IanB

Ooh I like that! There is a very similar one in Liverpool Museum, made from the scales of a horse armour that has the provision of turning back the edges to convert it into a jinbaori. The gilded metal kohaze are usually associated with Muromachi armours - in this case reused I suspect. Hats off again Ian Bottomley

Carlo, 3D sashimono were reasonably common but I have never seen one in the form of a skull. The best illustration I know showing them used is the screen showing the battle of Nagakute (also Komaki) in 1584. The number of items stuck on poles is enormous from buckets to fish to almost anything else you can think of - except skulls. Ian

Jason, Do not be discouraged. What you have bought is a genuine sword, made in Japan in historic times, for a specific purpose. It is true that it is not going to create any interest in the world of 'fine art swords', but to you it is precious and being your first sword you must be excited. I still remember my first sword that had a blade very similar to yours. I absolutely loved that sword at the time and wish I still had it. What you have is a short sword, made up from old pieces to arm a low ranking soldier. The bits were old when they were put together and are even older now. Treasure it, but do take to heart what has been said and read and look at everything that you can get your hands on - then when you have absorbed more information you can start looking for something that will delight you even more. Good luck Ian Bottomley

Piers, Yes I saw them. On the point of the Miochin gent you met, here is an interesting finding I made about 8 years ago. I went through Sasama's Katchushi Meikan and listed all the Miochin in there who were supposed to have worked prior to 1600. I cannot remember the grand total but it was about 50 or so. Examples of the work, mainly helmets, were illustrated for only three of these smiths: NOBUIE, YOSHIMICHI and another whose name I have forgotten, but the helmet bowl shown by him was obviously late Edo ( maru bachi with o boshi). On this basis I flagged up a severe doubt about him. Now Yoshimichi (Gitsu) is known to have made helmet bowls used by several prominent people of the Momoyama like Date Masamune so there is no doubt he was around at that period. Trouble is there is absolutely no evidence to associate him with the Miochin - he only ever signed 'Yoshimichi'. It was the Miochin who claimed he was a Miochin. As for Nobuie, there is not a single armour known to be late Muromachi or Momoyama with a Nobuie helmet - nor indeed with any piece signed 'Miochin ...'. There are many many helmets signed 'Nobuie', many dated to the 1530's - 40's but all forming part of Edo period armours. Fairly obvious What was happening I think. Ian Bottomley

Piers, That makes some sense because a large proportion of these ornaments were of nerigawa and wood, lacquered and gilded. Wriggling it from side to side would enlarge the hole that is designed to fit the tsunamono. I have several where the wood has been split by people trying to wrench them off the helmet. I suppose those made from metal, either gilded copper or brass sheet, would be a little more robust. Ian bottomley

Getting back to the original item and leaving aside the daisho for the moment, let us look at what we are really dealing with. An unokubi zukuri katana blade in a carved wood / ivory / MOP koshirae. There is not much you can say about the blade because the photos are hardly detailed. The hi have been criticised as being too deep, too shallow etc, etc, but in fact they look well cut to me - following the shape of the shinogi and mune very well. The tang looks perfectly alright apart from the fact that somebody has recently tried to drill another hole and given up half way. As for the koshirae, the carving looks very well done to me. Artistic NO!! I don't particularly like the ivory / MOP inlays, but they are as good as the wood carving and the artist obviously thought they should be there. The tsuba is rubbish and an obvious western replacement. Its thickness suggests the original had an elaborate seppa set. Now we come to what this sword is. Well it ain't a katana worn in the Edo period by a samurai. Had it been a wakizashi it might have been - I have seen plenty Edo period wakizashi in non-lacquered saya - some carved, some inlaid and some both. No, this is to attract the eye of a tourist. Remember there were buckets full of redundant blades about in the Meiji period and most tourists couldn't tell the difference between the bucket and its contents. What the dealers had to do was create things to catch the tourist's eye. A gold lacquered saya - that was only worn by a daimyo Honoured Sir. A carved wood saya with dragons - only used for dedication to a temple Esteemed Madam. And so it goes on. Ian

Eric, I noted that one and had a little smile to myself. Other give aways are the fukurin on the tare plates. Real armour has about 1/8" of the plate edges turn out to about 45 degrees and then has a fillet of filler piped into the angle giving a small raised beading of lacquer. These plates have an applied soft metal rim. Even more recognisable is the inside of fake masks. With a real mask the lacquerer would ensure that all the various surfaces on the inside were well filled and smoothed to avoid discomfort to the wearer. An inside view should show absolutely no trace of applied teeth, rivet heads or anything else - just smooth flowing surfaces of generally red lacquer. Fakers seem quite content to just apply a coat of red paint and call that it. There has been a so-called somen on eBay recently which looks very impressive from the outside, but the interior shot show the lower part of the mask properly lacquered whilst the brow plate just painted. A poor conversion of a menpo into a somen. Ian Bottomley

All, Steve who posted this query brought the sword to a recent arms fair. The following are the observations made by one of the members of the Northern Token: The (part) inscription was, as suggested, stamped rather than cut or engraved. We agree with the translation already on the NMB - first kanji = incense/perfume, second kanji= either Oni or Spirit. Not seen by us before but the hollows of the stamping were uncorroded, clean and black in colour. A modern stamp? The nakago definitely looked to have been chemically coloured, the yasurime were very irregular with no rust present: the jiri and overall shape were, however, not abnormal in any way and the machi seemed correct. The habaki did not look at all to be a Japanese product; definitely not traditionally made but no indications on age. The tsuka assembly did appear as real and convincing as many other Shin Gunto with Ito of poor quality and (now) in poor condition, the Fuchi and Kabuto Gane are indeed low quality castings (though the Fuchi did have correct Tenjo Gane) the menuki were likewise: as an ensemble they were really no better or worse than a lot of Gunto fittings appear these days. The tsuba was, again, a poor quality casting but not so bad as to definitely categorise it as a Chinese fake (we have all seen - and perhaps even owned- similar!) Interestingly, the blade fitted the Tsuka perfectly and they did seem to have been made for each other. The Saya was tightly strapped into a leather cover of absolutely normal design, but the leather was suspiciously dried out and 'dusty' - something which can often be seen on Chinese fakes in an attempt to 'age' them. There was no opportunity to disassemble the cover and inspect the wood of the Saya, but the inside of the Saya was very dirty and showed signs of cutting (blade being constantly shoved in and out). Finally the blade. There was nothing unusual about the sugata and the main problem seemed to be that the whole Kissaki looked badly distorted - or was it just badly repaired/filed to reshape? The condition: slight rusting, much discoloured and with some light scratching over most areas, made it impossible to see hada but a weak, rather thin and poorly delineated hamon was visible on much of the length. This did not extend over the Kissaki. There were clearly visible diagonal file marks on both planes of the upper half of the Mune- almost like Takanoha yasurime! Possibilities: It could be a late production, cheaply produced Gunto that has had some really rough treatment - and perhaps even some replacement parts added along the way? (This is being very generous) Discounting the Saya, (which would not matter anyway) this might suggest something made by an Armourer on active service, to replace a broken blade but salvaging at least some of the parts of the original for re-use. (This is not 100% out of the question.) Wild Card: It might be a complete Chinese fake using some genuine parts!!!? (Lots of captured swords in China at one time.) This might make it the most ‘convincing’ fake we have seen so far! Our recommendation? With some apparently genuine parts and the good blade- to- tsuka fit it has to raise at least some doubts but, for now, treat it as a fake, the probability is high that it is! This might be seen as devoting too much time and space to what is probably rubbish but it is important to be able to recognise what you see as either rubbish or a hidden jewel, and some may profit from what we saw in this item. Ian bottomley

Eric, A delightful very late armour made for somebody with an awful lot of money. There is a diary written by Miochin Muneyasu, another late Edo armourer, in which he describes making armours like this for wealthy daimyo. You can tell by comparing the prices he charges for his commissions that they were priced out very much on the basis of what the market would stand rather than the actual cost of production. Muneyasu, despite being retained by the Tsuyama clan, did a lot of work for other families as well as running a 'finishing school' for other armourers, taking them on as pupils and teaching them the niceties of armour making. I have one made by an armourer working for the Mori of Nagato who was sent to Muneyasu for 3 years at the age of 19. Ian

Piers, No, as far as I know these accessories were not worn before the Sengoku. Once again I suspect it comes down to the use of simple yari. Getting a cut with a sword into an armpit would be difficult to say the least, as would thrusting with a sword. Much easier with a yari. Eric, those beautiful wakibiki, and incidently delightful armour, are the first pair I have seen that can definitely associated with an actual armour. Most, except for the mail ones built into kote, seem to have been bought as accessories. In the same way, kogake for the feet just seem in most cases to be additions that happen to survive with an armour. Ian Bottomley

Uwe, The mail or mail-and-plate wakibiki were soft enough to be tied to the body before putting on the dou. Attached to the two upper corners was a loop of cord that passed over the shoulders, pulling the wakibiki fairly tightly up under the arm and covering the armpit. Cords from the two lower corners on each were then tied together across the chest and back. Clearly the solid plate type couldn't be worn like that and had to be outside the dou. They still have the loop over the shoulder, but needed the lower corners either buttoned to the loops on the dou that normally fastened the waki-ita to the tateage (the plate under the arm to the upright part of the dou over the upper chest and back), or were connected to each other by cords outside the dou. If there was sufficient slack in the system, the plate wakibiki would lift up to protect the armpit as the arm was raised. It seems a bit of a lash-up but I cannot see how else it could be done. This idea of tying things to the armour was in fact quite common. I have a sashimono that takes the form of a pole from the top of which springs a spray of paper and bamboo 'feathers'. There is a hook on the pole near the top for cords that would tie to the shoulder straps to stabilise it. The other bit of gear that was tied in a similar way was the utsubo - the enclosed quiver. These have straps that tied around the waist but this would have been insufficient to keep it at the right angle. Near the top of the closed end is a loop of cord which most seem to think was to hang the thing up with when stored. In fact, a cord was tied to it which passed over the left shoulder and tied to the armour, holding the upper part at the correct angle. Ian Bottomley

Carlo, The curious weapon you illustrate is, if memory serves me, known as a 'hand spear' or teboko and have quite short shafts. Just why they have such a strangely shaped blades I cannot imagine. What for example was the purpose of the 'lump' or 'hump' along the back? There is another in the Shosoin with a blade that has a definite kink in it. Despite the odd shape they look utilitarian so they must have had a use. Despite this, I think I can see that these oddities could evolve into naginata. This has been a facinating thread. Summarising, the picture seems to be something like: There were perfectly ordinary spears around in the Nara period with socketted heads and in some cases side-hooks that seem to have derived from Chinese originals. There were also oddities like these teboko that were probably the ancestor of the naginata, which weapon became prominent in the Heian, Kamakura and Nambokucho periods. Note that by this time these weapons are tanged, like the teboko, not socketted. Simple spears may have been around at this time, like the kikuchi yari, but they were not given any recognition because they were regarded as 'inferior' in some way. Finally, during the Muromachi, the true spear begins to appear in larger numbers, culminating in their widespread use during the Sengoku Jidai. Interesting. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Thank you for the quotes. I do have the full set of Brinkley's books but find them rather dull. The guy had every opportunity to ask questions but didn't. The hoko he refers to are those in the Shosoin and hence still very influenced by China, if not made there. I have seen one long yari dating from about the Momoyama that had a blade that, whilst not exactly wavy, had sort of notches along both edges. Very odd but maybe done to hide chipping. Ian

Malcolm, Oh does that bring back memories. Dr. Bronowski produced what to my mind was one of the finest television series ever made. There was no dumbing down, no gimmicks, just an elegant, intelligent script and fabulous filming. Although I was a simple hick from the sticks at the time, the sword used in the tameshigiri sequence had been mine. I had acquired it many years previously, for the princely sum of £5, from a guy who had been given it for payment for a building job. It had been my special favourite but I finally let it go in exchange for an armour about a month before the filming. Even stranger was just prior to parting with it I had just acquired the blade and scabbard of the shoto. So I exchanged 2/3 of a daisho for an armour I still have. It seems that during the filming the sword belonging to the Japanese gent wouldn't cut the dried wheat straw, and the guy who I had traded the sword to lent it for filming. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Nice pair of wakibiki. I have a pair of mail covered ones but you are correct - you don't see many. There is a drawing, in I think Garbutt's article for the Japan Society's journal of a guy putting armour on that shows him wearing a pair of wakibiki before putting on the dou. These must be mail or perhaps kikko. In the case of your plate pair, they must have been worn as you show them, outside the dou otherwise they would have been too uncomfortable. Interesting dou as well. Ian Bottomley

Piers, Yes, I suspect you are correct in saying that the heads for yari could be knocked out very quickly. We did section an old very rusty yari head at the Museum and found it was made from one piece of steel. Sadly it had slipped down behind a packing case in the store at the Tower of London and had lain there for possibly the best part of a century, against an outside wall rusting gently. It had been a fabulous thing, about 14" long, of waisted 4 sided shape but with a shortened tang. It was obvious from the section that there was no core steel. Ian Bottomley

Eric, An obvious pointer to Chinese is the use of a socket rather than a tang. From my experience, most Chinese staff weapons have round, rather thick shafts and are fastened by a rivet throught the socket and the shaft. Another minor feature is that the socket sometimes has a band of filed decoration - like a series of triangular flats that alternate. Of course a few Japanese weapons have sockets - most abundant being beautifully waisted little four-sided yari made for the Tokugawa during the Bakamatsu. Ian

Philip, Yes, as far as I know it was made for him. I don't normally get too excited by swords, but that one really pressed the buttons quite short, heavy, and very plainly mounted. Just the thing for leaning from yout horse and splitting helmets. Ian

All, Tokugawa Ieyasu's favourite uchigatana preserved in the Kunozan Toshugo, Shizuoka, has the mei in katakana situated in the kake toshi hi. The nakago itself is kijimomo gate. Both curious features on a Tensho mounted sword. What I cannot remember is the name of the smith. Ian Bottomley

Eric, I should have known you would come up with another crossbow. The Chinese varieties were well known in Japan and appear in dictionaries under the names 'oyumi' or 'teppo yumi'. Those preserved in Nagoya belonged to Tokugawa Mitsutomo (1625 - 1700), whilst the Metropolitan Museum's one has a partial signature '... Kunitaka'. One of the Nagoya ones has an alternative string and a half barrel that can be fitted to convert it into a pellet-bow. (See my article in the Royal Armouries Yearbook, Vol 3. 1998). Those I have seen suggest they may have been made either: to carry in a norimon, like a Rimankyu, or to have next to one's bed ready loaded. The RA one once had a spring to hold the bolt in place when cocked which would make sense if it was meant to be carried around cocked and loaded. Another possibility is that they were just used as an amusing toy to shoot indoors. The bow of the RA one cannot have been powerful, being made of layers of baleen like the leafspring of a car, and wouldn't have had much of a range. As for speed of loading, I'm sure you could cock it just by pulling the string back with one hand. In Europe, crossbows were initially fitted with simple wooden bows but the friction of the string on the tiller limited their power. They were superceeded by a composite bow made of horn / sinew / wood and ultimately steel. Some of the latter have draw weights of up to 2000lbs but they needed a correspondingly heavy bolt so their performance wasn't as exciting as you would think. They were also slow to span since you needed a mechanical device to draw such a monster. The reason why they were popular in Europe was that you didn't need the years of practice a longbow demanded. We know the Japanese didn't inherit the oriental composite bow tradition (almost certainly from the lack of supplies of sinew / horn) and this is maybe why the crossbow wasn't more widely used. Ian

Carlo, As far as I can discover there are only 4 known Japanese crossbows: 2 in the Tokugawa Art Museum, one in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (ex Cameron Stone collection) and one in the Royal Armouries in the UK. The RA one has Tokugawa kamon and has the 'bow' made from baleen. It still has 3 small bolts / arrows that are carried in a special quiver built into the stock. Ian

Gentlemen, I thought this would stir up some excellent replies and it has. Carlo, The two socketed heads with hooks are from the Shosoin in Nara and are based on Chinese originals. These latter come with either one, two, three or four hooks around the socket and were still being made in China into the 19th century. Mark, I take your point about lesser mortals not being depicted in art. However, the scroll depicting the burning of Sanjo Palace does show some retainers and yes, they carry naginata. There is also the point of survival to consider. There are a considerable number of naginata blades preserved as votive offerings in Shrines but I cannot think of any yari. I am sure that yari were used - they would have been useful, but I am still not convinced they were used in any numbers until the Mid Muromachi . Ian

Eric, The spear-head you illustrate is Chinese. There is a whole bunch of these in the Armouries collection with others that are even wackier. Ian

Gentlemen, Here is a small teaser to which I do not know the answer: A simple thrusting spear is very effective, simple, cheap to make and easy to use. Its main disadvantage is that if the oppenent gets nearer to the wielder than the point, it becomes a fairly useless stick. This disadvantage could be said to be true of all staff weapons in practice. In Europe, the simple spear developed into a wide variety of staff weapons such as partizans, halberds, bills and so on, but all of these retained a spiked or pointed end to allow them to be used like the simple spear. In Heian period Japan, the simple spear hardly seems to occur. Yes I know about kikuchi yari but look at the paintings of battles and just about the only staff weapon you see is the naginata. You also see odd-ball items like kumade, but spears just don't appear. Even as late as the early Muromachi, the nagamaki was added to the repertoire but it is still essentially a cutting weapon like the naginata. It wasn't until the late Muromachi that the Japanese suddenly awoke to the effectivness of the simple yari. All of a sudden they seem to proliferate, being made in all sizes from the simple had spears of about 6' to what are virtually pikes around 18'. Have I missed the blindingly obvious here? Ian Bottomley

Uwe, Do not assume that different kikko means the sangu do not belong. I have an armour with two pair of suneate - one is a pair of bishamon suneate for riding and the other shino suneate for walking. Both have the same fabric, etc but the kikko are totally different. The bishamon pair match the kikko of the kohire and collar, dark blue Dutch cloth and pale blue sewing. The other pair have white Dutch cloth. Suneate in particular are often odd balls with armours. I have seen them sewn on different cloth even when the lacquer and stye matched. I assume it was because they often became soaked or very dirty and were just repaired. Ian