Boris Markhasin

I am a geologist by profession, working in the oil and gas sector.  I was born in Russia, left as a child and immigrated to Canada.  I am 36, married and have an awesome little boy … who will undoubtedly inherit my interest in history and antiques!  At just under 3 years old, he already knows every piece of tosogu, and never to touch a samurai sword! 

As a child, I was fascinated by paleontology, and spent the better part of my childhood traveling every weekend to the mountains or badlands to collect fossils.    Peripherally, I was also interested in art, history and archaeology.   When I was 18, I was recruited as an extra in the Japanese samurai film “Heaven and Earth”, which was shot just west of Calgary.  I guess that’s when I really caught the bug.   Roughly the same time, I discovered that some samurai antiquities were actually available, and surprisingly, relatively affordable (my first tsuba).   It was at that time when I first bumped into my best friend and partner Henry Jung – we happened to both be scouring the same antique store one day.  I met Andy Mancabelli through a purchase in 2002.   The more we spoke, the more we realized we shared the same interests and philosophies.  When starting this website, I recruited these two miscreants to share their collections and knowledge.

In university, my interest grew as I was exposed to the academic process.   I concluded university, unfortunately 2 courses shy of an East Asian Studies minor.  My early academic interests were pre-Buddhist Japan (Jomon through Kofun), as well as Warring States Period China. 

I am still asked to present lectures at the University of Calgary on Japanese history and samurai art.  Once I was honoured to present a paper to the Society of Asian Scholars on "Evidence of Large-Scale Militarization Preceding the Kofun Period".  Papers I have written have appeared in the JSSUS and NBTHK journals.

In 2006 I was honored by being accepted into the Kokusai Tosogu Kai (KTK), a private collectors group dedicated to scholarship and education.   The KTK includes some of the top scholars, collectors and personages in Japan, as well as Europe, Australia and North America. 

My collecting interests are largely limited to early tosogu (Muromachi as the latest period), and recently to early nihonto.   The lynchpins of my tosogu collection are several  tsuba, as well as  Ezo tosogu dating to the Kamakura to  Nanbokucho periods.