Viper6924

I think the biggest error with Noel's book is his notion that the samurai "gave up" the gun because of some sort of ethic reasons and that they also detested the very sight of a matchlock. The samurai was warrior. If they would have gotten hold of a Tomahawk missile during the early 17th century they would have blown away half the main island without thinking twice about. If it killed the enemy = very good. And had Noel taking his time to study local matchlock history, he would have found that some samurai during the relative peaceful 18-19th century honored the history of the local style of matchlock and actually spent money ordering new guns instead of spending them on the real symbol of the warrior class, the sword. Jan

Thanks, BaZZa. We are still very happy together Please do share those matchlocks of yours. Looking and talking about matchlocks is a close second from actually owning them And you often learn a ton of new information. Jan

BaZZa! Here´s a link to the Armor-forum where some pictures are posted. Just scroll down a bit and you find them. http://nihon-no-katchu.proboards.com/thread/129/tazuke-ryu-teppo Jan

Thanks Piers for confirming my thoughts about the Fujiwara affair Its red oak alright. And it's the original to the barrel. I have a matchlock pushing 400 years. When I opened up the gun woodshavings was still lodge inside and the wood is in fantastic condition. It probably depends how the gun been stored over the years. This gun is in overall very good condition, so someone cared for it. I can post some pictures on the matchlock section later if you want. Jan

This might def be the same guy. To my knowledge the name Fujiwara was sometimes bestowed upon someone as a sign of recognition for superior skill or long service. The Tempo-period seems spot on. When you get a chance to inspect a Sendai-tsutsu in hand, it does not take long to appreciate the quality and workmanship. Jan

Thank You so much for the translation!!! Yes, Piers. It's the Sendai-matchlock Hmm, interesting. Does this mean that the barrel maker and the stock maker could be one and the same person? It's a very well made gun in all aspects. Jan

Hi guys! Reading these handwritten signatures is even harder than the chiseled one´s. Even if this one is a bit better than most. Would be very happy if someone could help me. It´s so frustrating not knowing Thanks!!! Jan

That is an amazing little collection, Piers. The middle one got a beautiful color. Hope you can find some more info. The Bitchu Tahashi connection is interesting. An almost magical place for us castle freaks. You should be able to find more info about a forge/foundry up there. Take the train and have a look. It's only an hour away Jan

That's a good looking and very interesting gun, Jean. Yours and some of the other guns pictured in this thread gives me somewhat of a Sendai feeling. Two mekugi fixing the barrel to the stock. The "wire" trigger. The rear sight. The way the butt is carved and also that the barrel is placed fairly deep into the stock. This style seems to have originated from the Tohoko-area during the Bunsei and Tempo era. As Ron wrote early in this thread, we have the gunsmith Katai Kyosuke Naotetsu from Shinshu credited with making this style of guns. Perhaps he used features from the Sendai style matchlock when producing this "upgraded" weapon. This gun is probably the result of the northern clans attempt to modernize their arms during the 1840s whilst the southern clans bought theirs (modern ones) from the west. Jan

Someone at RI must have gotten a bit to excited when they wrote that description. They even manage to get the magic word "ninja" into it. I would say knock 10000 dollars of the askingprice to start with. And for the guy who wrote this piece of fine text, well a long cold bath perhaps Jan

That could have been a possibility. But after I saw the new picture of your baby, I just had a massive attack of envy which turned me into a salivating blob on the carpet... FANTASTIC GUN!!! Jan

Here´s a sashimono made from asa, which if I remember correct, displays the black kokumochi kamon worn by the Kuroda-clan in battle. Jan

You called, Sir From my last expedition to Japan. It´s not the biggest item in the collection but def one of my favorites. 7,5 cm with a "bore" of 0,9cm. With the classic fishtail. What would the world be without good friends!!! Jan

Thanks a lot Morita-san! I'm always amazed who you can decode these faint kanjis. Well, we can safely say that this is the original box for this pair of candles. Thanks again, Morita-san. Kanji on a box without me knowing the meaning is torture Jan

Thanks Piers. Then I can cross the food items of the list. Have you been able decode any of these kanjis so we might cross other areas of the list Thanks again for taking the time!!! Jan

I got a pair of shokudai in a wooden box. Would love to know if the box is the original one. There is some kanji on the outside. Have tried to highlight them as best as I can. Some of them are rather faint. Is it something to do with shokudai or is the box former content pickled beans Any help would be fantastic!!! Jan

Look at the square shaped hammer, the rear sight and overall shape of the barrel. This is a cut down Kishu-style matchlock. And they chopped off quite a chunk. Perhaps the muzzle or front part of the rifle was destroyed at one time. Jan

Bazza; If this Motoyasu is related to the smiths from Satsuma, by all means post a picture when you get a chance. I see these kinds of threads as mini capsules of informations. Great for future references. The more pictures the better, if you ask me. Brian; I´m sure you are right about this and I´m out on a wild goose chase :D I´ve also heard about the polishers mark but never seen one before. But you have to agree that the kanji is very similar to the one done by Motohira. Managed to take a real closeup of the kanji and under the habaki and I also include the end kanji from a Motohira mei. Jan

The floor of suggestions feels mighty empty right now... :lol: :lol: :lol: Jan

Chris: Thanks for the explanation of the mei. They really ran a family collective with fathers, sons and uncles. Peter: Thanks for the kind words. You better bring your A-game when you post nihonto related questions on this forum :D It´s def a tricky quest. Especially when you can´t speak or read Japanese. But thats why it´s worth the extra effort. Nothing easy is fun.. Here´s finally some pictures of my Motoyasu wakizashi. It´s a really heavy meat cleaver. A true Satsuma sword made for battle. Total length about 53 cm and it´s over 3 cm wide. A gentle sugata. The jihada is very subtle with nie along the entire hamon. Not so easy to catch with my camera. Along most of the blade runs a crisp hi. Finishing off with a Nanbokucho style o-kissaki. Signed and dated, comes with Hozon-papers. In near perfect condition apart from the nagako, which seen better days. But now it gets interesting. And why wouldn´t it with a Oku-family nihonto Imagine my surprise the first time I removed the habaki. On both sides is a small kanji ingraved in the middle of the hi. Never seen this before in any Japanese swords. The kanji is close to the "hira" in Motohira. Placed smack in the middle of the hi. Could this, a longshot I know, mean that Motohira (1 generation or perhaps a later edition) helped with the hi. Modest as the only the Japanese can be, he signed it and hid it under the habaki, not to take any cred from Motoyasu? I open the floor for suggestions. One thing is clear. This is a very interesting family to study. The fact that they also made exceptional swords, just makes it so much more fun. Jan

Guess that will be hard to obtain. We only have the link Peter posted earlier. But we have some digital masters here, so who knows what they can dig out of the interweb :D I would really like to know more about these brothers of Satsuma. Jan

Peter: A very beautiful translation and plausible in my eyes, at least. The complete read of the mei is still a bit "strange": "Made by Oku Motoyasu from Satsuma Oku Motohira the swordsmith from the lands end" Sorry in advanced if I fumbled with the translation Is this an act of respect shown by Motoyasu towards his older (?) brother Motohira? Or does it imply something else? Thanks for the translation, Peter! Jan

Mmm, interesting! I thought I might have missed somthing I always found this total lack of a dates for Motoyasu intriguing. Most other smiths from the late 18th and early 19th century is well documented. His two brothers are documented with dates for birth/death. But Motoyasu... All we really know is that he helped with the making of Motohiras swords and occasionally made some of his own. And that the ones preserved is very close to Motohira in both appearance and quality. Wonder in which way he assisted his older(?) brother? Mototake died relative early (compared to the other Satsuma smiths) which left Motohira and Motoyasu alone for ten years, well together with some of Motohiras sons I might imagine. This is def is worth digging deeper into. Any translation of the "...Oku Motohira meishite korewo zozu"? Jan

Thomas; I don´t feel I´m the right person to argue with Mr Fukunaga, but Kyoho 18 seems a bit strange considering that Motoyasu should be the youngest of the three 1753 perhaps... :D Peter; nice sword. Have all the traits you look for in a Satsuma sword. The sword is made by Motoyasu but I can´t translate the "...Oku Motohira meishite korewo zozu" part of the mei. Is that some kind of memorial inscription. Cos 183 years ago would be 1831 and Motohira died a few years earlier... Motohira:1744-1826 Mototake: 1748-1816 Motoyasu: ?-? The long life seems to have been a common thing amongst the Shinshinto smiths of Satsuma. Both Motohira and Motoyasu reached over 80. Masayoshi/yuki (another of the great Satsuma swordsmiths) died at 86. Must be something in those vulcanic winds from Sakurajima. Thanks for your help with this, guys! Jan

Nice blade, Chris! Got that "meaty" Satsuma look to it. These guys didn't play around when it came to heavy swords. I will take some pictures of my wakizashi later on. Got some really interesting features. Thanks for the picture, Chris! Jan