Month: March 2019

We had the First Kyobashi Touken Ichi at the Gallery Kubota in Kyobashi. This is a convenient location next the Tokyo station and close to Ginza. There were visitors from the Tohoku and Chubu regions who visited by Shinkansen. Okoshi Hiromichi Sensei, a writer of Feudal Japan manga, visited and enjoyed seeing the exhibit. He was kind enough to present us with one of his Manga that came out on February 15th, “Big Comic.” At the event, I was successful in creating a good atmosphere among the enthusiasts. The next event, Second Kyobashi Touken Ichi will be held in June 7, 2019 at the same location for three days.

The Suwa Shrine was founded in the year 807 and is located in Chiba Prefecture Nagareyama City, next to our shop.  The story of the Shrine, is that Hachiman Taro Yoshiie made a visit to this shrine before he went to the battle of the Go Sannen War, also referred to as the Later Three-year War in the late 1080s in the Mutsu Province.  After defeating his enemies, he returned for another visit and presented his horse as a gift to the shrine. Because of this history is remains an revered and historical shrine in this area. This time Touken Matsumoto received an order to polish many of the swords there at the Suwa Shrine. I arrived early in the morning so I had time to walk the length of the entire shrine before meeting the customers. The shrine was very clean and was in immaculate order. A very nice visit.