Bugyotsuji

Looking forward to your ‘finished’ pics, John. Next month I hope to show the dealer the refreshed oil pot with its new lid, thanking him for his help and advice. Conscious of this scenario, I did make an extra effort to get it ‘right’. Might even buy something from his stand!

That would be true today John, but not so much back in the Edo period when things were a little more clear-cut.

That was too easy, Jean! Yes, I was quite surprised that they could find such a baby, and then season it like an adult gourd. As to karakuri, I have two or three examples, lotus seeds in a pod, a worm in a chestnut, etc. You also see moving tongues, popping eyes and so on. Secret fun!

Meantime a netsuke quiz. 6 cm long and 2.5 cm at the widest bulge. I have had hyōtan netsuke made of Edo glass, shinchū brass, wood, horn, ivory, etc., but this little baby is the most realistic so far. What material is it? (The mouth surround looks to be silver.)

Stephen, when you say 'yari' in Japan with Hozon above, are you referring to the whole thing with pole (a nightmare to ship), or just the blade and nakago?

Beyond the netsuke angle, this makes me sad to hear. In my experience individuals tend to get along together well, but when politics become involved ... I will say no more.

Hi Clark, great to hear back from you! Thank you for these additions. The first two are difficult to appraise, but I think your comments cover the area pretty well. They are either genuinely old, or they have been cleverly made to appear old. Since masks do not generally fetch high prices, though, the question could be why fake one, even more so a plain wood netsuke? As to the signature, however, I agree. There is no recorded 水山 Mizuyama or Suizan that I can find. The Mei is suspiciously close to Suisen 水仙, a name that is already rather rare, and he was not a mask carver anyway, so my instinct would tell me that it has been added later, as you suggest. The tagua (ivory) nut netsuke though is more interesting for me. The face is probably not Daruma but Hyottoko. It is quite clever how the die/dice functions, and somehow typically Japanese in concept. These karakuri netsuke tickle the mind as you try to work out how the artisan made such a thing. They were however making netsuke from vegetable ivory towards the end of Edo and into Meiji, so it could easily have some age to it. Can you get a clearer shot of the signature cartouche? It's just on the edge of being readable... but no guarantees! Personally speaking, I like it a lot!

Note that your papers record different lengths for a Yasumitsu signed katana, and an Inoue Shinkai wakizashi.

Loving those old iron reinforcing fitments.

平安城住下坂 Heian Jo Jū Shimosaka “Made by a Shimosaka smith living in the Kyoto area” The Shimosaka were well-known makers of Yari.

Hmmm… a ‘full workshop’ sounds nice. Kind words from both of you much appreciated. Anyone else have some cultural refreshment they’re tempted to share?

About a year ago I bought a bronze oil pot for an Edo period Japanese andon lamp. A fine-looking thing, but as is often the case, it had lost its lid. Rather slim in silhouette, it needed a small lid. Round and round the antiques fairs I went, rejecting most but buying occasionally, only to be disappointed once more by the lack of a proper material or age match. Months passed. One dealer who has several weathered antique lids on a string handed me a nice one yesterday that he had been saving for me. “Cut this down to the correct size, using an angle grinder.” “Tin snips?” I ventured. “Definitely not. Grind it down to size!” Gulp. Never really been happy working metals. A delicate thing with definite age. What if I ruin the old lid? Still, lonely hearts club, etc., so a potential new life for the pot I reckoned, and got to work shrinking the thing. Hand files and sanding papers though. Getting close to the right size? About 6.7 cm across… Hmmm… .

長運斎是一? Chōunsai Korekazu perhaps. Often the names on such Kozuka (small side knife for a katana, etc.) were not signatures per se, but attributions in respect to or honoring a famous smith. PS There’s a great movie from 2004 “Hidden Blade, Oni’s Claw”, where one of these Kozuka plays a key role.

When they are not exactly the same, the best you can say is ‘some relative’. One of these has the correct number of ‘branches’ (but yours has a diagonal top cut) and one has the correct ‘split’ in the central root. And

Died in 2006. He seems to have been well respected.