June 15th, 16th, and 17th, I had the pleasure of attending the Japanese Sword Show and Shinsa in Minneapolis, MN hosted by Larry Klahn and Chris Bowen (of www.ejapaneseswords.com). Although I’ve been interested in Nihonto (art swords) for several years, this was the first show I’ve been able to attend. I was not disappointed.

I attended the show with Dr. Peter Bleed, one of my former Anthropology professors, and a long time Japanese sword enthusiast. I had a great time during the drive, swapping stories and getting Peter’s perspective on the history (and future) of Japanese Sword collecting in America.

The show had dealer tables with plenty of swords and accessories, sword care products, books/DVDs, Japanese textiles, some militaria, etc. It also featured lectures on subjects including: sword etiquette, bonsai trimming, Japanese steel making, tea ceremonies, Japanese flower arrangements, among other events. I wasn’t able to attend all the lectures because I was busy buying things and meeting people. There were rooms set up at the hotel outside the show for shinsa evaluations, calligraphy, and a display containing amazing examples of shinshinto blades to handle and study.

One of my favorite parts of the show was watching the shinsa evaluate swords. The shinsa are a group of Japanese sword experts that evaluate and grade swords on a point scale. For a fee, anyone can submit their sword and see where their blade falls within the spectrum of junk or national treasure.

Later, Miyano Sensei (head shinsa and NTHK president) gave a lecture on the shinshinto blades in the exhibition room. It was interesting and entertaining to watch Chris Bowen translate and interact with the shinsa (see pic).

Being a militaria collector, I’ve always had an interest in Japanese blades in WWII era “shin gunto” mounts. WWII era Japanese swords are not terribly difficult to find, but finding one with a traditionally made blade in good polish is a challenge. Most of the WWII era Japanese swords are “showato”, meaning the blade is machine made or only partially hand made, with oil quenching, and often a false temper line (acid etched). A small number of WWII swords are higher quality, or “gendaito”. Gendaito technically means that the sword was made after 1876, but collectors and authors use this term to imply that a blade is traditionally made, using clay tempering and water quenching.

Fortunately, I returned from the show with my first gendaito sword. It is a very clean gendaito in shin gunto mounts, with a star stamped nakago (tang). The smith is Yasu Hiro from Ichi, and dated December of 1943 (thank you Mick for selling me such a nice gendai). The blade is in excellent polish and the jihada (surface-grain pattern) and hamon (tempor line) contain many wonderful things to look at and enjoy.

Thanks again to Larry Klahn and Chris Bown for putting on such a spectacular event, and Stephen C, thanks again for taking the time to answer all my emails with sword questions over the years. It was a pleasure finally getting to meet you in person!

Chris Bowen translating Miyano Sensei (head shinsa and NTHK president)

Shinsa

Shinsa 2

Shinsa 3

Shinsa 4

Mick, Myself, Dr. Peter Bleed, and Stephen

Shin Shinto Exhibition Room

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 8:23 am and is filed under Rally Point News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.