May 4, 2012 ... Nihonto were alternated with tosogu & other cultural items throughout the
displays. • I tried to include signage in the photos for those of you who ...
Bizen‐Osafune Sword Village May 4, 2012 Ken & Linda Goldstein
A Short & Intense Trip • Linda & I took a four‐day trip to Osaka over Golden Week because of some incredible fares (more on that later) • We flew from Honolulu to Osaka in nine hours, stayed at a Kansai hotel overnight, & then caught the Shinkansen to Okayama • Our fantastic guide was Piers Dowding, a frequent NMB contributor & Okayama university professor • We spent one whirlwind day at a sword museum, togishi, & sword shop, & here are the photos we took • Please note that I’ve used high‐resolution images which will let you zoom in, but also makes the presentation file size quite large
Ken & Linda at Sword Museum
Sword Museum Entrance
Museum Head Smiths
Museum Workrooms
Tamahagane Samples
Museum Forge (1)
Museum Forge (2)
Bizen Forging Process • Sorry for the lousy image registration…
Forge Tamahagane
Adding Horimono (1)
Adding Horimono (2) Award‐winning Katayama‐san
Nurishi Adding urushi lacquer
Togishi Sign
Togishi Stones
Modern Tosho Smith Ando‐san with Meteorite Katana Working through Piers, I will be sending a fist‐ sized iron meteorite to Ando‐san from my collection that he will use to make his next blade. I hope he will give me first shot at buying the blade!
Meteorite Katana (1) Not quite ready for polishing
Meteorite Katana (2)
Lobby – O‐Daito Sign
Lobby – O‐Daito 17’3” in length!
Nihonto & Tosogu Display • The theme for the Sword Village’s exhibition was “dragons” • All items displayed had one or more dragons incorporated into their design • Nihonto were alternated with tosogu & other cultural items throughout the displays • I tried to include signage in the photos for those of you who can read Kanji • Piers was our entre into the museum’s allowing us to take photographs
Nihonto (1)
Kabuto (1)
Tachi (1)
Katana (2)
Koshirae (1)
Tosogu (1)
Katana (3)
Koshirae (2)
Koshirae (3)
Koshirae (4)
Kabuto (2)
Tanto (1)
Tanto (2)
Tanto (3)
Tanto (4)
Yoroi‐Doshi (1) By far my favorite!
Tosogu (2)
Wakizashi (1)
Tosogu (3)
Tanto (5)
Tosogu (4)
Tosogu (5)
Tanto (6)
Tosogu (6)
Tanto (7)
Tosogu (7)
Tosogu (8)
Tosogu (9)
Wakizashi (2)
Tanto (8)
Tosogu (10)
Ken (1) My namesake!
Tosogu (11)
Tosogu (12)
Tosogu (13)
Tanto (9)
Tanto (10)
Tanto (11)
Naginata (1) Gorgeous!
Daito (1)
Daito (2)
Daito (3)
Tanto (12)
Bizen Togishi • A two‐minute walk down the road from the Village brought us to the Osafune Token Gallery • Once again, Piers’ good name got us into a most incredible gallery! • The Togishi, Shibata‐san, treated Linda & me like family, & we were able to actually handle two Kokuho katana!!
Osafune Token Gallery
Bizen Modern Tosho Katana
Kokuho Nagamitsu (1) Shodai & Nidai
Kokuho Nagamitsu (2) Shodai & Nidai
Apologies on Photos • I was really trying to get better shots of these two Kokuho Nihonto, but was unable to move into a position to photograph the boshi without being rude • But I was very happy to be allowed to shoot them at all! • And may I say as a long‐time sword‐swinger that the balance on both blades was superb!
An Interesting Dilemma • I was rather astonished to hear from both Ando‐ san & Shibata‐san that modern Tosho simply aren’t selling • They told us that local Bizen smiths are not earning enough to stay in business, which means that there may not be a next generation • I had never considered buying a Gendaito, but after seeing the superb workmanship of those local blades, I’m changing my mind
Our Thanks to Piers!! • Not only was Piers kind enough to give up an entire day to drive us around Okayama & Osafune, but he also opened doors that would simply not have been accessible to us gaijin • Linda & I took Piers & Noriko to dinner at a wonderful local restaurant, Shokusai Muku no Mi, where the food was almost as good as the company
Piers & Noriko
Maybe Next Year… • Assuming that Hawaiian Air offers the same $198 round‐trip fare to Osaka during Golden Week, we plan to head back there next year • If you haven’t found out about the Kansai Wide‐ Area Pass, a mere ¥7,000 for foreign visitors gives you full access for four days to any non‐reserved JR train, including all Shinkansen • Linda & I were waved right through each JR gate with zero fuss, & we love the Shinkansen!
