IanB

All, I think I would distinguish between buffing and linishing. Despite Veli's experiment, I know the latter can generate a considerable amount of heat depending upon the speed of the belt and its grit size. Many years ago a guy found a couple of blades in a cellar whilst reading the house-owner's utility meter. On mentioning them to the owner he was invited to take them away for nothing. This gent then called me and asked if he could bring them to my place for an opinion. One of the blades, a large unsigned shinshinto katana with horimono, had no less than 5 hagiri (the other I cannot remember at all). I am convinced the damage was the result of the gent deciding to clean the blades up a bit before showing them to me using an industrial belt linisher. I do remember there was no heat colouration - just the 5 hagiri spaced almost equidistantly up the blade. Ian Bottomley

Justin, My comment about inert gas was meant to be rather tongue-in-cheek prompted by numerous battles I have had with conservation staff over the years. My main point was about keeping the light levels low for the saya and tsuka. Lacquer does indeed need humidity. About 60% Relative Humidity is considered ideal for the lacquer but this would be rather high if the koshirae contains a blade. There would be absolutely no problem with an inert gas provided it was humidified, but to be honest, I think it is a bit overkill. The amount of oxidation of a blade that is looked after regularly will be very small. One experience I did have which surprised me was at Sendai Museum. This was virtually new and very much state-of the-art, but the store rooms were lined and fitted out with wood. In the UK, this is kept to an absolute minimum because of fire risk. At Sendai I was told it was deliberate to buffer humidity changes. Similarly, at Graz in Austria, the armoury there is full of wood racking and storage and has been since the late 16th C. The armour there has survived in wonderful condition with almost no deterioration other than to the leather strapping. There is however the matter of the type of wood. Some, like oak give off acidic vapours, even when properly seasoned. If my recognition of woods was correct, I think Sendai used mainly cedar or something similar. Ian Bottomley

Stephen, I am sorry I didn't make myself clear. When I said I hadn't seen a same covered tsuka on a tachi, I meant on one of these brass covered tachi made in the Meiji period. I have of course seen loads of real tachi with same tsuka. As I said, these Meiji items normally have the tsuka covered with brass sheet like the scabbard. In this genre I have seen tanto, wakizashi and tachi, all with identical stamped panels. It must have been quite a cottage industry turning them out. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Ian Bottomley

Eric, There is some evidence that Lord Murakami Yoshikiyo took tentative steps to use copies of a Chinese gun that had arrived from China in 1510 at the battle of Udehara in 1548. If I remember correctly he had 6 guns and issued 3 rounds of ammunition to each gunner with strict instructions to discard the guns after the shots and get stuck in with their swords. I agree with Piers that there was an initial reluctance by the military to use them. It seems it was Oda Nobuhide (Nobunaga's father) who really started the ball rolling, ordering 500 guns from Kunitomo to equip his bodyguard when he visited his prospective father-in law. For a while they were regarded as prestige weapons and anyone who was anyone had to have one. This didn't last long and once they were issued to ashigaru, they began to be despised by the bushi - letters from Korea requesting supplies talk about sending only guns since no other weapon was needed. You also have to consider the mental change the bushi had to go through. Not only were they having to equip the ashigaru with good weapons and armour, but they also had to accept that their role had changed and that they had become, arguably, the most important element in the armies. This meant that the role of the bushi was now to support and protect the ashigaru in battle. It must have been very traumatic for them to play second fiddle. No wonder the Tokugawa set about de-gunning the country as soon as it was stable enough to do without them. Ian Bottomley

Dear Person, It is a rule on this board that you sign your posts. What you have is one of a species of sword mounted during the Meiji period to sell to tourists. They come in all manner of variants from wakizashi to tachi. The one you have, with the hilt covered with rayskin, I have never seen before. Most tachi have the hilt covered with the brass stampings with Tokugawa kamon, as your scabbard is. I don't expect to find your sword has a great blade, but they sometimes have reasonable quality blades. It was after all a period when there were tens of thousands of blades on the market, the only real demand being the tourist industry. Ian Bottomley

Eric, You must read Perrin's book called 'Giving up the Gun'. Far from going mad over guns, the Tokugawa rounded up the gunmakers from the various han and set them up in Nagahama (those in Sakai being already under their control). They then only allowed orders that the Teppo Bugyo agreed to, effectively reducing them to almost nothing. They also granted small pensions to the defunct gunmakers to try and stop them running off to their original places of work. By the mid 1700's the trade was all but dead apart from odd orders by the Tokugawa themselves. Ian Bottomley

Hector, Sorry to tell you but you have bought a modern creation. Genuine uchine are fletched with feathers, usually two of eagle and two of pheasant, not staggered down the shaft but opposing each other. The head too is wrong. There should be a concave 'neck' below the blade adjacent to the tang. This area of both spear points and arrowheads is where most modern fakers go wrong. They think they know what they should be like but don't actually look carefully at real ones. Ian Bottomley

What interesting photographs John - thank you for posting them. What an amazingly eclectic collection of hardware. It is incredible that these forged guns with reinforcing bands and chambers, which look like they have come from the pages of Froissart's Chronicles of the Hundred Years War, appear in photographs being used in the 19th century. Ian Bottomley

A good source of material on this subject, including translations of early Chinese texts is Needham's 'Science and Civilization in China' Vol V parts 6 and 7. He goes into great detail on early guns, mines, rockets and all the rest. The problem lies with the fact that many of these texts were written donkey's years after the events, being considered state secrets and hence not for publication at the time. There is also a considerable gap between these early 'hand gonnes' and the later matchlocks with proper locks. It is possible that further information will come to light in due course, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Ian

All, The image of the European gunner touching off a gun with a hot wire is a slightly different kettle of fish. He is taking part in a siege and is therefore static. He will have a brazier or some such fire to get his bit of iron hot. Sadly you cannot do that with a handgun unless you are standing still - it has to be match if you are mobile. I agree with Jean that had this been a real gun there would need to be a touch hole for each barrel. The exception to this are the 7 barrelled volley guns made by Durs Egg for the British navy. These fire all barrels at once and have interconnecting vents between the barrels to achieve this. The barrel cluster is made up from separate tubes that enabled this to be done. They were a useless idea in reality since although you could rake the enemy's decks with one shot, it took 7 times as long to load as a single shot gun (never mind the recoil). Yes, it would be good to have early examples of definite provenance that would allow us to work out just what was happening as the gun was developing.Sadly early guns soon became regarded as so much scrap iron and were discarded. Much of what we have was found in castle moats and in similar situations. Manuscripts can also be confusing. What is regarded as the first diagram of a snapping matchlock mechanism, drawn by a gunner from the Palatinate of the Rhine, is in my opinion a crossbow lock with critical elements omitted to keep the secret. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Cast iron is fine in compression, but not good in tension, which a barrel needs to be of course. I know that cast iron was eventually used for cannon, but it wasn't until the Napoleonic era that the technology allowed this to be done. That is why earlier guns are gun-metal - a form of bronze. In fact, there is a good argument that the size of the British navy of that period was only possible because they could be fitted with iron guns. The supply of bronze was limited which in turn set a limit on how many ships of the line you could equip. But that's another matter. Cast iron isn't really on for small guns, hence the amount of labour that was involved in forging and welding barrels from wrought iron. Ian

Eric, I don't want to be a party-pooper, but the 'ancient' Chinese gun, judging by the tool marks on the concave portion, has clearly been turned on a lathe. Whilst they were a great number of very clever people in China, I don't think there were that many lathes capable of turning 3 1/2" iron bars. Similarly, the touch holes are awfully well drilled and would have been more convincing had there been a depression around each one to retain a bit of powder. Pepper boxes were pistols, usually percussion, with a cluster of barrels that rotated in turn to the firing position - like a revolver with an extended cylinder and no separate barrel. They were a good, safe answer to the problem of a multishot handgun, their only drawback being that they were muzzle-heavy. Although they look as if the barrels were formed from a block, most pepper boxes have then brazed up from separate tubes with ribs soldered between them. If the workers of the 19th century found making a solid block barrel array a problem, I suspect the ancient Chinese might have been defeated the task Ian Bottomley

Glenn, Just a word of caution. The worst enemy of most historic artefacts incorporating organics is light. This is particularly true of both lacquer and textiles. A lighting level of 50 lux is considered reasonably safe provided the objects are not exposed to these levels for years. I know it seems illogical, but you would be surprised just how rapidly both the silk bindings on a sword, and its lacquer scabbard can deteriorate. I am thinking of a superb tanto in the Royal Armouries collection that has a saya done in dark red lacquer. The omote is now a very dull matt finish, the ura being a bright gloss. Somebody, before it came to the Museum left this tanto exposed and damaged it irretrievably. Silk bindings can also suffer from the same cause. Dyes absorb light energy that is mainly dissipated as heat, but some dyes transfer the energy to the textile molecules themselves, destroying the long polymer chains. We must have all seen a tsuka in which clouds of silk dust fly off every time it is handled. Being an armour freak I know how severe the red and purple dye can be on silk. So, although it is nice to see swords on a stand, displayed in the traditional way, minimise the time they are exposed this way. The Japanese didn't keep swords in brocade bags, in tansu or other containers for nothing. Similarly, old texts suggest airing armours on the veranda during the humid season, but covered with a cloth to keep off the light. Ideally, these objects should be in a vacuum or inert gas, to avoid oxidation, total darkness, and in zero gravity, to avoid stressing. A bit tricky to achieve in an average home but we should at least try. Ian Bottomley

John, I think you will find that the image shows troops using guns at night, the ropes being to ensure the guns are kept horizontal. It is taken from a book illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. If memory serves, the guy on the left is holding a lantern. On other pages are images of gunners shooting in pouring rain using the shields around the locks and match. Ian Bottomley

Clive, Greeting to you. Yes I am in rude good health - with the accent on rude of course. Hope you are keeping well also. Ian

Eric , Ron, The reason I plumped for merchant was that they were allowed to carry tanto or short swords. It was also a period when there were frequent raids and fighting between samurai groups. Let's face it society was generally breaking down. If you had a lot to lose, but no real skill to defend it using a sword, a pistol was a good choice and was not really a concealed weapon. Think of all the chambara films where various non-samurai hire bodyguards to look after their interests. I've no proof only a perhaps. Ian

Ron, Good description and write up. Well done. Two points arise. I have seen a couple of these tanto pistols with decorated box-locks and barrels. One was superb with dragons and clouds in silver and gold zogan which was consumate with a koshirae that was equally good. That I would agree was probably made for a daimyo. Most in my opinion are rather too ordinary with only plain average metalwork. The koshirae also are rarely in the daimyo class. If you examine daimyo quality tanto of this era, they seem to have gone for scabbards decorated with their kamon, plain same tsuka but with menuki again of their kamon and black horn fittings. Admittedly, these might be for formal wear, but the quality was superb. I don't think most of these pistols, and the somewhat later ones modelled on European box-lock percussion pistols, come near the quality a daimyo would wear. Secondly, there was a short period before percussion caps became available in Japan in which detonating pills (pellets of fulminate) were used. There is a tanto pistol designed to use these in the Royal Armouries collection that can hardly be described as elegant. It has a great big ring sticking out of the kashira that you pull to cock the mechanism. One glance and you would know it was something odd. On the whole I think they were produced for wealthy but not aristocratic clients. Dare I say it, but some I suspect for merchants during those troubled times. Ian Bottomley

Mr. Jones / Piers, By a strange coincidence I have spent the day with a Prof of Chinese history discussing guns and other items. What you must realise is that although the gun was brought to Japan by the Portuguese, it wasn't a European gun they were carrying. In 1510 the Portuguese captured Goa and the arsenal there. After rounding up the workers, they set them to work making guns under German supervisors.Although it was a gun-making establishment, I suspect almost all of their production prior to the take-over was cannon. It was the Germans who introduce the notion of the snapping matchlock and I suspect the basic stock shape. If you examine guns from the Carnatic region, in particular from Kurg, the stock shape is weird, but can be visualised as being derived from the European petronel. These and the snapping mechanism being popular in Germany at this period. This basic gun moved eastwards with the Portuguese reaching Burma, China and ultimately Japan. Leaving aside local differences in ornamentation, they are the same guns. Chinese texts illustrate exactly this gun, complete with ornamental finial to the end of the lockplate, as do the Burmese guns and as do the two guns in Nagoya (which can be identified as Portuguese imports by the Indian style decoration and the Catholic ornament on the barrels). By this time, some 40 odd years, the butt shape had evolved into the familiar pistol-grip style we associate with Japanese guns (the same shape occurring on the guns illustrated by the Chinese - known by them as 'bird-beaked guns'). These snapping matchlocks did not take off in most of India - their guns being based on those carried by the Turks and Mamaluks who sent a force to India to help the Muslim maharajahs chuck the Portuguese out. The two guns in Nagoya illustrate the two basic lock mechanisms adopted by the Japanese - that with an external spring and a pivoted sear poking through the lockplate, and those with a spiral spring and a sliding sear acting on a tumbler. The only contribution the Japanese seem to have made to these models was the simplification of the lockplate shape and the elimination of the screws - using tapered pins and mortices and tenons instead. The Nagoya gun with external spring is an early model with the mainspring being straight and attached to a secondary plate in front of the lock. The Chinese illustration shows this as a U shape and attached to the main plate like later Japanese guns so I don't think the Japanese actually came up with this idea. It is a complicated story in which there are gaps. For example, a gun was brought to Osaka in 1510 from China and a few were made but it failed to catch on. Why? I don't know because there appears to be no illustration or description of it in either China or Japan. The Goan guns however spread like wildfire in Japan. Why was it so superior? again I don't really know but is suspect it was the fact that it had a decent barrel and could be sighted. Until more information comes to light it must reamin a bit of a mystery. Ian Bottomley

These combination weapons were almost always a waste of time. Imagine trying to manage the Elgin pistol with that great heavy blade dangling beneath. I suppose the pistols and blunderbusses with spring bayonets did have a validity since it gave the user what our modern military would describe as 'a second strike capability' whilst not being in the way when using the gun as a gun. Swords or hangers with flintlock pistols attached owe more to the fascination of wealthy patrons for the exotic than real utility. Even earlier than these are swords / knives with blades having the barrel running down inside the back edge of them, the muzzle being plugged with a false sword point and the mechanism, wheel lock, being fitted into the hilts and cross-guards. There is one of these made for the Medici and another in Vienna if I remember correctly. What a novelty to show your buddies. These absurd concoctions were especially popular in India and we have a whole shed-load in the Royal Armouries. One especially ridiculous item is an axe, the handle of which is a barrel for a matchlock, fitted with a serpentine and a ramrod, that in turn is normally plugged by a screw-in dagger. Ian Bottomley

If you look at his other antiques, over 20 years old, he prices them at $1,000,000 as well. All to pay off a $2,000 loan. As for wingnuts, I bet they are metric threads at 6.75 turns per sun. Ian Bottomley

Mariusz, Almost all staff weapon shafts in Japan are of red oak, kashi. I did once have a yari in which the shaft was made from triangular sections lengths of bamboo, glued up like a fishing rod and then rounded and lacquered but that was unusual. For most shafts, the top section is then split down the centre for the length of the tang of the spear or naginata blade. After hollowing out for the tang it is glued back and then bound with thread before lacquering. The various rings and mounts are to stop this detached piece from coming loose again. Ian Bottomley

Piers, Once again many thanks for the trouble you have taken to reproduce the images. I just love the big old gun. You can only feel a great pity for the poor devil who had to carry that one to and from the battlefield. Judging from the type of corrosion on the muzzle I would agree it has been kicking around for a very long time. I love the guy with the bohiya. I understand they were tricky - either going off prematurely or flying in an irregular way. It is also good to see the owner wearing the muneate. I have a couple and think they are very stylish. Ian B

Piers, Your comment about our three-barrelled matchlock doesn't surprise me. Inside the lock cavity it is as clean as a whistle and I have always assumed it was very late Edo period. Over the years I have seen a couple more and all had vines on the barrels. I guess what you are saying is that it isn't even that old and that there was (or is) a little workshop somewhere that turns them out. I have however handled a real three-barrelled gun, not matchlock but snaphaunce. This was originally in the Army Museum in Mexico City but is now in California. That was originally Tokugawa but had the aoi kamon on the barrels defaced and had been re-decorated with Buddhist divinities. Love the images and wish I could have been there. Sorin became a Buddhist first before converting to Christianity. He sent the Portuguese king a tanto with a gold snake around the saya and gave the Governor of Goa an armour and a couple of naginata. I'm pretty sure it was he who sent King Philip II of Spain the mogami haramaki now in the Royal Armouries when he contributed to the Tensho Mission to Europe. Quite a guy. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Interesting items. I like the one bottom right with the kamon. Is it neri gawa? Ian Bottomley

All, The catalogue of ordnance of the Royal Armouries includes two small Chinese guns, of bronze, 1' 10" long with a bore of 1.1". Each weighs 40lbs and both are dated 1843. They are inscribed to the effect that the charge is 1 liang 7 ch'ien of powder (1.7 oz. approx) and that they fire a ball of 3.4 oz of lead. There are also a couple of large Chinese cannon. acquired since the catalogue was published, that are massive, about 2' diam at the muzzle and about 7' long but with only a small bore, about 6". I guess the casters of these guns were erring very much on the side of caution. Ian Bottomley