Sacramento Japanese Sword Club

Hello all, here is the sixth post in the series on the swords of Keith Nobuhira Austin. There are still a handful of other swords Nobuhira made in the USA that have yet to be published, but access to them is not readily local to us. We will add to this series as they become available to us. This sword was the second to the last sword that Nobuhira made during his lifetime, and also happens to be the longest one that he made in the USA. Our best estimate is that Nobuhir...a made this wakizashi around 1996. A unique fact about this wakizashi is Nobuhira personally visited the polisher and discussed how he wanted this wakizashi finished, shibui in Japanese, meaning simple, subtle, and not flashy. The polisher complied with his wish, but it was unfortunate that Nobuhira never got to view the completely finished wakizashi before his passing in April, 1997. The wakizashi was completely finished around early 1998. The length of this wakizashi is 14 1/16 or 35.7cm and is mu-sori, with a beautiful two piece shakudo and gold-foiled habaki. This tanto is signed: Nobuhira Saku Yoshindo Tsui Koku This translates to: Nobuhira make Yoshindo wrote this referring to Yoshindo Yoshihara certifying it's authenticity. This wakizashi was obtained directly from Nobuhira, and we have the direct provenance for this piece. Enjoy the pictures.

Hello all, I hope everyone is staying safe, protected and doing well!! The NBTHK has recently just released the complete English version of the results of the 2020 Gendai Tokusu Ten (the old Spring Sword contest). Here is the link to the results: https://drive.google.com//1ycNctPAvlwWEw3QhTtD5KmKW1/view Enjoy reading the results!... I have not seen nor heard from the ACC with regards to resuming our monthly meetings back at their facilities. Once they open up again, I will send out a meeting notice with our next club meeting date and time! I am looking forward to seeing you all again at our club meetings!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy and protected!! The link below has an update on the Yoshikazu Yoshihara video that has been in the works for some time now. https://www.facebook.com/Swordsmithyoshihara/... They seem like they will be doing crowdfunding soon for this video. The wooden cases look pretty nice!! I will post updates on this video as they come out so you can participate in the crowdfunding if you want to get one in these nice boxes! This is the link to the previews of the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch Enjoy!

We hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and protected! A big THANK YOU to Leon and Hiroko Kapp for providing us the English translation to the 2020 Gendai Tosoku Ten. This is the new name for the Shinsaku Meito Ten (Modern Sword Competition). In the new name, "Tosoku" includes "sword making, polishing, shirasaya, habaki, tsukamaki, and tosogu (koshirae)"; so now the competition encompasses all of the associated sword art crafts. The sword portion of the event was hel...d in September and the other crafts were held in October. For now we just have the translation for the results/rewards of the sword portion of this event. I will include the English translation as well as the actual Japanese results below. For pictures of the winning entries, please refer to our earlier posts from Nakamura Keisuke. Please enjoy the results. English translation below: https://drive.google.com//1teJkwb3FxcnD7WDVBsj17YQsA/view Full Sword Results in Japanese below: https://drive.google.com//1x7uSslUdg6t77EKRNRo1Y_Puh/view

Nakamura Keisuke posted and photographed the results of the 2020 Spring Sword Contest. This is great for those of us that cannot attend this display event. Part 2 of 2.

Here is the fifth post in our series on the sword work of Keith Nobuhira Austin. These pictures, taken by Pacific West Photography, show the details pretty well. As I do not have the items available in hand, there are only a few pictures of each item. I will be posting a couple of items that Nobuhira made this time around. The first item is a tanto, we estimated made between 1982 and 1984. This long and narrow hira-zukuri tanto with the longer thinner nakago is the t...ypical shape of all the swords that Nobuhira made during this time period. There is abundant ji-nie over the entire blade. The temperline is suguha-ish with a pointed boshi and short turn back. This tanto is signed: Oite Hoku Bei Nobu Hira Saku; which translates to: At North America Nobuhira Make. The second item is an o-kogatana also estimated to be made in the mid-1980’s. This is definitely much larger than a standard kogatana and the work in the steel is pretty nice. This o-kogatana is signed: Nobu Hira Saku (make) Sorry, no measurements are available for either of these items. Enjoy the pictures.

This is the fourth post in the series on the swords of Keith Nobuhira Austin. Keith was the first non-Japanese sword smith licensed with the Japanese Government to make traditional Japanese swords. He achieved this honor in 1968. Nobuhira made this tanto in February 1976, and marked this as his first American made sword. Nobuhira did all of the work on this sword, including making the silver/copper two piece habaki and the ho-wood shirasaya. The only work not done by No...buhira was the polish. Trying to find a Japanese sword polisher in California back in 1976 was not an easy task. Fortunately, Mr. Kiyoshi Yamashita was available to polish this sword. Mr. Yamashita was either in his late 70’s or early 80’s when he polished this sword. He did the best he could but he also commented that the sword was very hard to polish. This tanto is signed: Hajime Bei Koku Saku Tame Monson Sama Nobu Hira" "Sho Wa Go Jyu Ichi Nen Ni Gatsu" which translates to: First America make for Mr. Monson Nobuhira Year Showa 51 2 month (February 1976) This hira-zukuri tanto has a similar shape to all of Nobuhira’s swords. However, this tanto has a totally different temperline, being gunome-midare. Unfortunately the old polish makes it hard to see a lot of the details in the steel. This tanto has 20.5cm (8 1/16) long cutting edge. Enjoy the pictures.

Here is our third post on the swords of Keith Nobuhira Austin and one that some of you may already be familiar with. The year was 1963 and Keith was a 3rd year apprentice under Living National Treasure sword smith Takahashi Sadatsugu. As his apprentice, Keith was given the sword smith art name Nobuyoshi. Under common practice apprentices were not allowed to make their own swords until they were further down their apprenticeship path (To-sho level). Sadly, Sadatsugu had t...aken ill and would be unable to complete the apprenticeship program with his students. With this in mind, Sadatsugu provided the materials that allowed Nobuyoshi to make a tanto. Still a student, Nobuyoshi was not allowed to sell the tanto he made, even though he did all the work himself. However, once Sadatsugu (a licensed sword smith) also signed this tanto, Nobuyoshi was then allowed to sell this tanto, hence its existence today. This tanto is signed: Ryu sen Sen sei Horu Kore; Showa San Jyu Hachi Nen Oite Matsu Yama Nobu Yoshi; which translates to: Ryusen carved this; (Ryusen refers to Takahashi Sadatsugu) Showa 38th year (1963) at Matsuyama Nobuyoshi. This tanto is the earliest signed and dated sword work of Keith Austin that we know of, being made before he became an officially licensed sword smith with the Japanese Government. After Sadatsugu’s passing, Keith completed his apprenticeship and obtained his sword smith license under the second living National treasure sword smith Miyairi Akihira, on March 14, 1968. Nobuyoshi’s name was also changed to Nobuhira. This tanto is 22.3cm (just over 8 ) long, has an old polish (possibly its original polish) and still has some original ububa remaining, so the steel details is very hard to show in these pictures. Enjoy the pictures.

We hope this post finds you in good health and staying safe and protected. Here is the next post in the series on the swords of Keith Nobuhira Austin. This hira-zukuri tanto is the last sword that Nobuhira made during his lifetime. This tanto is 25.4cm (10.0) long. The tanto was having the habaki, shirasaya and polished work done when Nobuhira passed, so he never got to see or sign the finished tanto. This tanto was signed for Nobuhira by Yoshindo Yoshihara. The tan...to is signed: "Nobu hira Shu En Saku Kore Yoshi ndo Hei Sei Kyu Nen Shi Gatsu Ni Jyu Ichi Hi Tsui Koku which translates to: Nobuhira last work made this Yoshindo April 21, 1998 wrote this. I was told that Shu en could mean either last work, final work or near the end. Any clarification is greatly appreciated. Enjoy the pictures.

On Nihonto Art's Facebook page, there was a discussion about Keith Nobuhira Austin, and the rarity of his sword work. So we have decided to post some pictures of the swords of Nobuhira. We will try to include close-up photos so that you can see the steel of Nobuhira's work. Please remember that Nobuhira was tasked by Miyairi Sensei to reproduce Kamakura steel. We will post pictures of a few of this swords that Nobuhira made in the USA. This is the first in a series. This first tanto is one of the earliest swords made by Nobuhira in the USA. This sword was made during the mid 1970's. This tanto is 16.75cm (6.59) long. This sword was not signed or dated, but was obtained directly from Nobuhira himself, so we know it is his work. Enjoy the pictures.

Hello all, here is another polishing article written by Mr. Leon Kapp, who has given us permission to publish it here. It includes items that the polisher much keep in mind when he is polishing a sword. Thank you Mr. Kapp!! Polishing and Hamon By Leon Kapp...Continue reading

Hello all, I hope you are all doing well, staying safe and protected!! I am sharing this post with you regarding the San Francisco Token Kai for August:

Hello all, I hope you are all doing well during the shelter in place directive. Though we are slowly getting back to a new normal, with businesses re-opening up again, please stay safe! Unfortunately, we have not heard any possible date we will be allowed to have our next in-person group meeting at the Asian Community Center. We will keep you posted on club updates and future meeting dates here, and via email. Here is another article from Leon Kapp. This article is on Hiz...Continue reading

Hello all, I hope you are all staying safe and healthy during all the virus concerns going on now. Leon Kapp gave us permission to post another article he wrote. This article was about the little known major compiler of the book "Japanese Sword Smiths", published by Willis Hawley.. Thank you Leon Kapp!! Enjoy the article everyone! https://drive.google.com//1rY53W9lBX16wFYYJWNWnxrD1m/view