that I’ve visited Kyoto at this season, February, with my great mentor in the sword business, Mochida-san. Since it has a deep sword culture related to Japanese history, I wanted to see this with my own eyes rather than only boast about having visited on a school trip in my youth. Mochida-san, being very knowledgeable, explains things to me that deepen my understanding.

This year, among other places, we visited “Uji Byodoin Shrine”, which is depicted on the back side of the 10-yen coin, “Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine”, which has 1,000 red Torii gates and was chosen as Japan’s Number 1 tourist spot for foreigners in 2014, as well as “Nanzenji Temple” and “Kyoto Gyoen Park”.

We also visited the “Tamayama Meishi-to Kyoto Branch” sword trader in Kyoto Higashiyama, and that night we enjoyed the delicious Kyoto cuisine with the young shop owner Tamayama-san.

I returned home greatly refreshed.

Yesterday was a day known as Setsubun in Japan. To celebrate this, we have a ritual where we throw beans into the rooms of our houses and shout ‘Demons out, fortune in’.

We also stick an ornament made of the head of a sardine and the leaf of a Hiiragi, holly to door posts or gate ways.

This year, to further improve our luck and prosperity, we also put up an Omamori, lucky charm, on the wall facing south in our office. These Omamori can only be attached to the wall, at midnight, of 3 different days. These are known as Toji (the shortest day of the year), Omisoka (the last day of the year) and on Setsubun (3^rd of February).

The Omamori in our office comes from Ana Hachimangu shrine, in Tokyo. It is said that when they broke the ground to build this shrine, a cave was discovered, in which they found a statue of Amida-buddha. This was seen as a good omen and thus the shrine was named ‘Ana; cave, Hachimangu. To this day many people still come to this shrine to pray for luck and prosperity.

With this, I would like to wish all our subscribers, friends and customers the best of luck and good health for the remainder of the year.

 

 

On the 15^th January we hosted the 7^th Noda Token Ichi at Hotel Granbois. It was a 3 day event and all 3 days offered a beautiful weather to the visitors. On the following Monday, however, there was a heavy snow fall covering the city in a white blanket. I felt very fortunate that we managed to conclude the event before the snow started covering the roads.

 

Noda is our hometown as well as the place where some of our most skilled customers reside. Many of them have, over many years, developed an impressive level of skill at appraisal. They seem to have developed a special fondness for items over the Josaku level. As we were able to provide them with some interesting items to their taste, this event became the most successful to date.

I was especially happy to receive a telephone call from a valued customer expressing his happiness with a purchase of a sword.

 

It is my feeling that these events will continuously increase in popularity, as we are able to provide items that pleases our customers.

 

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone for the year that has passed.
Through your support, we continue to evolve and grow.
We will continue to do our at most to keep you enthusiastic and satisfied with our services during the year of 2016 as well.
We pray for your support during this year and into the future.

The pictures attached to this New Year’s message are taken in Yamanashi and depict the first sunrise of the year and Mt. Fuji as well as the first cloudless sky at Yatsugatake mountains.

All the best for 2016.

 

Yoshiyuki Matsumoto and all the staff at Touken Matsumoto

 

 

 

Between the 12^th of Dec. and 14^th of Dec. we hosted the 8^th Okinawa Token Ichi in Naha city, the most southern city of Japan. This time, we were joined by Fujita san, a young sword trader from Kanda Tokodo.

During the four years, that I have hosted this event, it has been my intention to further the insight and passion for the Japanese sword among the enthusiast in Okinawa, since there are no sword shops on the islands. I am sometimes asked by my fellow sword traders whether I am able to make a reasonable profit on the event. I usually answer that I have a feeling for the island and the potential of it. To help with the growth, I have contacted lectures on a level aimed at beginners. They seem popular among the attendees and I enjoy sharing my knowledge with others.

I am also happy to see so many of my friends there returning for each event, and enjoy catching up with them.

However, considering the cost of shipping swords to Okinawa, hotels and rent, I have to also consider the sustainability of it. Developing a market isn’t easy, but I will keep doing my best to keep the venue going in the future.

This time, we also took a trip to the Churaumi aquarium and it was a remarkable experience. I was amazed at how high the dolphins were able to jump from the water. They seemed to defy gravity.

 

During the past weekend, Touken Matsumoto took part in the Dai Token Ichi 2015. In one sentence, this year was also a successful one.

A lot of new and old customers visited us, which made me very happy. I was very pleased to see some close foreign friends at the event as well, and I enjoyed catching up with them.

As I am a newly appointed member of the management of the All Japan Sword Traders Association, I felt quite happy to finish the event with a successful result. I therefore, would like to congratulate everyone that was involved and worked so hard on this annual event.

I look forward to making next year’s event an even more successful one. It will take place at the Tokyo Bijutsu club on the 18th of November and finish on the 20th.

Thank you everyone for a very enjoyable event.

 

 

 

Once a year, the NBTHK accepts items for a Juyo Token or Tosogu evaluation from enthusiasts and sword traders alike. In September of this year, it was the 61st time that this opportunity was offered.

An item that passes the evaluation has its value increased substantially which is why most applicants await the result with great anticipation.

Yesterday, I’m happy to say, I received 2 letters of confirmation regarding 1 sword and 1 Koshirae from the NBTHK, saying the items had been given the status of Juyo Token and Juyo Toso.

When I first found the 2 items in question, neither had a certificate of any kind. I felt, however, that both of them had the character and potential to be evaluated at a high level. Thus, I decided to hand them both over to the highly skilled people at the NBTHK, for evaluation. As it turns out, my initial instinct was correct and I find myself happy and a little proud that I was able to recognize the level of the 2 items, when I first encountered them.

This feeling of accomplishing the task of raising the status level of an item from a low one to a high one, is something I think anyone involved in the sword world in Japan finds very rewarding, much like seeing your children passing through university successfully.