Manching Germany, September 27th 2025, NBTHK-EB Meeting
On a sunny Saturday, around 40 members and guests gathered at Manchinger Hof. The meeting was extremely well attended. Members from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France had travelled to attend. Particularly noteworthy was the wide age range, with the oldest member over 80 and the youngest just under 5 months old.
The members where welcomed to the meeting and reminded to keep attention to the importance of observing and adhering to ‘sword etiquette’. The theme of the meeting was ‘masame hada through the
ages, from Koto to Shin-Shinto’.The origins origins of masame and the differences that need to be taken into account where described.
In three rounds, 11 blades were provided for kantei, with the last blade, No. 12, not being part of the kantei and having been discusseded forehand. This is a tokubetsu juyo katana attributed to Hasebe Kunishige, which is illustrated and described in the 6th issue of the English edition of the Token Bijutsu.
Kantei
- Katana, Ko-Uda
- Wakizashi, Kunikane (2-nd generation)
- Katana, Hosho – middle Kamakura
- Katana, Sue-Hosho – late Kamakura
- Wakizashi, Nobukuni/Yoshikane
- Tanto, Norikatsu
- Tanto, Sue-Hosho
- Katana, Rai Kuniyasu
- Katana, Rai Chiyozuru
- Wakizashi, Tegai
- Wakizash, Echizen Tanekane
- Katana, Hasebe Kunishige (tokubetsu juyo)
The tosogu theme was kept quite general with ‘carved iron’. There were tsuba from a wide variety of schools on display, including outstanding examples from Yagyu, Yamakichibei, Hoan, Nobuie, Owari and Higo, some with ‘juyo’ status.
The meeting ended with a dinner together. It’s planned to have two meetings in Maching due to popular demand.
