IanB

Dave, Like the other contributors to this thread, I agree that little more can be said about your sword until it has been dismantled and photographs of the tang and inscription posted. I can however offer a trivial comment about the pistol. It is the model type 14 with an aluminium magazine and the extended trigger-guard. This latter feature seems to have been introduced in the 1920's for use in Manchuria where the users had to wear gloves. Ian Bottomley

Clive, Whilst I agree with you that a kakihan on its own is not common on sword furniture, it seems to be the rule on saddles and similar craftsmen. I once was invited to look at the excavations on the site of Date Masamune's castle, and each stone making up the retaining walls was marked with a kao on the surface buried in the earth fill. Ian Bottomley

All, The Northern ToKen Society now has details of this shinsa on its website and full details will appear in our newsletter going out to members in the next weeks. Since this event is being privately organised by members of the Society, and not by the Society itself, it would have been presumptuous of us to advertise it until the organisers requested us to do so. Now that they have, we will do all we can to help the organisers make this a success. Ian Bottomley Chairman of the Northern ToKen Society

This is interesting - where is it at? If its the Royal armouries, nobody bothered telling me. Ian

Bill, Obviously a much neglected blade. Without bothering to get out my dictionaries (Cos she has told me I have to lay a carpet), what I am seeing is a gold inlaid tameshigiri or cutting test. Looks like two bodies were cut. Ian Bottomley

Stephen, I do hope you will reconsider the decision I think you have made. We need people with your knowledge and views on the Board. Ian Bottomley

One of my most cherished memories is getting into the armour store of Sendai Museum. There, was a long row of mounted armours of all the Date Daimyo dating from Masamune to the end of the Edo period. Two or three were described to me as being for wives. Far be it from me to question what may well be properly documented attestations, but there may well be another explanation. A glance at the images posted by Nobody gives the clue - the size. Were these so-called 'wives' armours really armours made for the individuals in their teens. There are plenty of armours surviving made for the young children of very rich families. It is known from European examples these must have been the very devil to make since the armourer would have to allow for the child growing during the period between being measured up and receipt of the finished product. This succession of armours would need to be continued during the teen years - and this is what I suspect is really happening here. They are armours made for young men, that are soon outgrown and hence show little use and remain virtually pristine. Ian

Dear Mr. Nolan, No doubt my views will invoke a howl of protest, but this is my advice to you. The budget at your disposal will easily enable you to acquire a fine sword in exceptional condition. Rather than opt for a shinsakuto, I would go for a shinshinto katana in its original koshirae. Whilst I have had the honour of handling one particular shinsakuto, which to me was one of the finest blades I have ever seen, there is always an element of the reproduction about them. True Nihonto were those swords used and carried by the bushi of old Japan. There are plenty of fine shinshinto blades that have had almost no polishing and are therefore still appear as their makers intended. The koshirae will be that put together by its original owner whose cannons of taste were those of the late Edo period and not those of a modern person. Equally, during that period some of the finest makers of kodogu worked. If you look hard enough you should be able to find a fine blade in superb mounts without too much trouble. Good luck in your quest. Ian Bottomley

Piers, I don't want to be a party pooper, but was that really her do? As it happens I have one from that era with exactly the same narrow waist. I'm not sure it really was a period when lots of amazons dashed around in armour swinging their naginata. I think it far more likely that the armourers of that period had at last realised that hanging the whole weight of do and sode on the shoulders was not the best way of ensuring freedom of movement to the arms - particularly when the watagami of these armours are very narrow and at best padded with wood and rawhide. I think these were attempts to relieve the shoulders of some weight by making the waist narrow and transferring it to the hips. Ian

Piers, Your comment about the 'busty do' worn by Tomoe Gozen reminds me of a European armour floating around France some years ago. The breastplate was just that, embossed with a very impressive pair of bosoms. The owner insisted it was the armour of Joan of Arc and was asking a fortune for it. Total fake of course but what fun. Ian

Eric, There is absolutely no legal restriction on importing antique swords, knives or anything else. It is true that HM Revenue and Customs will ensure to their satisfaction that the object is antique, but that is not at all a problem these days now they have become familiar with the law. No, my objection is that the famous (or should it be infamous) on-line auction has decided unilaterally to prohibit we collectors in the UK as to what we can and cannot buy through their auctions. Ian

Gentlemen, Please allow me to make a plea on behalf of we poor creatures in the UK. Since that *** on-line auction house decreed that all buyers in the UK were crazed knife or sword wielding psychopaths, we are banned from bidding on any items with sharp edges. If I try and place a bid on anything other than tableware, the bid is refused and up pops a message to remind me that I'm a potential criminal. This is triggered not by the item description, which appears to be used as the basis of searches, but on the categories selected by the seller. If someone lists a tsuba in the 'Japan, sword' category, we are not allowed to bid (presumably on the basis that we would throw them at people because we didn't have anything sharp to cut them with). Quite a few dealers have now realised this and are categorising their swords and fittings as 'Japan, other' or something similar. On these items we can bid without any problem. I quite accept that some will not want to sell abroad, that is your prerogative, but if you do want a larger market for your items, please do not use any category such as 'sword, knife, katana, 'etc. We can then take part like everyone else. Ian Bottomley

Keith, Steam distillation is a commonly used process for extracting oils from plants that could not be distilled alone because those oils would decompose at the temperatures needed. All you do is boil the plant material in water and collect the condensate. The oil is carried over in the steam and because it is immiscible with water, forms a layer on top. The water is then run off, leaving the oil. Ian

Jacques, No, I don't think so. Those like you show are always covered in Aoi kamon. No, I saw one only last week on eBay very similar except that the saya was covered in pieces of raden. That is what confused me. Ian

Sorry. Was it in a 'shop'? Ian Bottomley

I saw this on eBay and was interested in the koshirae. Not high quality but very interesting. I wonder if this was made for a village headman or some such person. Ian Bottomley

Gentlemen, I first came across this technique in a book I once owned on silverwork and jewellery written about 1900 for the 'Arts and Crafts' people. In there the technique was described as Royal Copper and was used occasionally in European artwork. I had noted small details of this colour used occasionally on tsuba and had wondered if the craftsmen has come across a piece of alloy that gave this colour by accident and treasured it for small touches. One piece I remember was a tsuba decorated with a court lady where the lower edge of her kimono was done in this manner. Imagine my surprise when on trying it for myself it found that it worked with modern pure copper, a lot of which is purified electrolytically. On a practical note, I wonder if Ford can describe how this might be done. It is one thing heating a piece of copper and dropping it into the water, but you couldn't do that to the whole tsuba. I assume that the small piece must be coloured in advance and then inlaid in that state, the remainder of the patination being done later. I do have a helmet which has one layer of the tehen kanamono done in red copper with others in gilt, shakudo and silver. That is easy though since they were all made separately and only came together when complete. Ian

Keith, Yes, usually this base coat would be raw lacquer without pigment that dries to a very dark brown colour. On armour this would be followed by a layer of hemp cloth, again glued on with raw lacquer. Then you get sealing coats and fillers and finally black colour coats. If a colour finish is wanted, such as red or gold, they are put onto black undercoats because they enhance the colour effect. One very pleasing effect is done in Kyoto I think which involves rubbing through the red coats to reveal patches of black. I've seen bows done in this way as well as scabbards. Ian

Piers, By sheer chance I read your last comment whilst waiting for her ladyship to get ready for our monthly trip to a local Sunday antique fair. I can confidently state that it is most unlikely that I will find anything worth buying. Still, you mustn't grumble. Ian

Here is a slightly different take. Lacquer is an aqueous medium and hence will not readily adhere to steel which is hydrophobic. When armour is being lacquered the plates have to be heated to a temperature above 100 C. so that it sizzles when applied. This effectively bakes the first bonding coat onto the metal. Presumably the same had to be the case with sword and yari blades. I can imagine many would hesitate waving a blade over a charcoal fire to get it hot enough. Ian Bottomley

John, I too have tried this kind of software and had no trouble with the direction of the Japanese text, even if it was slightly askew, but it never read all the kanji correctly. After scanning it was necessary to go through it kanji by kanji to ensure the graphic image was correct. It then had to be converted into a text file and then finally into 'English'. It was in this last step that it really fell over, especially when kanji were being used in a specialist sense. In the end I resorted to dictionaries as previously. Even if all I get is the general sense, it is better than the software's effort. Ian Bottomley

Piers, Yes, somebody had some pull getting some of those items out of Japan. When I was planning the 'Shogun' exhibition I had the idea of bring together the surviving armours of the big names who were present at Seki ga Hara. As far as I know this has never been done anywhere. Sadly most of the holders of these treasures refused to part with them for the duration. Ah well. Ian Bottomley

Ford's mention of the Zuloagas is quite a coincidence. Yes they were the very best 19th century artists who decorated guns and other ironwork with gold overlay. They came from Eibar, a gun-making centre, to Madrid in the early 19th century, being employed by the Spanish King to re-furbish items in the Real Armeria. The son, Eusebio, was even sent to Paris to learn from the gunmaker LePage the latest French styles of decoration. Whilst there he and LePage seem to have concocted a scam to sell Spanish arms and armour on the Parisian art market. On his return to Spain both he and his father, Blas, started buying up stuff from the impoverished Spanish nobility and sending it to Paris mixed with items they stole from the Real Armeria collection. Amongst these items was a Japanese armour which came originally from the Spanish Royal Collection and had been acquired by the Duke of Infantado. Another armour from the same source was sold in London in 1841 and is now in the Royal Armouries. Ian Bottomley

Another factor is the degree of imbalance in wealth within traditional societies. If you consider 18th century Europe, the upper classes held a very large percentage of the available money and could afford to spend it on luxuries that were the finest available. The artisan classes held only a tiny fraction and were therefore prepared to put immense effort into producing works that would attract the wealthy to buy their product. Think of the great country houses of the aristocracy and their contents. Similarly, in Japan, a wealthy bushi could afford to pay a lot for his sword fittings so when he came to choose a pair of menuki it would be those made by a craftsman who had put enormous effort into them. Having said that, even the more simple generally display the innate taste of the Japanese. Ian Bottomley

All, Reinhard mentions that he is sick of the Edo period myths being perpetuated. What about the Meiji, Taisho and Showa myths that are still being put forward? I have a Japanese buddy who shall remain nameless, but often when we have been chatting about armour he has remarked 'I think that also, but cannot say.' Everyone who writes on a subject like Nihonto must to a great degree accept what is written in earlier works. Nobody can go back to all the primary sources and check them personally. Indeed, in many cases the primary source, be it an earlier writing, an object or whatever, may well no longer exist. At best authors must take on trust what is held to be true by general consensus and try to exclude or verify that which is thought to be suspect. Inevitably some of the information that is used turns out to be inaccurate. Sadly that is a fact of life. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before - many of whom were giants who did their best for their readers. Ian Bottomley