IanB

Ed, This is clearly not a Chinese fake but a military or semi-military dirk of some kind. It is obviously related in style to the more usual naval dirk but the bamboo decoration is in contrast to the more usual cherry blossom motifs, and most naval dirks have a same grip. I wonder though about the originality of the kashira. It does differ slightly in patination from the other fittings and I wonder if it was originally from something else - although it is consistent in style. Note how the border and double volute above the cut-out is engraved on the kashira, but apparently in slight relief on the other fittings. I have seen a dirk, can't remember where, with a turtle-shell grip with three cherry blossoms along its length but not being terribly interested in military items, virtually ignored it. As for its age, I suspect it might be Taisho or early Showa rather than Meiji Ian Bottomley

Piers, No, sadly it was missing when I got it. It had a rather poor attempt at repair using a bent twig covered in gold paint, but it looked so wrong so I removed it. I can do a new tail with no problems, but imitating the bright gold lacquer .... I am not sure how that might be done. Ian

Piers et all, Sorry for the delay in getting these images on line, but life throws up too many distractions. For some reason I cannot find the third one. I know it is in my armour room somewhere, possibly in a box, but which one? The tiger leaping onto bamboo is about 24" high from the base of the stand to the tiger's hind legs. As you can see the poor creature has lost his tail. The drum on a stand is nearer 18" high. When I find the fan one I will add it since it is most like a regular matoi finial - three sided with a kamon on each face. It has two discs like the others but no hair and may well have had cloth or paper streamers. From memory it is about the same size as the drum one. Ian

Piers, I will do that. Out of curiosity, what did you think it was? Ian

Piers, Well, well. I have three of these objects, two being mounted on squares of wood with a rough spike to hold them upright - but sadly no boxes. The subjects of mine are: a tiger leaping onto a section of bamboo, a drum on a stand and a fan. The first two have the discs below the lacquered objects with fringes of hair sandwiched between them and the bamboo tubes are pierced for a retaining pegs. Exactly what they are I have never been sure about. They may be sashimono in their own right, or just the tops for sashimono poles, or maybe for banner poles but mine would seem to be a bit small for that. I suspect they are the former - see the famous Nagakute screen where almost all the samurai have a gilded object on a pole rather than a hata sashimono. There are fish, baskets, scale weights and all manner of objects. I would be grateful to learn what you can find out about them. Ian Bottomley

Gents, you are missing the fact that it isn't a simple kirimon but has further gentian leaves hanging below. No idea what it represents but I suspect some Taisho or early Showa organisation. Ian B.

John, You may be correct about the covering of the helmet. I have however seen a fabric covered one, I think in the Watanabe Collection in Tottori. You are right about butted mail - it just opens up if pierced. The Japanese did make riveted mail but it is as rare as hen's teeth (see earlier posts). However, since Japanese mail is always sewn onto a backing, it doesn't open up in the way that un-backed butted mail does. Ian B.

Eric, Never seen anything like your 'hook / spike' items. The hook bits look a bit sharp for hanging on your belt - could they have been some form of tool? The one with the spike may have fitted into a wooden handle whereas the other has an integral one. As for the helmet - what a fabulous item. I suspect it may have been originally covered by something else. The quality of the sewing and the materials of the shikoro are far higher than the present outer cover. Do you thing it might have had a padded cloth cover originally? I have a mail hood with a little leather peak attached - but interestingly with sections of deer antler fastened over the temples. It also has a hemp cord, covered with leather, that fits into the nape of the neck to hold it on. Rather an odd arrangement but it presumably worked. I have seen old bows made into riding whips and once into a walking stick. I agree that the spirally lacquered truncheon seems to have been made from a spear shaft. You cannot beat re-cycling. Ian Bottomley

Mark, Yes. Lamellar armour occurs in many early Persian paintings and all over the Middle East. In many cases it was replaced by mail at a later date, often with plates over the vitals (see Mamaluk and later Turkish armours). Lamellar was the ideal type of armour if you did not have access to metalworking facilities capable of making reasonably sized lumps of iron. You can make it out of small scraps of metal, rawhide, bone, antler or even hard wood. We have an early Chinese armour in the Royal Armouries acquired in the 19th C. made of red lacquered rawhide scales. It is of the same form as the two pictured above but without the 'shields' and with the addition of shoulder guards and a rawhide multiplate helmet. The coat part has been relaced several times and some of the scales are replacements but the shoulder guards appear to have the original lacing. Although rawhide lamellar is reasonable, when its made of iron it is unbelievably heavy. We have one from Tibet (that may be Mongol) and it is a nightmare getting it on and off the dummy. Piers, the 'shields' occur on several types of armours. Some Pacific island peoples had armours, of coconut fibre, with a standing shield behind the head to stop the wearer being accidently hit by stones thrown by the women folk, who followed their husbands and contributed their bit to the action. In the case of these Asian armours, the 'shields' are primarily arrow protection. By slightly turning the body when you see an arrow coming at you, they protected the head and face. Exactly the same idea was used by the Japanese with the fukigayeshi of Heian helmets. They stuck out at right-angles from the sides of the helmet so all you needed to do was turn your head and they covered your face. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Looks like what you have there is a jute made from a yari shaft. It clearly has the original kabura maki and a hadome. Perhaps it was used by a village headman who couldn't afford a real jute but needed one for his badge of office. Ian Bottomley

All, Now that 2012 has arrived here in the UK, let me wish all of the members of the NMB a successful, harmonious ( ) and happy New Year. May you all acquire the item on your dream list. Ian Bottomley

John, Lamellar armour actually has its origins in classical antiquity. I was fortunate to be present at the examination of a lump of mud from the Roman Fabrica at Carlisle that supplied the western end of Hadrian's wall. You couldn't see much, but an X-ray revealed three curving rows of scales from a throat guard. As soon as I saw the image I said 'NODOWA' - the archaeologists poo-poo'd the idea since according to them the Romans didn't use throat guards. Eventually they decided it was a neckguard from a helmet, but the inside curve was far too small. Rather satisfyingly, a tombstone turned up a bit later showing a warrior wearing -- guess what ? Yup a scale neckguard. This Roman lamellar, including lorica squamata (and part of one of these turned up at Carlisle), was of iron or bronze scales held together by turns of bronze wire - almost certainly on a leather or fabric backing. Following the Romans, the idea spread eastwards and lamellar coats fastened down the front occur in Turkey, Persia and Central Asia, ending up in China and finally Japan. These were held together by leather thongs and a lot survive from places like Tibet. Interestingly, only one occurrence is recorded from Europe - from the grave pits from the Battle of Visby on Gotland (1361). The Scandinavians travelled through Russia and traded in Constantinople. Almost certainly the lamellar armour came from there. Ian

All, Herewith a somewhat different folding katana kake I bought a couple of years ago from dear old Po of blessed memory. It was a Christmas present from me to me - always better than socks. It was missing a couple of hinges when I bought it, but a few hours with sheet brass soon fixed it. I just love the lacquer work, which is as good on the back as the sides. The fold-down shelf part is recessed into the back part when folded up. I have a theory (and that is all it is) that these folding stands may have been used in inns for when a samurai was staying. They store in a small space but could be put out in a room when needed. I'm probably wrong on this but who knows. Ian Bottomley

Eric, You are quite right, it does snag, but in my experience only when it is the type having the oval links made up of more than one turn of wire. The mail makers seem to have cheated by cutting the wire short so that the outside looked like a double turn, but with the ends only just threaded through the round links. On the reverse side, you will find only a single length of wire. It is these short ends that lift and cause the snagging. If they had taken the ends round to the underside so they met, it wouldn't have been a problem. I don't know why so much namban kusari was made other than the fact that it was easier to assemble and only needed one type of link. I would guess the making of links was out-sourced , and probably the actual assembly of the mail as well. I cannot see an armourer sitting in his workshop fiddling about with a load of links - his time would cost too much. Ian

Edward, Your belt is done with Japanese style mail, Eric's with namban gusari imitating European mail. The latter variety became quite popular during the Momoyama and Edo periods but to my mind was a bit of a disaster since none of the links lie in the plane of the mail. Since the Japanese always sewed the mail to a backing, the links don't lie flat. Even worse was the fact that mail was often used in conjunction with plates and connecting this mail to them was invariably rather messy with the links being at an angle. Ian B

Edward, As Eric has just said, the 'helmet' you show in this batch of images isn't a helmet in the real sense but a headpiece worn in the event of a fire, the attached cape covering most of the face. They were worn either for supervising the fighting of a fire, or to escape from one. Women wore a similar cape, the upper part being shaped like a court cap to protect their hair and face. Now. Would the red helmet be worn with the Byakudan lacquered dou? No, they have nothing to do with each other and have become associated at some time in the past. Nevertheless, a very desirable helmet and dou. The current do is I suspect somewhat later than the other. The presence of stencilled leathers and the copper kanamono were re-introduced during the Edo period as the prospects for war diminished. It is a kirritsuke iyozane ni mai dou (in two parts joined by a hinge lacquered to look like iyozane scales) and interesting in that it is laced in the mitsu suji gaki style in which three lengths of braid are used rather than the usual two. This is not common at all and it is a good quality piece. The detached collar of the dou seems to have the kikko work covered with black velvet which would have come from the Dutch at this period. Again a nice touch. The sode have nothing to do with the dou and I suspect that what you have is a collection of unrelated items that someone has assembled to make up a 'set'. The sleeves are a bit odd. The armouring ends on the upper arm and there is no elbow plate. This arrangement was common on Muromachi armours worn with the big o-sode that completely covered the upper arm. Yours are not of that period, but were obviously imitating the idea and may have been made for an armour with o-sode during the late 18th or early 19th century. Ian

Piers, What you have just said makes sense. The serpentine pivot, internal tumbler and spiral spring all look genuine. The sear is clearly later and rather crudely done in iron. This part should be brass and now I know what has happened, I suspect the lug through which the spiral spring is threaded should have a small brass spiral spring with a link pulling the tail of the sear forwards rather than the part that is pushing the present sear backwards. There is a good image of the interior of such a lock in the 'Military Accessories of a Daimyo House' from the Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya catalogue, item 165. It differs in the smaller spring pointing upwards and pulling on top of the sear whereas yours I think acted the other way up. Ian

Surely they are not iron. They look like brass to me - see the lower examples mane. What you think is rust is where the bindings from the sword they came off has set up corrosion and left a coating of copper I oxide. Ian B

Piers, By sheer coincidence last night, at a meeting of arms and armour buffs, I saw a pair of German flintlock pistols from about 1780 that had the barrels decorated with spirals just like yours except they had been done by dotting with a punch rather than inlay. It was quite nice to see the dotter had become sloppy towards the muzzle of one gun - presumably not wanting to see another spiral ever again for the rest of his life. I think the sear spring on your gun indicates its age. Other guns with internal spiral mainsprings generally have another flat spiral spring of brass connecting to the sear with a brass wire link. The one I am thinking of even had a range of holes in the sear so that you could adjust the trigger pull - on a matchlock for goodness sake! I note Ron has picked up on the spring whilst typing the above. Ian B

Edward, Now that we have some images, there is something to work with. First the helmet. I still think it has a Momoyama look about it. 6 or 8 plate helmets were common enough at that period, often of rather thick plates because there were a lot of bullets flying around. I couldn't even begin to guess who made it, it is just one of the many, rather quirky helmets made during that period and just after. The peak is very like a standard Hineno zunari kabuto which were made by everybody and his brother. The hole in the top, tehen, may or may not have had an ornamental fitting, tehen kanamono. I would guess not, but you should be able to tell by whether the lacquer is marked around the hole or not. I have never seen a helmet with a ring in the position yours has. Normally it would be attached to the bowl itself. The original purpose, Heian period, was to carry a small flag to indicate the person you were following, becoming just ornamental later. Yours would have had a small agemaki bow hanging from it and it may well have been put on at a later date. The helmet does not belong to the dou and other parts you show. As I said earlier, these are done in Byakuden nuri, which if memory serves was done by coating gold lacquer with a special transparent lacquer containing sandal wood oil (? not sure which oil, but definitely a plant oil). It gives a splendid effect, but the outer layer is prone to flaking off, as has happened to your armour in places. The dou is a dangaye ni mai do (in two sections with more than one lacing style in the torso). You can also describe it as a dou having sugake laced kirritsuke iyozane at the top and kirritsuke kozane at the waist. This is I think an early Edo period dou (17th or early 18th century). It looks as if the lowest plates of the gessan may have had a leather or fabric covering below the lacing at some time - they look a bit unfinished. Fur was common for this purpose, but was done by sticking bunches of bear bristles into lacquer and usually leaves traces. Yours seems to have been stripped off completely. The sleeves and suneate obviously belong to the dou, the haidate probably being associated since the fabric is different from the sleeves and the lacquer looks a lighter colour. Having one ring on the dou on the right is not unusual - it generally signifies the dou is a bit earlier. The second ring being added later for symmetry. The slots on the waki ita attached to front are a puzzle. Normally at that point there would be a braid tie, or a kohaze toggle, attaching the upper part of the plate to the dou front, like the rear waki ita here. This looks as if they did something else since they don't line up with the lacing on the dou front and have eyelets. They clearly held a sizable flat braid, like the shoulder-strap fastenings. My initial thought was that they might have been attachment points for wakibiki to guard the armpits, but you would need them on the back section as well. I'm stumped by these holes at the moment. Most interesting, and very rare, is the long strip with mail on it. I have seen one other, but cannot for the life of me remember where or what they are called. they were worn under the armour to protect the hips, under the yurugi ito, the long lacing from which the gessan hang. I have also seen a dou with them 'built in' as a series of mail covered flaps fastened to the lower edge of the dou behind the lacing. In fact I have a couple of these flaps kicking around somewhere. Ian B

Curtis, They are rain dragons. A bit corroded but pleasing. Ian Bottomley

Eric, This style of trigger was common on European box-lock, pocket pistols, both flintlock and percussion. Basically the trigger is separate from the sear (scear), both pivoting on the same axle, the latter being pressed against the cock / hammer by the usual trigger spring. Attached to the trigger is a sideways projecting pin that engages with a second spring that allows it to be either fully retracted, or down into the shooting position. With the trigger retracted, cocking the hammer pushes the trigger into the shooting position which then contacts the sear, pressure on the trigger then pushes the sear away from the hammer and the gun is discharged. Horrible to explain in words but I hope you get the idea. The Royal Armouries has a self-contained flintlock repeating long-gun, made in India about 1800 that also has a folding trigger, in this case mounted on a small plate as a self contained unit. It works in much the same way except it has the addition of a built in hook that stops the trigger being retracted when the gun is at full cock - otherwise you couldn't get the trigger down again unless you took the gun apart. Ian B

Edward, The hanbo is rather a nice item but has been relaced wrongly in the fairly recent past. The cross-knots etc are fine, it is the blue lacing that is modern and incorrect - it should not run over the edge of the upper plate but under it. I'm not sure it belongs to either dou you showed. I do like the tare- having a central hinge is a bit unusual, they normally have two per plate when hinged. The quiver is again a really nice item. The arrows however are not Japanese - I suspect African. Ian

Piers, A wonderful acquisition. You are to be congratulated. I note you call it a kago gun. Isn't it a bit long in the barrel for that? Ian Bottomley

Gentlemen, I make no pretence of knowing whether Masamune existed or not, nor have I any valid opinion as to whether this expert or that was correct in his attributions, but there is a parallel that might throw a tiny glimmer of light on this subject. It certainly seems as if the great and the good of the Edo period were completely taken in by the sales patter of the Myochin armourers. The latter quite blatantly created a genealogy that included many names of armourers who we know were totally fictitious (and here I include the famous Nobuie), yet daimyo and other powerful people paid handsomely for these fakes and had armour made that incorporated them. Like the Hon'ami the Myochin also issued certificates for pieces of armour, giving their age and values, the daimyo paying handsomely for the service. Were the greats of the Edo period equally gullible when it came to what they were told about swords? Ian Bottomley