IanB

Grey, There are several patterns of stencilled leather ( e gawa) that incorporate a date. This was the date when the license for that particular leather was issued, not when it was made. It was also quite common for the mask to be joined to the tare by an intermediate band of leather, particularly when the tare is kirritsuke kozane as here. Many masks were made with the flange at the neck drilled for sugake lacing. The use of a leather band allowed these to connect to a kebiki laced tare without having to drill a multiplicity of holes in the flange that would weaken it. Eric is correct in that it is easy to confuse kirritsuke kozane with hon kozane unless you can see the back - the latter will show the individual scales even under the lacquer whilst the former will be smooth. From the front you can tell them apart because the lacing will emerge from the back of a kirritsuke kozane plate and run up to the next plate above. With hon kozane the lacing will emerge from between the scale heads since each scale partially covers the hole in the next and the two scales have to be levered apart to thread the lacing through. You can see this in image 00002.jpg the upper row of scales where it connects to the mune ita is somewhat irregular. Had it been kirritsuke kozane it would of course be absolutely regular. Ian Bottomley

Anthony, I would suggest mid to late 18th century is about right. Engraved fukurin around the peak and at the top of the dou is an absolute sign of Edo armour. Before the Edo period fukurin were plain, however high the quality of the armour. Whilst your armour retains a simple okegawa dou in russet iron, it is already starting to show older features such as the larger sode and the manju shikoro with kanamono. O-sode and extensive ornament become common by the end of the century. The late 18th and early 19th centuries show the same revival of old styles in the same way that swords did in the shinshinto period. There was a definite spirit of archaic revival and good copies of do-maru, haramaki and o-yoroi were made for those who could afford them. It came to a halt when the Japanese learned of the intentions of America from the Dutch and there was then a rush to have more practical armour made, more in the Momoyama styles. Ian

Anthony, A very nice quality armour - congratulations. The kamon seems to be Okada family. Looks like it is all real scales, hon kozane, apart from the shikoro and the men tare. I assume the helmet is not signed, since the seller didn't say anything. It looks as if it might be Saotome work, but without seeing inside it is difficult to say. Ian Bottomley

All, Yes I think I do know what this is but haven't a clue what it is called. Note the long cord / drawstring at one end and the loop at the other. You put things in, draw th end tight and tie the long cord to the loop - you see people in prints carrying such 'bags' on their backs. Also in that lot, what I would have said was a yugote, but for the wrong arm. Ian

All, I was watching these items and was tempted to make a bid then forgot. I have a similar pair of tight 'leggings' like the second item. If you look closely they are really just two tubes attached to a waist belt rather than trousers / hakama as such. Mine do not have buttons on the bottom but simple ties. Their name I do not know, but mine came on a dummy under an armour that had not been taken apart since the display had left Japan. They were fitted under a pair of magnificent brocade hakama (ruined by light sadly) in white with Hosokawa kamon in red and blue and with gold tendrils. I think these things are just to keep your legs warm when wearing hakama. Ian Bottomley.

Piers, I have been watching this post with great interest and trying to shut from my mind visions of this implement cutting through the side of its saya. Then I was struck by a possible revelation . My dear old dad was a carpenter and joiner and residing in his toolbox (alongside his best panel saw I was never allowed to touch) was a pad saw - a handle with a locking screw that took narrow blades. I think they were used after you had cut a starting hole with a bit to enlarge the hole and generally to cut out enclosed shapes. Could it be that what you have is the Japanese equivalent? Ian Bottomley

Matus, A rather simplistic book but one which is very easy to read and contains some surprisingly useful information is: C. J. Dunn; Everyday life in Traditional Japan, B.T. Batsford Ltd, LOndon, G.P. Putnam's Son, New York, 1969. It was in this book that I learned that in Tsuyama in 1665 were 1000 houses occupied by the military with about 4000 other houses. In the town were 3 'blacksmiths', 8 sword polishers, 4 'silversmiths', 3 scabbard makers, 2 lacquerers, 2 makers of shafts for spears ... etc. One 'blacksmith' seems to have been a swordsmith. It also looks as if the Han also made their own yari. All fascinating stuff. Ian Bottomley

Paul, I fully understood your comments about Victor Harris and didn't think for a minute you were criticising him. Although I chose not to say so, Victor can be surprising - hence my comment about the bokuto. Like Ford, I enjoyed the programme on the whole. Yes, it was somewhat superficial but for a general audience it had to be. I thought it brave and imaginative of the BBC to attempt a programme on aspects Japanese art and culture using the idea of the sword as a tag to hang it all on. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing places I had visited such as Ryoan-ji again. I spent a wonderful afternoon there, sat where Graham-Dixon sat and having a chat with the head priest about the way the rocks look their best in the rain. And talk about eccentric, that same head priest asked as I was leaving if I was American or English. When I told him, he dialled a number into a remote control and an illuminated globe descended slowly from the ceiling of the entrance porch whilst the strains of 'God save the Queen' played from speakers! Ian Bottomley

I too have known Victor Harris for many years and have learned to respect his judgement - he is a wonderful scholar with a deep knowledge of swords and many other aspects of Japanese art and culture. On one memorable evening at the Northern ToKen Society he began a talk by explaining he had brought one of his favourite swords to show the members what good masame hada should look like. He then withdrew from a brocade bag a bokuto. Unexpected yes, but the perfect teaching aid. Ian Bottomley

Ron, I too have an aversion to rubbing animal brains into my treasures - in fact the very idea gives me the hebejeebies. The other slight concern I have would be how far the lacquer has soaked into the outer surface and hence how far the treatment would penetrate. I cannot resort to cutting the threads since my tsuka cover was sewn and then turned inside out before lacquering. I could cut the stitching but I couldn't re-do it since the lacquer outer surface would still be too stiff to allow it to be turned. On the subject of stitching, I have a saya cover (which surprisingly is still nice and supple, perhaps because it is slightly thicker leather) in which the stitches are so fine and close together you wonder how the material withstood the treatment. This has a silk lining to protect the lacquer of the scabbard.

Piers, Ron, I too have a tsuka cover of lacquered leather that is now so stiff I dare not open it. However, since I don't carry my swords out in the rain, it hasn't been a problem. The standard treatment used to be what is known as 'British Museum Mixture', (there is a Wikipedia entry on this) basically lanolin in a solvent with a touch of fungicide and sometimes beeswax. It certainly works but still leaves the leather a bit on the stiff side. If the unlacquered surface is get-at-able, the finest treatment is a bit gory but is said to restore leather in a way that is little short of being a miracle - I've never actually tried it but have seen it used on buckskin. It is I'm afraid to rub brains into the surface. It would need a trip to a slaughter house but it would be worth trying. I was informed by someone who had tried it, that a dry, cracking piece of leather was completely refreshed and ended up as supple as the day it was first made. Ian

Tom, Thank you for for your efforts - the images are much appreciated. Amazingly, two of the armours crossed my path years ago. It was a delight to see what they looked like in their original condition with their crests and accessories. Ian Bottomley

Henk-Jan, You would bring that matter up wouldn't you. Ian Bottomley

Thomas, Absolutely correct - a ni mai hon kozane do that looks as if it may have been a nice armour. Ian B

Piers, Eric, Print artists generally depicted warriors in old fashioned armour. Look at the works of Utagawa Kuniyoshi and you will see the armour and things like tachi koshirae are very over the top and out of period. I was privileged to handle a scroll of the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu preserved at Nikko and the whole thing is painted as if he lived in the late Heian period with him wearing o-yoroi and fighting with his bow from horseback. This was perhaps to flatter the family by suggesting they had a long and illustrious pedigree. Another problem about ukiyo-e artists is that they were subject to rigorous censorship and often used a false name for particular personages and events being depicted. I used to own a print of Kato Kiyomasa in his tall helmet, circular kamon and jumonji yari, but the print described the subject with a made up name. Everybody knew who it was meant to be, but the artist chose for whatever reason not to use the right name. It may well be that any reference to this print depicting a real event at a real castle will have been disguised to avoid problems with the censors. Ian Bottomley

Thomas, Somewhere, and no I cannot remember where but it might be in Boots or Needham, I read the Japanese gave a vast present of arms and armour to the Koreans on the occasion of a Royal wedding during the Edo period. What sticks in my mind was some thirty odd armours and I think guns and swords. This suggests there was some interchange going on on a diplomatic level at least. Interesting that the photo you show includes a Japanese jingasa. As you say, poor old Korea was ravaged and looted by everybody and his brother so it isn't surprising there is almost nothing left. We do have a Korean helmet in the Royal Armouries and I believe there is one in the British Museum, but to my knowledge that is the sum total of known Korean material in the UK, although there may be the odd cannon kicking about. Ian

Thomas, Thank you for the new pictures, particularly that of the barrel marking. Having now a complete example I can see the same shapes in that on the original gun you illustrate. I can also see the differences in the pan cover between the Korean and Japanese guns that Piers points out. As Ron so correctly says, guns from the two cultures are so amazingly similar that it makes you wonder how many guns around the world, at present thought to be Japanese, are in fact Korean. If each village had an armoury stocked with guns, it seems inevitable that some have survived and are now unrecognised for what they really are. Plenty of Korean helmets were brought back as trophies and were incorporated by the Japanese into their armours. Perhaps they brought back guns as well. Ian B

All, Two things strike me as appearing from the photos to be different from a Japanese gun: the 'jaws' of the serpentine look different to those of a Japanese gun - looking rather taller and different in shape. There is also a hole or depression on the back side of the stock near the butt that seems to have no corresponding rivet or pin on the front face. Just what it is I cannot imagine. Having said that, the barrel mark does look like a kamon in silver overlay that has been heavily eroded by rust. I thought I could see a torii but that is probably my imagination. Ian Bottomley

Profuse apologies. Ian

Lorenzo, Further to Ford's comment, at the weekend I saw a Miochin tsuba made like a helmet bowl from about 16 - 20 separate radial plates held together by three or four rivets on each plate. What struck me as odd was that each plate was slightly domed, which for helmets, was a Saotome construction rather than Miochin one. Around the edge you could see the gap between the domed plate and the flattened part of the plate below. The seppa dai was a separate flat plate on each side, held by about 6 rivets through the whole stack. Obviously in this case there was no alternative but to add the seppa dai as separate pieces. Note the burr around the holes in Henry's tsuba - that I think clearly shows the holes were done for some purpose other than for use on a sword. However on Bernard's tsuba the plugs in the holes have been made from the same or very similar alloy to the tsuba itself and patinated to match. That suggests it was done in Japan, at the very least, and by someone who knew about tsuba. Ian B

Lorenzo, I am only partially joking. I remember one really good Hikone bori tsuba that had been filed flat on the back so that it fitted against the base better. I was once told by someone who had actually seen a tsuba used for a switch cover, but I suspect most were fastened to other items as decoration. The ToKen Soc. UK once had a description in its newsletter of someone who had laid a patio with sukashi tsuba set in the cement. This kind of thing was done in the days when you could buy such things, threaded on a string, in dozens. Ian

Lorenzo, One reason for holes like this is that a lot of tsuba were converted for use as light-switch covers and the holes were used for the screws that held them to the backing. I can't believe that is the only reason, I've seen too many and have one myself, but I know some were. Ian Bottomley

Piers, I think I have the paper-back by Sawada you mention. In reality it is just a list of inscriptions sorted under the barrel / gun maker's names he has come across. If it is the same one, there is no attempt at dating any of the smiths. Very disappointing. I also have another flimsy booklet on Sakai guns which shows maps of the gun-making quarter and a few details of manufacture but not much else. In reality, I suspect there is not much chance of accumulating any real info on gun makers at this late stage, unless local records exist which nobody has really bothered to look at. What there may be are details of the smiths who were rounded up and shipped to Nagahama. Knowing the Tokugawa, there may well be records of the names of the people moved and the stipends they were issued with to keep them from doing a runner. Even that would be limited since by that time there wasn't much being produce but it would be a start. Ian B

Eric, You have me there, but a lot of 'luggage' boxes had some form of protective cover. I have one of those elaborate cages for an armour box that has a little roof on top. When you put a box in it, the loop handles line up with holes in the cage and roof so that the carrying pole holds it all together. It came without the original roof, but I had a big wide plank of thin cedar so I made one. I never did get around to making all the reinforcing bits of copper the cage itself is covered with. Maybe one day. Ian Bottomley

Piers, That is the best preserved screw thread I've ever seen - absolutely pristine. Makes you think this gun has never been shot, or at least it has been properly stripped and cleaned after shooting. What a lovely practical gun. I have just been reviewing a catalogue of a kakae zutsu dated 1820 with more decoration per square inch (or is that square sun) than the ceilings in Versailles. This one has a splatter of aoi kamon around the muzzle and along the stock, with the rest of the barrel covered in clouds, dragons, and for some inexplicable reason, maple leaves. At the breech is a waterfall in silver, minogame and Buddhist deities. Rather a confusing decorative theme to put it mildly. It has a swishy lacquered box - all nashiji with aoi kamon, like the very best sword boxes. What yours and the one I have been looking at suggest is that the Tokugawa, and possibly other daimyo, were still able to commission guns at such a late period. This is not the impression you get from authors like Perry who suggest that gun making had been virtually stamped out by the 1750's - particularly for anyone other than the Tokugawa authorities. Ian Bottomley