Touken Matsumoto (English)

From June 20th to the 24th, I was able to visit Bali with my staff and business partners. Every June, I always try to visit somewhere nice to show appreciation to everyone’s valuable efforts in reaching the year’s sales targets. Two years ago, we visited Seoul, South Korea and last year we visited Thailand. This year’s trip to Bali was just as enjoyable. Fortunately, I was able to speak the local language since I lived in Jakarta, Indonesia for five years when I was stationed there with my previous company. I will do my best for the next year so that the company can successfully reach its target so we can enjoy another June somewhere nice.

On June 19, the All Japan’s Sword Traders Association and the NBTHK had a management conference in Ginza. I was happy to be able to join. We welcome the new Chairman, Mr. Shimizu and celebrated the retirement of the previous chairman, Mr. Fukami.

 

The All Japan’s Sword Traders Association plans to start the certification of sword appraisers as one of the big events this year. The NBTHK also has a big event planned to move their Headquarters and Token Museum from Yoyogi to Ryogoku.

 

I am certain we will be both relying on each other to expand and develop the Japanese swords enthusiasts and its culture.

The “Endangered Species Preservation Act” of Japan was amended on June 2 to help strengthen the regulation of the ivory trade. Today the explanation was given to All Japan Sword Trader’s Association from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the department in charge. This Amended Act will be enforced from next year and will mean there will be a creation of a registration system and the penalties will be strengthened for not following the rules.

 

In Japan, ivory has been used since ancient times for things such as seals, Netsuke and the handles for wall hangings. However, strict management of the Japanese market is required for the global protection movement against endangered species, and we must demonstrate to the rest of the world that proper precautions are taking place and that Japan is taking action.

 

In our business, some of the Mekugi and Hatome have been made of ivory that was used in the Shirasaya. This means all sword traders should register under this new Act because there is always the possibility that we can come across some of the old work where even a small amount of ivory has been used.

 

 

I was invited to participate as an auctioneer for the Sapporo BJK Auction on June 7th for their Sword and sword fitting section.
Initially, the BJK Auction mainly auctioned brand items and jewellery, however three years ago they started to also work with swords and sword fittings.
The owner of the Auction requested my help to support their Sword and Sword fittings auctions. I offered to help expand the sword trading business in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.
There were more than hundred auctioned items during my time making for a very successful event.

I had a great experience and hope to participate in the next November Auction.

On April 19th we celebrated 25 years of the Noda Kai Sword Auction Taikai at the Hotel on Mount Tsukuba. This event was limited to regular participants, so as the host I wanted to extend my appreciation to all those who attended. There were about fifty people in attendance and the deals done were over 4 times as high as usual. I am grateful that there was a lot of buying and selling activity this time.  

 

I hope the Noda Kai continues to be as successful and all the sword enthusiasts continue to be satisfied with the items. 

 

After the Auction, the participants got together for an Enkai where we enjoyed food, drinks and a performance of the Gama no abura uri story. We really had a great time. 

 

Last week from Friday to Sunday, we held the Third Chiba Token Ichi in Chiba City. Although it was a rainy day, there were many enthusiasts who visited us. I was grateful for the good turnout and business conducted. This was due to the great advertisement and the convenient location with its own parking lot. 

 

I wanted to thank the advertisement agency and the staff of the event place. I have found a huge potential in this area so I am hoping to increase the Japanese sword enthusiasts here. 

 

The Fourth Chiba Token Ichi is scheduled for this October on the sixth through the eighth. 

Today The All Japan Sword Trader’s Association held a meeting to discuss creating a standard for Sword Appraisers. The Association will create a license for individuals who wish to be considered Sword Appraisers in Japan. It is not an easy thing to accurately determine the value of a sword, so in order to keep the standard high and to meet the high demand for sword appraisals this system will be established.

In the photo, the Association is discussing what type of questions would the test be comprised of for obtaining the Sword Appraiser’s license. As one of the members of the Board of Directors for The All Japan Sword Trader’s Association I am eager to put this license system in place soon.

In order to effectively determine the best way to move forward The Sword Trader’s Association hopes to request cooperation from the various Associations such as The NBTHK, The Nihonto Hozonkai, The Zen Nihon Tosho Kai, The Association For The Research and Preservation of Japanese Helmet and Armor as well as potentially others.

This month’s Japanese Sword Class, we invited Mr. Shigenori Ozawa living in Kanagawa Prefecture and we heard his lecture on how to make Japanese swords. 

 

This was the third time for Mr. Ozawa to participate in the class so he was used to the atmosphere. Based on his experience, he explained about the Hamon relating to the cutting edge and the temperature and also the relationship with the forging and the grain features in the blade.

 

There were many questions being asked by all the students. We had a great time.

 

He won the Nyusen prize at the Omamorigatana Exhibit Competition last year on the tanto ordered by me. On this occasion, he delivered it to me and explained about the tanto.

 

I wish for his continued success as a swordsmith. 

The Japanese Sword Traders Association hosts an auction once a month for its members.
I was appointed the Auctioneer by senior members to learn more about the process.

Later I was informed that I did a good job but I should consider making certain that the last price should be reasonable.

 

I am constantly challenging to contribute and learn more about the overall business of the Japanese Sword Traders Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 8th Noda Token Ichi was held in Noda City, the location of our office.

 

The weather and temperature felt like an early Spring. The number of visitors and amount of sales were the highest since we started the Noda Token Ichi. The economy in Japan seems to be improving.

 

One of the customers that day I had not seen in over thirty years. He was the manager at the paint shop I worked at part-time while in university. We talked a lot about the old days and about swords. It was a very nice meeting.
Even in my hometown where my friends and acquaintance were unaware that I am a sword trader now. So I hope to bring more awareness to everyone about our store.

 

The next Noda Token Ichi will be from July 7th-9th at the same location, Noda Business Hotel.

Happy New Year from Touken Matsumoto

The photo is showing the first sunrise of 2017 over the horizon in Yamanashi prefecture with Mt. Fuji in the background. 

I wished that this year will be healthy and prosperous for everyone. Touken Matsumoto and its staff feels refreshed and shall provide another outstanding year of service to our customers. 

We look forward to doing business with customers from all around the world in 2017.

   

We held the monthly sword lecture at the shop.This time we invited Myoga Sensei.

 

The first half of the lecture, Myoga Sensei explained the difference between Koto and Shinto.
Koto are old swords made before the Edo Period.
Shinto are swords made during the Edo Period.
Koto were made in production areas with the materials to make them (Bizen and others). By contrast Shinto were made in the area where demand was high (Osaka, Edo, Hizen, Satsuma, Kaga etc).

 

The last part of  the lecture, we were able to appreciate six outstanding swords.
These swords were all made during the Muromachi Period in Osafune, Bizen Province.

 

Number 1: Made by Norimitsu from Osafune, Bizen Province on a day in August 1430.
Number 2: Made by Sukemitsu from Osafune Bizen Procince on a day in August 1444.
Number 3: Made by Tadamitsu from Osafune Bizen Province on a day in February 1486.
Number 4: Made by Sukesada from Osafune Bizen Province on an auspicious day in February 1513.
Number 5: Made by Shinjuro Sukesada from Osafune Bizen Province on a day in August 1582.
Number 6: Made by Jiumon no Jo Kiyomitus from Osafune Bizen Province on an auspicious day in August 1572.

 

Aftre the time for the sword appreciation we enjoyed dinner bento together .We discusssed the Dai Token Ichi Event and Myoga Sensei told us stories about his teacher Shibata Mitsuo Sensei.
We all enjoyed aur time very much.

Touken Matsumoto would like to announce that we have recently added a new category entitled “Other” under the “Fittings” tag on our website.

We will start posting various goods for sale under “Other” such as jutte, small knives, tsukamae, hanging scrolls, armor and so on. Here, we will endeavor to create a comprehensive product lineup by providing images and simple comments for each product.

 

Thank you very much for your continued support.

The theme of the 6th Token Lecture was sword polishing.
As the same as last year, the lecturer was the polisher named Kawakami Yoichiro.

He explained how to polish and the process of using sharpening stones “toishi’. He used seven different sharpening stones appropriate for various conditions of the blade.
The students who participated enjoyed his lecture and asked many questions.

During the second half of the class was about sword appreciation.
Udagawa Sensei carefully explained about kataochi-gunome hamon of Kanemitsu, Sudareba-hamon by Yoshimichi, and Imozuru of Satsuma blades.

 

The students all appeared to be satisfied with the explanations and class.

 

The Dai Token Ichi of this year has been successfully completed. The number of visitors was nearly 3,000 people. This number is slightly increased compared to the year before. I feel a lot of the sword traders were smiling with the large turnout. As a member of the organizing group, this time we changed the rules where instead of a couple requiring two separate tickets to enter the event, we allowed couples to enter with only one ticket. We also changed the lottery system where before the items that could be won were of lower value, but this year it was budgeted to include better and more expensive items that could be won. These changes were much appreciated by the visitors. At this year’s event there were three TV crews walking around and conducting interviews with the visitors. Next year’s Event will be November 17-19 and is scheduled the same place, the Tokyo Bijutsu Club.