My name is James R Miller and I live in Tokyo Japan. I own Samurai Sword and Samurai Armor gallery called gallery Samurai here in central Tokyo; very easy to get to by taxi or subway from anywhere in the central city.
I have been collecting and buying and selling Japanese Samurai Swords for 38 years, since I had visited Japan during my self financed round the world tour in 1970. I was learned foreign languages at USLA, and the last stop on this one year tour was japan, where I began to collect Japanese Antiques and Art from small antique shops in Kyoto (my favorite city in Japan). I began by collecting woodblock prints, Ukiyo-e, but my friend said to me "Why don't you study Japanese Swords? No one knows anything about them, you could do well and establish yourself as an expert". He was right. And so I did.
I bought Fujishiro's books Kotohen and Shintohen and read them cover to cover, over and over again until the covers fell off---twice. I read John Yumoto's book. I visited old Mr. Hawley's house and bought his books. I bought my first Japanese Samurai Sword, 33 inches long, signed and dated Shin Shinto with an over cleaned Tang, for $1,500. I bought my first suit of Samurai Armor from a Los Angeles Japanese gift shop from a kindly old man, for $1500, paying with fifteen $100 bills. I bought many Ukiyo-e in Kyoto and in Los Angeles from dealers. And when my money was all gone (from my many part time jobs while finishing school), then I ran ads in Los Angeles and also over in Japan to sell Japanese Antiques --- and had a lot of responses, fortunately
So, at the age of about 24, I became one of the world's busiest and largest Japanese Samurai Sword dealers, travelling by myself and together with Japanese Dealers from Tokyo and Osaka Japan, to destinations such as New York, London, Germany, San Francisco, Chicago (I was there at a sword show when the DC-10 crashed in 1979 --- I bought 120 swords at that show during 5 days).
My Santa Monica CA shop called "Japanese Art and Arms" couldn't handle the volume of sword and ar that I was buying, so I came back to Tokyo to sell to all the famous dealers in Tokyo and Sendai and Kyoto and Osaka and Kobe. I established in 1980 with the famous legal firm Braun Moriya, my first incorporated company in Japan with the name of Mukashiya K.K. (the name "mukashi/mukashi" = long time ago, (this is an old Japanese story book expression), and then "ya" = shop.
This enabled me to sell by retail to individual sword collectors here, and I have met thousands since my beginning. I also began producing catalogs, first in black and white, later in color, and then I began doing sword exhibitions inside Tokyo. My first sword exhibition at a hotel had few attendants but my second was shown on the NHK Morning News, generating so many telephone calls that the Shibuya Telephone Exchange crashed, and the police showed up to ask why there were giant lines outside the exhibition hall, and why the telephones no longer worked. A famous magazine "Focus" did a two page article on me (I was so young, I am embarrassed to show you the pages and photos).
Since I began, I have bought and sold 10,585 Japanese Samurai Swords. This quantity of swords would fill your living room to the ceiling, three times over. To buy such a quantity of swords, I had to hold over 100,000 antique samurai swords in my hands, then select and pack and send them all to Tokyo, all while I traveled around the world dozens of times in distance, millions of miles, in fact I have given my whole adult life to the study and appreciation of Japanese Swords. Although I am not as famous overseas, I am very well known inside Japan. There is no one like me anywhere else in the world.

Now I am nearly retired. I wish to sell the final, best items from my collection via my Gallery in Tokyo called Gallery Samurai. I have many items on display there, and more to show you by appointment.

For those of you living in Tokyo, or visiting at a major hotel, I will try to find the strength and time to visit you there, if you contact me in advance for an appointment.

I am an expert in the following fields: Samurai Swords, Tachi, Samurai Armor, Mempo, Helmets, Somen, Samurai Sword Mounts such as Tsuba (sword guards), Kozuka, Fuchi Kashira, Menuki, Japanese Matchlock Guns, Buddhist Paintings, Statues, Art, Nichiren, Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints, Shin Hanga, Shunga Paintings and Drawings and Prints, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, Japanese Oil Paintings, Japanese Scroll Paintings, Western OIl Paintings (which are being sold here frequently), Zen Paintings, Shibayama, Gold Inro, Gold Lacquer Boxes and Suzuribako.
See my other pages for information about buying and shipping Samurai Armor and Japanese Samurai Swords;
I even have a site for Museum Quality Japanese Swords if you are intereested ...