IanB

I agree with what Piers and Steve have said about screws for metal, but wood screws are another matter. I can only suppose they arrived with the Meiji restoration, but even today Japanese woodworkers seem to prefer to use superbly cut joints and dowels where we would use screws. Peter, you say this screw was behind the trigger. The Yonezawa guns which Piers mentions have a screw that enters from the bottom of the stock an fastens into the bisen (breech plug). However, if as you say the barrel has been shortened from the breech, I wonder whether the conversion would have retained this feature. Other than that, the conversion you describe seems typical, as does the pitting around the nipple from using mercury fulminate rather than compounds that produce less corrosive compounds. Ian Bottomley

Cerjak, Your images show a 32 plate russet iron suji bachi of heishozan form (that is more or less flat on top). The technique used where you can see the heads of the rivets on the outside is called omote karakura. The tehen kanamono is late Edo in form as is the o-manju shikoro. It is difficult to say who made such a helmet but probably one of the multitude of Myochin smiths. Ian Bottomley

Further to this, the isolated piece illustrated by Mick does show a guy in early Japanese hunting costume. There is one rider in the current yabusame event a Nikko who dresses in this costume, the rest in Edo period clothing. Part of my reasoning for suggesting a possible Chinese origin for some at least of these items is the dreadful quality of the 'carving' , or rather scratching, and imagery. Look at the two photos on the left of the top line of the original posting. Beards are definitely in vogue for all the adults and two figures wear Chinese court caps. There is also a very Chinese looking child with what to me looks like a Chinese type fan. Having said that there are Japanese touches such as the drying fishing nets and the 'cracked ice' design. There is also the fact that these things are invariably done with brass mounts rather than copper which Japan had an abundance of. I may be totally wrong and I'm not being derogatory to the Chinese but somehow I cannot see Japanese craftsmen turning things like this out. If you compare it with the one Brian illustrates, you see what could be done in Japan. Even the 'tachi' illustrated by Kyle has non-bearded samurai wearing armour and Japanese dress and could well be a Japanese made version. Ian Bottomley

Mike, I said the helmet was in need if TLC - sadly the rest of the armour is really a DIY kit that really needs to transferring to the Intensive Care Ward. Being serious, it is in fact very interesting. Towards the end of the 18th century there was a mood of nostalgia abroad for the glories of the past after some 150 years of enforced peace. The bushi began to take an interest in ancient armours and those with the money had copies made. At first they were wildly inaccurate, I suspect because the armourers had to work from paintings, but later when they had examined preserved examples, very good replicas were produced. The armour you illustrate incorporates some features of an o-yoroi but misses wildly in many respects. Most obviously wrong is the dou, which is a version of yokohagi okegawa dou, whereas a real o-yoroi would be in two pieces, a separate solid right side plate and a lamellar dou covering the front, left side and back. I am intrigued by the hinge that allows the upper part of the front to be swung down, I have a late Kaga dou with the same feature that I have never been able to explain unless it was for someone with a physical problem. The back of an o-yoroi had one row of scales laced in reverse to allow the shoulder straps to be swung back to make it easier to put on. The maker of this armour tried to incorporated this idea as well as adding the large ring for an agemaki bow that would form part of the shoulder guard attachments. The armour has been provided with o-sode (large shoulder guards) as an o-yoroi would have, but of false scales, kirritsuke kozane, rather than real scales. O-yoroi had four pendant kusazuri hanging from the lower edge of the dou at the front, back and sides. I think the piece shown on the right hand photo is either the front or back section, with three fastenings that correspond to loops on the dou front and back allowing it to be detached. You are right in that the piece next to this is the tare for the mask. So what appears to be there are the remains of a very interesting armour that can be dated reasonably to sometime in the second half of the 18th century. There seems to be an o-sode, three sections of kusazuri and the shinguards missing. Ian Bottomley

Mike, Have faith. My first armour was rescued from under a pile of garden rubbish where it had lain about 5 years, It was in a dreadful state but to me it was a treasure. Ian Bottomley

Mike, Both are absolutely real and very good, but do need a heck of a lot of TLC. The helmet bowl is older than the shikoro (neck guard) and looks from the photos as if it might be late Muromachi. Re-using an older helmet bowl is perfectly normal. The crest holder has been bent forward and might be cracked, but the major work would be to repair the stencilled leathers. It all needs a general clean. The mask is I'm afraid pretty shot. It would be possible to consolidate the remaining lacquer and keep it as it is, but in reality it needs re-lacquering and a new tare making to match the shikoro. So a very nice helmet that could be brought back and would look superb, but only by someone who has access to the right materials and knows what they are doing. Oh, and the hair -ugh. Ian Bottomley

Leo, There is something strange about the decoration on your gun. It looks like conventional lacquer in the photos, but the designs do not look Japanese - they are too symmetrical. The device of two fish with the sacred pearl between them is much more SE Asian to my eyes as is the symmetrical plant growing up the stock.. I notice there is a brand burnt into the stock - that may be Japanese but the rest .... (?) Ian Bottomley

There is / was a helmet in the Ducal Armoury in Torino, Italy with a very similar kamon to that on your tachi. During the 19th century they had three armours, two being Momoyama / early Edo and a late Edo do-maru acquired after Japan was opened to the West. One of the earlier armours was photographed in the 19th century but on a visit there all I could find in storage was the helmet of the do-maru and one from one of the early armours which had the similar kamon to your tachi. I say it is / was there since someone else is supposed to have seen the whole armour on display - but wasn't when I was there. Since the rest of the do-maru had vanished as well I wonder about just what does survive there. Ian Bottomley

Rob, Tricky to say when it started to be done but certainly by the Sengoku Jidai. Prior to that most armours differed mainly in the colour schemes of the lacing and even those tended to be one of a number of fairly standardised arrangements. During the Sengoku era armours were wanted that were distinctive so that the wearers stood out in battle and had their deeds noted. Lacquer colour and texture was just one way you could ring the changes on what would otherwise be a fairly standard helmet or dou. It is done by texturing the filler coats before putting on the top colour coats. These sorts of finish also had the advantage of not showing fingerprints or small knocks and scratches like a polished surface does - think of the practicality of an ishime saya as opposed to one with a highly polished surface. I once visited a very up-market lacquer company (they made the equipment for the Emperor's coronation) and the boss showed me a five drawer cabinet, each of which had about 40 or 50 scabbard shaped pieces all done in a different lacquer finish as samples for a customer to choose from. He told me he had bought it in an auction in the UK. I can just imagine a samurai ordering a No. 57 please. Ian Bottomley

Trying to use synthetics for tsuka ito is a waste of time. In the dim and very distant past when getting anything from Japan was near impossible I tried various braids from UK manufacturers - all of which were either cotton or synthetic. The latter all gradually stretched to the point where you could almost slide them off the tsuka. I tried hanging them with a heavy weight on to get the stretch out but it made no difference. Silk has elasticity and springs back after being stretched, gripping the tsuka. There are polymers that don't stretch and no doubt there are some out there today with the same characteristics as silk - but you cannot beat the real thing so why try. The cost of silk compared to the cost of a sword is negligible. Ian Bottomley

Peter, Where have all the teppo gone? Might I suggest two possibilities? The daimyo of the Muromachi, whilst happy to enrol the lower ranks as ashigaru to swell their armies, had a bit of a problem with how to arm them. They were provided with a sword of sorts, but to be of real use they needed a primary weapon. The obvious weapon to choose was the yari, which hadn't had a lot of use up until then - and the introduction of yari introduced all sorts of changes to armour. Then along comes the gun that although expensive was devastatingly effective and didn't need years of devoted practice to use. Following Hideyoshi's unification he organised what is called the 'Sword Hunt' but it was really a disarmament of all who were not bushi, and that would include the ashigaru. No doubt most of the guns they had used in battles were returned to their lords but some may have gone home with their guns that were ultimately surrendered. During the Korean invasions that followed, vast numbers of guns went abroad but how many were lost and how many were actually carried back.? Ian Bottomley

Rob, In reality there is more to it than length. If all you want to do is puncture someone, a short little head will do the job, making the hole that the top of the shaft can enter. In my experience many of these little short heads are of equilateral triangular section with little grooves on each face. The intermediate length heads, either isosceles triangular section or a flattened lozenge section, have quite sharp edges and would at least inhibit someone grabbing the head. My favourite yari is a simple little lozenge section blade about 5" long which is distinctly waisted, mounted on a shaft about 6 foot long with lacquered rayskin at the top. It is light and graceful but capable of doing a lot of damage. I have only ever owned one really big blade, about 3 1/2 foot long in a shaft about 4 foot long, and that was isosceles section with a very deep fuller on the broadest side. In section most of the blade was like a piece of angle-iron with razor sharp edges and was clearly intended for cutting as well as stabbing. I really love yari and have a ceiling with holes to prove it. Ian Bottomley

Absolutely riddled with errors I'm afraid. Ian Bottomley

I have a very similar ko boshi kabuto with roped fukurin that is also in shakudo. Nagamichi is a bit of an enigma as nothing really is known about him other than he is thought to be early Edo period which rules him out of being connected to Kaga who were exclusively Haruta smiths until quite late on. It is probably a recycled helmet bowl incorporated into a later Kaga armour. Ian Bottomley

Malcolm, Not sure. By the time the Dutch had been moved to Dejima the whole attitude had changed. Every Dutch ship had to anchor off-shore and be searched for weapons and religious material before being allowed to dock. Anything found was confiscated but returned to them when the ship sailed. However, other material, such as scientific instruments and the like were imported and sold in karamonoya or curio shops. By far the best book on all of this is 'Bridging the Divide' Editor Leonard Blusse, Willem Remmlink and Ivo Smits, Hotei Publishing ISBN 90-74822-24-X. And of course when the panic over the coming of the Americans started, the Japanese imported mortars and other cannon from the Dutch. Ian Bottomley

The idea that the Europeans only allowed the Japanese old technology is not true. A study of the diaries of John Saris (published in 1900, as The Voyage of Captain John Saris to Japan, 1613, edited by Ernest M. Satow) describes how he gave Matsura Hoin in 1612 'a damaskt peece, double locked' which would probably have been a snaphaunce at that date, giving similar gifts to Tokugawa Ieyasu when he visited him in Sumpu. Richard Cocks, who remained in Japan running the factory there, writes in his diary (Diary of Richard Cocks, with preface by N. Murakami 1899, reprinted from the Hakluyt Society ed. 1883) that in 1615 ‘ And sent a present to Gonrok Dono … 2 damaskt fowling pec, cost 10 ta. \this present is sent hym as cheefe bongew of all goods brought into Firando, Langasaque, or any of these partes of Japon.’ and elsewhere ‘Figean Samma sent for 8 damaskt snaphanne fowling peeces to send for Safian Donno for the Emperor – 20 taies each’. Elsewhere in his diary he lists a further 23 guns that were sold by the English. What is remarkable is that so far, not a vestige of these guns, obviously regarded as sufficiently prestigeous to give to the shogun, appear to have survived. Ian Bottomley

The first image shows a typical Edo period armour where the maker has tried to reconcile the idea of o-sode and their cords with a gattari and ukezutsu for holding a sashimono. The second image shows a traditional armour, in fact a composite of a do-maru and an o-yoroi. The row of scales to which the agemaki ring is attached is laced in reverse so that the shoulder straps can be thrown back when putting the armour on. The agemaki bow, likened to a dragonfly with that part fastening to the ring representing the head and eyes whilst the loops the wings. Being heavy, the bow had the duel function of holding this row of scales down by its weight as well as providing an attachment for the cords that held the o-sode in position when raising the arms or bending forward. As sode became smaller during the Muromachi period the need for the elaborate system of cords was simplified and then abandoned together with the large agemaki ring. The gattari and ukezutsu were simply attachments for some form of sashimono, often a flag but also other devices on a pole, that identified the wearer or the unit he belonged to. Important accessories in the battles of the Sengoku era. By the 18th century after a long period of peace there was a nostalgic revival for the glories of the past that resulted in armours being made with ancient features such as o-sode, large spreading neck guards and the like - the latter making the wearing of a sashimono impossible yet the fittings for one were put on the backplate. Essentially the armourers had forgotten how o-sode were fastened. The central leather tie on the top plate should be tied to the rear loopon the shoulder strapp but was often tied around the shoulder strap with the standing plate that protected the neck from the sode being pierced to allow it to be tied this way. By the end of that century they had sorted it all out and good copies of o-yoroi and do-maru were being made, only to be abandoned when news of America's intentions arrived and high quality armours were produced based on Sengoku styles. Ian Bottomley

Paul, People do not realise just how efficient early ignition systems were. I have fired matchlock, wheel lock, flintlock and percussion cap guns and they are all pretty fast, with probably the flintlock having the longest delay. Ian Bottomley

Rob, A lot of what you see as matte lacquer is really light damaged. See: www.hakuminurushi.com/conservation/light.htm One of the conservation techniques used on lacquer in this condition is to wipe on a coating of raw lacquer to consolidate the original surface and restore the lustre. Having said that some original surfaces were left semi matte deliberately for the simple reason that it didn't show fingermarks. I'm sure a lot of saya were given textured finishes for exactly the same reason. Sakakibara Kozan in his book on armour talks about high gloss lacquer applied with tissue and no doubt some armours were finished this way. Ian Bottomley

Ford, An excellent point. Mortimer Luddington Menpes in his book about his time in Japan describes his association with a Japanese curio dealer and how the market adapted to appeal to the tastes and needs of Victorian tourists, producing such things as embroidered Buddhist temple hangings that had no existence until that point. There is a delicious sequence about a door knocker that Menpes wanted for his house in Cadogan Gardens that he was fitting out in the Japanese style. In the end a contraption consisting of a metal ball dangling on a silk cord was devised and shipped back to England together with lacquered doors, ceiling panels and all the rest. Ian Bottomley

Ford, Your entomology ain't too good. Ian Bottomley

Piers, The tick indeed does go to the left - I bow to your knowledge of calligraphy. The Spanish archives describe the original maedate as being two 'tufts' or 'tails' of black hair between which was a device of a 'cross of that country'. I need to alter the records since I read the kanamono as the kanji JU which the Shimazu did use - see catalogue of the Nishimura Museum, p25. So the original owner of this armour reverts to being uncertain. Ian Bottomley

The Shimazu kutsuwa kamon was a modification of their original kamon of JU in a circle that was in use during the second half of the 16th century. A Shimazu armour given to King Philip II of Spain in 1585 has the older form and was thought to be a Christian cross as late as the 1960's. With a lens a small tick can be seen at the base of the upright stroke showing it was JU. Ian Bottomley

Whilst the Tokugawa shogunate did persecute Christians, and with dreadful violence, they were rather more pragmatic in reality. Luis Sotelo was a Franciscan preaching in Edo when a Spanish bullion ship floundered at Chiba. These ships, often of enormous size (Will Adams says this one was 1000 tonnes), were involved in trade between Mexico and the Chinese in SE Asia who would only deal in silver. On board was Rodrigo de Vivero who agreed with Ieyasu and Hidetada that it might be possible to establish a Spanish trading post in Edo if the Japanese would allow Spanish ships to shelter in Japanese ports during storms. A ship was dispatched with Rodrigo de Vivero and a Japanese bullion dealer called Tanaka Shosuke on board to negotiate with the Mexican authorities. Meanwhile Sotelo, who had translated for de Vivero, cured the favourite concubine of Date Masamune of an illness and was invited to Sendai. It was at this point that the Tokugawa expelled all priests and other Catholics from Edo and other Tokugawa contralled areas, but allowed the daimyo to chose whether to do the same or not. To cut a long tale short, eventually the Tokugawa decided to negotiate with the Spanish King directly rather dealing with lesser authorities in Mexico. Sotelo was needed as translator for the mission but he was in Sendai and the Tokugawa could hardly be seen dealing with a priest - nor could they be seen sending a mission to a Catholic king. As a result Mukai Shogen the Tokugawa Admiral and Will Adams acted as intermediaries and ordered Date Masamune to organise the Keicho mission to Spain. It was while that mission was in Europe that the ban on Catholicism was extended throughout the country. On the missions return, Date got a right roasting from the Tokugawa but rather bravely wrote back pointing out that it was they who had written letters of introduction for the Spanish king, had the ship built the mission sailed on, supplied samurai bodyguards for Hasekura and supplied the gifts including armours and swords. Never let your beliefs get in the way of a good deal! On another tack, the Royal Armouries have a kozuka with a stream along which are floating three leaves and above which flies a butterfly. With a glass, the separated leaves can be seen to be aoi leaves - perhaps indicative of the break up of the Tokugawa with the butterfly perhaps implying a short existance. Dangerous stuff but very subtley hidden. Ian Bottomley

Anders, It looks like a bayonet for an Enfield rifle that was much used in the Boshin wars. What you read as PO willbe BO or 'Board of Ordnance'. Ian Bottomley