IanB

Oh dear! We are back to the 'art sword' versus 'weapon' theme again. I always have a small secret smile when people start talking about their 'sword in shirasaya'. What they have isn't a sword it is only part of one (albeit the important part) - a blade. A sword comprises a blade and a koshirae - that is how they were intended and that is how they were worn and used. Admittedly Japanese swords are unique in that they are designed to be removable from their mounts, but that does't alter the argument. And yes, a few blades were made specifically as lavish gifts or for dedication (you might just call these 'art blades') and may have never been mounted. In those exceptional cases a shirasaya is correct and valid. Also valid is to keep a blade in shirasaya alongside its koshirae when it is in storage. The analogy to a painting has a modicum of validity, but look at it the other way around. Here is a Holbein in its original 16th century frame; Do you chuck that away because the heavy gilt doesn't match your decor? That same painting may well have been re-framed in the early 1800's - do you chuck that frame away because it wasn't made when the painting was done. At what point does the date of the frame dictate it is of no value? Would you break up a Scottish basket-hilted sword because the blade was German and made 50 or a 100 years earlier? I suspect not. Having spent a considerable time working in a museum I have perhaps a somewhat different perspective on the passage of time to many. I also realise the importance of 'original condition'. What I am trying to say is that what seems commonplace now will certainly not be in the future. Many objects, deemed as treasures by our museums, were once commonplace and considered of little or no value. Many in fact were excavated from rubbish heaps. Such items as armours that have not had new plates made, or the etching re-worked by well meaning Victorian restorers and collectors are great rarities. I'm saddened by the sale of koshirae on such places as eBay. Once a blade has been polished and put in shirasaya, its koshirae is still a part of that sword and they belong together. Split the up and much of the information the sword once held when complete is lost. What that information is we only partially know now. Who knows what future technologies will reveal. Ian Bottomley

David, A good attempt that will have taught you an awful lot about habaki. You ask for comments. What really strikes me is that you have started with a uniform sheet of copper with the result that your habaki is pretty much of uniform thickness when viewed from the mune. Look at a professional one and you will see that it should thicken considerably towards the seppa and tsuba. So, when you next have a go, obtain some thicker copper and hammer one long edge down until it is about half the thickness of the other. Then when you wrap it around the tang, you get the correct taper. What you could do is convert this one to a niju habaki which will correct the fault. You will however need to look at a real one since no amount of description will really convey how subtle they are. Keep up the good work. Ian Bottomley

Fran, As has been said, the so-called chisel used to cut a signature was really a punch that displaced the metal. Your images suggest that the original surface of the tang has been filed off after the strokes of the kanji were made. This is also suggested by the apparent corrosion within the strokes and the tang surface (although that might just be a photographic effect). I look forward to more images. Ian Bottomley

Eric, I too have seen the odd items which might be called chako. Since it seems to have been obligatory to take off one's sword outside the tea-house, why would one need a dummy sword? The couple I have seen were rather crude when you examined the details which made me think they were more likely to have been worn by village headmen or similar who couldn't afford, or who were not permitted, a real sword. Back to the bronze item. The big ball shape on the kashira is rather strange as is the shape of the saya jiri. I did start thinking along the lines of a temple-dance sword, but it would be too heavy. I am starting to think it may have been for a statue and trying very hard to be some sort of archaic weapon. Ian

Peter, Both yourself, Paul and Tony have put a lot of effort into this event and it has been very much appreciated. It was a brave attempt on all your parts and you deserve to succeed. As I see it the basic structure and your data base are still in place. Sending swords for shinsa in Japan is now just about impossible for us Europeans so holding one here becomes the only option to get blades and fittings papered. I appreciate why you decided to delay the event and agree it was inevitable, but I feel you should treat it only as a delay. I would suggest you sound out the Japanese for a slot late next year and see if people will still back you. I for one certainly will. We are still with you all the way. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Could it be a jitte? If it is, the fact that it would seem to be worn like a mini tachi would seem to be a hinderance. Ian Bottomley

Piers, It is from Henry IV Part II - and I managed to make a mistake in the spelling!! It should be - 'Like a rich armour worn in heat of day That scald'st with safety.' I hang my head in shame. But you are correct - it is a wonder that things survive. However it is only a tiny fraction and often only that through accidents of history. Look at Graz which has survived largely untouched. Rows and rows of munition armours hanging on special racks. By Queen Elizabeth's time some of Henry VIII's armours were being 'thrown on heaps'. It was just so much old iron that had a resale value and was to an extent regarded very much as we regard old clothes. It was only by the actions of a previous Master of the Armouries at the Tower during the civil war that we have anything much. He took a cart to the Royal Armouries in Greenwich Palace and loaded up what was left by the plunderers and took it back to the Tower. By the time he got there even the massive anvil, the 'Great Bear' had been pinched and installed in the workshop of a lock maker in the City of London. Some of the other stakes and hammers turned up in Northamptonshire in the 20th century. Where had they been in the intervening 400 years? Ian

Piers, Thus it has always been. Think of Shakespeare's comment about '..a rich armour worn in the heat of day that scalds with safety'. The interpreters at the Armouries, who wear European armour on a regular basis, finish their sessions before the public absolutely soaking. Their arming doublets fall apart with rot after about 9 months since the armour virtually seals the sweat inside. Another problem are horses. Horse sweat attacks their cuisses and greaves so rapidly that they can be starting to rust by the time they have reached the changing rooms to take the armour off. It really brings it home as to why the armies in Europe needed considerable numbers of armourers and servants to keep operative. The fact that most of the elements of a Japanese armour are lacquered would have at least avoided damage to the basic structure, but what a destructive environment for the textiles. Ian Bottomley

Andrew, The Maeda of Kaga were moved to Kanezawa after Sekigahara and classified as Tozama daimyo. Dr. Orikasa searched the Maeda documents and found that they persuaded a group of Haruta armourers to set up in Kanezawa and start production, even putting their low ranking soldiers to work doing some of the lower grade tasks. This group took on the grandson of a Korean armourer, brought over by Hideyoshi, as an apprentice. He adopted the name Unkai Mitsunao, eventually producing strange but fabulous quality armours for both the Maeda and for sale to others. The styles Mitsunao created often have a Buddhist motif and became so popular that even after Mitsunao's death the group continued to produce them. They are characterised by generally having a smooth face dou, often with a cloud-shaped and waist-plate in a contrasting colour. Applied to the dou was a central motif such as a shishi, ho-o bird or the like, in russet iron splashed with sawari. Their kote have rounded spatulate handguards without any shaping to the fingers and again with applied iron cut-outs and sawari. The real give away of Kaga armour are the toggles, in either horn, ivory or metal, of mokko shape. Cheaper Kaga armours generally have some of these characteristics and often small rounded 8 plate helmet bowls covered with dimpled lacquer that remind me of jockey-caps. I look forward to seeing your armour. Ian Bottomley

Piers, The law is such that technically the group would have had to apply for a powder licence. As it happens we have one so it was no problem. Ian

Piers, A couple of years ago a similar group to your own came to the Royal Armouries. Since I was not involved in any way with them, I cannot tell you who they were or much else about them. I do remember they had been thwarted by the UK black-powder laws and for most demonstrations had to shout 'BANG' at the appropriate point in their routine. Ian Bottomley

Clearly this guy has access to a pile of Meiji period pressed brass 'menuki' of the type they used to cover boxes and the like with. We can only hope his supply runs out. I note in this one he has used three running boar and a long furniture or similar mount with the inome shaped ends. He's good at working disparate old bits into his concoctions to lend an air of antiquity. Ian Bottomley

Veli, You are probably correct. I too thought the shape very odd, but it was the dimensions that interested me. Clearly it is not a fake sword having a two foot tang and the general condition suggests it isn't new. I have never seen anything like it, so let us wait and see what else is revealed. Ian Bottomley

Stephen, Before condemning this out of hand, let us have another look. You say the blade is around three feet long with a tang around two feet. Obviously not a sword but a staff weapon and possibly a nagamaki, the thinning of the blade towards the point being consistent with that idea. You say it came out of Korea and ended up in China. Now we all have a Pavlovian reaction to anything from that latter country, but in this case I think we should just exhibit a little caution and not jump to our usual assumptions. I am probably wrong but it is just possible that this might be interesting. Stephen, could you show us a photograph of the whole, including the tang as well as a few close-up shots of the point, the habaki (copper collar) and the tang itself? Ian Bottomley

Moss, Whilst I agree with your sentiments, reading, looking at illustrations and visiting museums will only half prepare you. I'm afraid it really is a question of actually handling as many of the real and the fakes as possible - only them do you develop a kind of sixth sense. Often you cannot put your finger on the reason you suspect something is not what it seems and it might take a long time to work out why something is fake but alarm bells will ring. Some years ago the Royal Armouries bought a highly decorated 16th C. mace. It was covered in two colours of gold and silver damascening with tiny siege scenes on the flanges and the usual foliage elsewhere. The work was superb, rubbed in places and well patinated. I spent some time looking at it in real detail and gradually came to the conclusion that it cannot have been a copy - it was just too good. I couldn't fault it in any way and genuinely felt we had bought a masterpiece. My colleagues however insisted it was fake and were proved correct when an X-ray showed an internal 1/4" screw thread. I was wrong - I hadn't handled enough of this kind of material to know that it was too heavy and just didn't handle like a real mace should. Ian Bottomley

I too have read Nakahara's wonderful book on the sword. What a refreshing change from the conventional accounts that have already appeared in print. Nakahara Sensei has jumped into the murky water with both feet and written a clear and authoritative text, made even more enjoyable by Paul Martin's superb translation and occasional clarifying notes. Here is an author who is not afraid to give his opinion on so many matters that others have hedged around for fear of offending. Well done both of you. Ian Bottomley

All, I was once shown what was supposed to be a 'head bucket' but I was not convinced. It was as Piers described - a flat oval wooden with a wooden spike in the centre and a barrel shaped cover. What put me off was that it was black lacquered and looked awfully new. Since the guy who had it bought most of his stock from the Kyoto flea-markets I suspect it was a recent knock-up designed to hook a tourist. As for superstitions, There is a patch of ground in Nikko, at the end of a bridge and nestling against a cliff. Nobody will buy or build on it because it was the local execution ground. Ian Bottomley

It must have been wonderful to see some of these sights. I cherish a quotation from Algernon Mitford (Lord Redesdale) who was present when the last Shogun entered Osaka Castle for the final time. Mitford describes how the Shogun was accompanied by troops in modern uniforms carrying modern guns, but also notes that there were: ... warriors dressed in the old armour of the country, carrying spears, bows and arrows, falchions curiously shaped, with sword and dirk, who looked as if they had stepped out of some old pictures of the Genpei Wars in the Middle Ages. Their jinbaori, not unlike herald's tabards, were as many-coloured as Joseph's coat. Hideous masks of lacquer and iron, fringed with portentous whiskers and mustachios, crested helmets with wigs from which long streamers of horsehair floated to their waists, might strike terror into any enemy. They looked like the hobgoblins of a nightmare. Ian Bottomley

Eric, No, nothing sinister. It is just a remarkable co-incidence that two identical dou to the one I have had for donkey's years should turn up within a couple of months. Clearly all three are from the same workshop, and probably by the same hand. This would be perfectly normal if they formed part of an order for a batch of armour, for say a bodyguard, but I don't think this is the case here since there are differences. Both mine and that sold in Australia have momonari kabuto, mine with a gold lacquered helmet bowl, the other black. That being sold in Japan has a suji kabuto, but with the same shape shikoro. Interestingly, the lacquer on my shikoro is brown rather than black like the dou - the Japanese one looks the same. The lacing is also the identical, a very pale blue and they both have plain dark blue hemp fabrics. I suspect they were built as ready-to-wear armours, but with differences for the customer to choose from. Ian

Piers, That makes three of these dou - one I own, one in Australia and now this in Japan. As for your spikes - They are virtually the same as those used in the UK during the Victorian period for holding up guttering. You banged them into the top of the house wall, just under the eves and then sited the wooden gutter on them. However, since they are Japanese, I'm stumped. Ian

Mr Sinclair, Whilst browsing today I came across this: http://cgi.ebay.com/EDO-Gusoku-Japanese ... 642wt_1137 Yet another identical dou. Ian Bottomley

Steve, I should have said that the items date, if memory serves, from the Nambokucho and Muromachi periods. At leat two are NTs and there is in the shrine what I understood to be the biggest blade in Japan. Why they have been preserved so intact I do not know - after all the Shrine is on the edge of the lake and presumably the air is rather damp. Perhaps that is why they were kept in their saya. Ian

Keith, Steve, Ford, In the Shinto Shrine at Chuzenji there are several O-dachi donated at various periods that retain their original koshirae. These are of iron coated with black lacquer. None show any trace at decoration being very simply made from sheet metal. Apart from the fact that the Shrine carved the date of the donations on the blades, would you believe, these appear in original condition. Ian Bottomley

Ford, Oh wouldn't that be wonderful, but I suspect much later. Nevertheless a superb item. Similar ones were being made in the West as late as the 1920's by the Ansonia Clock Co. There are the remains of a small Nuremberg clock in Nikko in the form of a bear that held the dial in its paws and opened and shut its mouth in time with the verge, but sadly much of the mechanism is now damaged. There is also a small Spanish clock, made in Madrid, in the Toshogu Shrine in Shizuoka that was given to Ieyasu. Why so much of his stuff is lost I do not know. John Saris gave him a very expensive double flintlock gun encrusted with gold but like much else there seems to be no trace of it. Ian Bottomley

James, What a delightful object. Thank you for posting images of it. Ian Bottomley