Bücher von Markus Sesko

An unavoidable difficulty with books that deal with Japanese swords in general is that the workmanship of a smith has to be reduced to its most important characteristics which can be seen on the majority of his works. It is here that this work comes into play, with the motive to provide more concretely described reference examples. Unique is that - depending on the blade - former participant's kantei bids are also addressed. This means that one's own approach and attempt at attributing a blade may also be comprehended. With the 169 introduced shinto and shinshinto blades from altogether 13 provinces, this volume constitutes an extensive reference work. The order starts for shinto with Kyoto, Edo and Settsu, and for shinshinto with Edo.

Towards the end of 2012, I published the two-volume project Koto-kantei and Shinto & Shinshinto-kantei, depicting 358 blades from all schools and styles. Recently, I was able to continue with the first Kantei Supplement 1 introducing another 61 blades. In between I received feedback which suggested that a kind of ¿reverse version" would be practical. This means a guidebook where specific examples of hamon and b¿shi are depicted instead of more or less detailed schematic representations. The result is this small publication which shows about 400 hamon and 230 boshi interpretations. I hope this humble guide will be helpful for identifying specific works, or at least guide you on the right track enabling you to look for further information and confirmation. It also might come in useful for oshigata-based kantei riddles where only the hamon and the boshi are provided.

An unavoidable difficulty with books that deal with Japanese swords in general is that the workmanship of a smith has to be reduced to its most important characteristics which can be seen on the majority of his works. It is here that this work comes into play, with the motive to provide more concretely described reference examples. Unique is that - depending on the blade - former participant's kantei bids are also addressed. This means that one's own approach and attempt at attributing a blade may also be comprehended. With the 189 introduced kotô blades from altogether 19 provinces (including the five gokaden) this volume constitutes an extensive reference work. The order starts in the classical way, namely with the gokaden Yamato, Yamashiro, Bizen, Sôshû and Mino.

This index contains a comprehensive listing of more than 20.000 Japanese swordsmiths, from the early days right down to modern times, i.e. from kotô to shinsakutô. It is not simply a list of names, it also provides biographical information according to the extent of a smith¿s fame. Aim is to give the reader a coherent picture of a certain smith, that means his civilian name, how did he sign, in which style did he work, and who was his master or his school environment. Thereby, the most common theories on a smith are included and discrepancies in the transmissions are pointed out.This work is a revised and completely new recorded list of smiths by incorporating all relevant Japanese and non-Japanese sources. Incorrect entries and double listings were deleted and readings corrected. The smiths are listed in alphabetical order and sorted according to their used characters. A list of all characters used in the names of the smiths in this index is available, sorted by stroke order, so that the search of a smith with an unknown reading is also possible.

This index contains a comprehensive listing of more than 20.000 Japanese swordsmiths, from the early days right down to modern times, i.e. from kotô to shinsakutô. It is not simply a list of names, it also provides biographical information according to the extent of a smith¿s fame. Aim is to give the reader a coherent picture of a certain smith, that means his civilian name, how did he sign, in which style did he work, and who was his master or his school environment. Thereby, the most common theories on a smith are included and discrepancies in the transmissions are pointed out.This work is a revised and completely new recorded list of smiths by incorporating all relevant Japanese and non-Japanese sources. Incorrect entries and double listings were deleted and readings corrected. The smiths are listed in alphabetical order and sorted according to their used characters. A list of all characters used in the names of the smiths in this index is available, sorted by stroke order, so that the search of a smith with an unknown reading is also possible.

Dieses Lexikon beinhaltet eine umfassende Auflistung von mehr als 20.000 japanischen Schwertschmieden, und zwar von den Anfängen bis zur Moderne, sprich vom kotô bis zum shinsakutô. Es handelt sich dabei aber um keine reine Liste, sondern es werden je nach Bekanntheitsgrad des Schmiedes Informationen über dessen biographische Daten bereitgestellt. Ziel ist es, dem Leser ein - so gut es geht - schlüssiges Bild über einen gesuchten Schmied zu geben. Sprich - wann hat er gelebt, wie war sein bürgerlicher Name, wie hat er signiert, wie hat er in etwa stilistisch gearbeitet und wer war sein Meister bzw. sein schulisches Umfeld. Dabei wird auch auf die gängigsten den Schmied betreffenden Theorien eingegangen und auf Diskrepanzen in den Überlieferungen hingewiesen.Dieses Werk basiert auf einer revidierten und komplett neu erfassten Schmiedeliste unter Bezugnahme einschlägiger japanischer und nicht-japanischer Quellen. Es wurden fehlerhafte Einträge und Doppellistungen gestrichen und Lesungen korrigiert. Die Reihung erfolgt alphabetisch und nach verwendeten Schriftzeichen sortiert. Einleitend wird eine nach Strichzahlen sortierte Liste aller in diesem Lexikon in Schmiedenamen verwendeten Schriftzeichen bereitgestellt, die das Finden eines Schmiedes unbekannter Lesung ermöglichen.

Dieses Lexikon beinhaltet eine umfassende Auflistung von mehr als 20.000 japanischen Schwertschmieden, und zwar von den Anfängen bis zur Moderne, sprich vom kotô bis zum shinsakutô. Es handelt sich dabei aber um keine reine Liste, sondern es werden je nach Bekanntheitsgrad des Schmiedes Informationen über dessen biographische Daten bereitgestellt. Ziel ist es, dem Leser ein - so gut es geht - schlüssiges Bild über einen gesuchten Schmied zu geben. Sprich - wann hat er gelebt, wie war sein bürgerlicher Name, wie hat er signiert, wie hat er in etwa stilistisch gearbeitet und wer war sein Meister, bzw. sein schulisches Umfeld. Dabei wird auch auf die gängigsten den Schmied betreffenden Theorien eingegangen und auf Diskrepanzen in den Überlieferungen hingewiesen.Dieses Werk basiert auf einer revidierten und komplett neu erfassten Schmiedeliste unter Bezugnahme einschlägiger japanischer und nicht-japanischer Quellen. Es wurden fehlerhafte Einträge und Doppellistungen gestrichen und Lesungen korrigiert. Die Reihung erfolgt alphabetisch und nach verwendeten Schriftzeichen sortiert. Einleitend wird eine nach Strichzahlen sortierte Liste aller in diesem Lexikon in Schmiedenamen verwendeten Schriftzeichen bereitgestellt, die das Finden eines Schmiedes unbekannter Lesung ermöglichen.

Dieses Lexikon umfasst alle japanischen tôsô-kinkô-Schulen, und zwar systematisch, sortiert nach den Produktionsstätten wie Kyôto, Edo, Mito, Higo usw. Es werden umfangreiche Querverweise zu den Abstammungen der einzelnen Schulen als auch der Meister-Schüler-Beziehungen der einzelnen Künstler gegeben, unterstützt durch Stammbäume für die größeren Schulen. Als Einleitung und geschichtlicher Einstieg in die Welt der japanischen tôsô-kinkô, der Hersteller von Schwertzierraten, erfolgt eine detaillierte Beschreibung der Shôami- und Gotô-Schule. Mit umfangreichem Index.

In the last years and decades several publications and translations on the subject of the Japanese Sword have been published in the West. In this way, the historical background, the characteristics of the blades, smiths, and schools, as well as the art of sword forging, and the sword fittings were introduced and explained. The aim of this publication is now to bring the reader closer to the role the Japanese sword - the nihontô - played in the warrior class and the Japanese society, namely by the means of legends, stories, and anecdotes on famous swords and their swordsmiths, embedded in an explanation of the background and other relevant facts. In the end, the reader should have an idea about the high value that was placed on this proverbial legendary weapon that span than a thousand years of Japanese history (and even still today as an object of art). The aim was to obtain a balance between easy access for beginners and detailed facts for confirmed enthusiasts.

The aim of this publication is to make the genealogies of the Japanese tsuba and tôsô-kinkô schools easily accessible to the reader, namely in that they are complete and have been revised for the first time, in a single book. The book contains 120 genealogies of all the major schools, divided up into two sections: the tankô who worked in iron, and the tôsô-kinkô who processed soft metal. For a better use of the genealogies, an extensive index is added at the end of the book.