Chuck, try rooting around on this site...they have all the
Shinsengumi swords listed (that's what I recall)
the site is spectacular because the information is organized in charts
http://g1342122.at.infoseek.co.jp/
some swords owned by the Shinsengumi are very old and valuable
this was something I wrote a long time ago on Saitou's sword---with
some assistance
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/AHistoryofOneSword.pdf
SHQ used to have a page with all Shinsengumi swords listed...however
due to a technical issue that data was lost.
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Shinsengumi spoof
http://community.livejournal.com/edo_meiji/50972.html
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--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Seven" wrote:
>
> No, they didn't name their swords themselves. More or less like
many of the famous guns,
> swords were named after the swordsmiths. For example, "the
Nagasone Kotetsu" is the
> collective name given to the swords forged by Nagasone Kotetsu.
(It's highly unlikely that
> Kondou wielded a real Kotetsu made by Nagasone Kotetsu though.)
>
> ~Seven
>
> --- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Kitsuno" wrote:
> >
> > Is there an accessible book that discusses the histories of some
of
> > the "famous" swords that some of the Shinsengumi members used? I'm
> > noticing a lot of the members had swords that were named - did
they
> > name them themselves, or were these valuable (antique?) swords?
> > Hillsborough tosses the names around, but never goes beyond that.
> >
>