Got a fairly decent same skin today - although it will need to be cut carefully to make the large nodules fall in a straight line. It's for a koshirae I intend to have made at some point for a shinsaku tanto I own. I've also included photos of the blade itself plus the modern sterling silver menuki and shitodome I intend to use.
Hi,
I don't want to get the entire Dracula Legacy Collection on Blu-ray as I already have it in various forms on DVD. I was able to buy Dracula individually on Blu-ray several years ago but Dracula's Daughter (my personal favourite movie in the series) always seems to be part of a package. Does anyone know of an individual release of this title?
Thanks in advance.
I am a collector ('of ghosts', as I call it), not a koryu practitioner (although I have met some notable sensei during my two decades in Japan).
Anyhow, I was attempting to put my books in order this week and, whilst being visited by a Japanese acquaintance who is a senior iaidoka, he mentioned that he believed some of my signed books to be quite rare.
I have no intention of letting them go at this time but I'd sincerely appreciate your expert input as to whether this is so or not. Also, should they be placed somewhere more protective than a simple bookshelf?
Many thanks.
The books in question
are:
Nakamura Taizaburō
'Iai & Kendo' 1st edn.
Signed and dated with two inkan.
'Revised Definitive Edition Living Sword Drawing-Style: The Way of the Sword' 1st edn. Signed
Gordon Warner (with Donn F Draeger)
'Japanese Swordsmanship' 1st edn. Signed by Gordon Warner in Okinawa with his inkan. Dedicated "To Ko Noda Sensei: In deep appreciation for your kindness in guiding and teaching me the true road, in my efforts to learn kendo and iaido. Sincerely, Gordon Warner"
Otake Ritsuke
All three first editions of 'The Deity and the Sword' from 1977/78. Fine in near fine dustjackets (two are first printings, one is second printing - I can't remember which without checking).
All three are hand inscribed to me by Otake Sensei in 2007.
'Katori Shinto Ryu: Warrior Tradition' first hardbound edition. 2007
Again, hand inscribed to me by Ōtake Sensei in 2007.
OK, I've been in Japan for 20 years but, living in the burbs outside Tokyo, I've never had to worry about being grappled by an ursine marauder on my way to the bins before.
Now the cheeky bastards are waking up from hibernation looking for a meal and apparently they don't give a toss anymore about the 90 year old so-called 'hunters' (who can only actually manage to shoot a bear when it's already in a cage-trap).
So, what's the best brand of little dingly bell to terrify the hairy buggers off? I was going to opt for good old Daiso but, as my very life now depends upon it, I'm willing to upgrade to Hands - or even higher.
Shinsakuto by Noshu Ju Fusataro with a blade length of 72.7 cm. The curve is 1.8 cm, the base width is 33 mm, the base thickness is 0.7 mm, the tip width is 2.4 mm, the tip thickness is 0.45 mm, and the blade weight is approximately 675 grams.
Fusataro is a student of the 25th Generation Fujiwara Kanefusa - one of the attached photos shows him at work. All the metal fittings on the modern koshirae - bar the tsuba - are pure silver.