I found a very useful article in Japanese Wikipedia which contains a list of famous swords with brief descriptions:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%88%80%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7

I already found few swords from Kyōhō Meibutsu Chō which I had no other references to.

Surely it will grow in the future and more details will be added.

Hi Stan and all,

I would like to express my gratitude over the recent tang interpretations, Thanks for all your support! It really meant much to me now that I can appreciate my blades more. Thanks to Pete for sharing some knowledge. I hope you guys can extend more help to do some more interpretations with 4 more tang signatures and 3 unsigned blades, That I have posted yesterday, If anyone could at least give me an idea on the origin of the blades as to province or possible smith etc. I would be happy.Lastly ,I could send more pictures of the blades if required.

Awaiting any News....

Hi Im jo just wandering if anybody could help me out I got 2 short swords, 1 tanto and a yari, Im needing help to interpret signatures? You could contact me at at my email ad jrgorospe@yahoo.com thanks

Hi
My name is Milo
I'm glad to have found a forum so well
organized.
I'm passionate about Japanese culture from 4
years but only now I can really devote myself to that
is the story of the samurai.
from about 5 months Kendo and Iaido practice and I am very
excited about this I love to take my katana between
I love looking at her hands but mostly in its charm
. I hope to find and acquire more knowledge about
this web site but most of all to exchange views
with various members.
Thank you for your kind attention
Sincerely

Silver hoop earrings are one of the styles that are in rage with not only the teenagers but also with the the black pearl earrings the adults. Hoop earrings are similar to a ring and are in circular shape. The sizes of the hoops vary from looped hoops to gypsy

Hi Stan and all,
sorry I have not been more active lately, but today, I have had to make sure that those of you that may be around Sydney, Australia during September 8th to 12th are aware and maybe can get along to the shinsa, ( you can find more information in the link below ), but I just have to say, the last one held was approx 2 years ago was a very well run show with many top experts in attendance and giving away there knowledge and advice freely to all that attended as well as the shinsa itself, great bargins in swords and fittings etc to be had, as well as the handout information,

Dear Santa-san,

It's a bit off-season for wishes, but just in case if you have any of these books in stock in the next 20 years, please remember me:

Iimura Yoshiaki, Yumei Koto Taikan
Iimura Yoshiaki, Shinto Taikan
Iimura Yoshiaki, Shinshinto Taikan
Honma Junji, Showa Dai-meito Zufu

Thank you.

Accidentally I found an old article by Harry Afu Watson where he describes his path of becoming a translator of sword literature. I've always had a great respect for Harry's work, and this article only makes my admiration stronger.

@jcexplorer tweeted yesterday about Japanese Castle Explorer's Interactive Map. I must say, very well done!

After 8 months of sitting long evenings over books and typing Kanji, I have more than 6000 individual smith records manually verified and in good shape and more than 3100 new signatures in the database. Phew!

Each record in Swordsmith record has now Province and Era filled in. This is very important as smiths can be identified by a trio "art name-province-era" and if any part is missing, you can never be sure without going back to the books.

Next target is (see you in one year :-) ) verification of all remaining records (around 4700 of them).

Also you may already have noticed that record format had changed slightly.

• Province and Era are now displayed in Kanji on the right hand side to the smith's name.
• Generation is displayed in Kanji (if defined) under the smith's name
• Sword period symbol is displayed in the top right corner of the name area, similar to Nihonto Meikan. Circle corresponds to Koto, triangle - Shinto, square - Shin-Shinto, star - Gendaito. This gives the reader simple idea what smith he/she is looing at.
• The idea of start/end year is elaborated. Ambiguous 'started in' and 'retired in' references are now replaced by 'Active Period' field which shows the range of years the smith was known to be active on. If specific years weren't entered, it shows the year range based on era field. With the current use of this field being limited, it may become more important in the future, reflecting extant works of the smith with known production year or historical evidence.

P.S. Something good is coming in 2-3 weeks. Don't miss it!