Bugyotsuji

The Dutch archer is signed 吉川 Yoshikawa, yes, but the signature looks weak to me, as if someone added it later.

Often the facial expressions will tell you everything you need to know!

Hi Dale, thanks for posting these, and for the general backgound information. There are some very small things I would take issue with, but 97% seems fine. You mention something similar posted elsewhere on this NMB site; I am likely the guilty party. My excuse then was that these could have been weapons that Hideyoshi's troops might have encountered during their 1590s invasions of the Korean peninsula. I hoped that would kind of bring them within the remit of this site! My three-barrel iron gun I always thought to be Chinese but Ian Bottomley of the Royal Armouries said more likely to be Korean. My single-barrel bronze gun is dated 1583 and also seems to be Korean. Naturally their general design would immediately trace their roots back to Chinese weapons of earlier times. At the time I acquired the three-barrel pole gun, I was assured in a letter from Sawada Taira (author of Nihon no Furu Ju, Old Guns of Japan) that weapons like these are made in quantity in China today, and dropped into cesspits in order to rust and corrode and gain legitimacy. (One of the barrels on mine was blocked with cement (?), what later turned out to be a mixture of sand, grit and gunpowder. I kept it for the records.) Anyway, with his words of warning still ringing around in my head, I now subsequently approach all of these extra suspiciously! For this reason, my personal philosophy says it will be generally wise to stay positive but to mentally reserve final judgement. Mr Sawada in his letter also finally added that if mine is a genuine gun, (the one he showed me photos of may have been one of such fakes) then I should not write any research paper or publicize it, as the government of China would surely execute any dealer found to have been exporting cultural artifacts. As to value or price, this is a real conundrum. It will surely vary widely by country, market and/or customer, depending on which expert offers what opinion.

Actually I think that is the key to unlock all of our confusion around this character 鎮 Shizu/Shige.

Hi Kevin, What are the measurements?

Closer views! and

Rummaging through a drawer and found this themed koshiraé for a Yosozaemon. Shishi menuki Botan peony tsuba Shishi kozuka

More likely 大井 Ōi, Ooi, etc.

Yup. (Dang, that’s going to be hard to beat!)

(There are of course other commonly-used Kanji for 'Shige'.) If as proposed by the 刀剣要覧 Token Yoran (p.56), they received these individual Kanji from Otomo Sorin (義鎮Yoshishige), then that would strengthen the case for a 'proper' Shige reading, but so unusual that colloquially I can imagine everyone choosing to read with 'Shizu'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtomo_Sōrin

Nice unusual tsuba.

Nice, but labour intensive! An awful lot of work to display one set, Mark, I agree. (I’ve just been making some ‘simple’ stands for maedate.) The acrylic one looks like a good first step, …

Although I have spent much more time in Western Japan where they still carry the bitter legacy of Sekigahara, recently I began to warm to the Tokugawa, particularly after watching NHK’s Taiga Drama, “Dō Suru, Ieyasu?” Somehow it feels strange to hear the line is ending. I had heard there was a very strong family support group or society in Mito. There must have been some strong impulse behind this. I have also heard of other clans’ residual members still in existence here and there, e.g. Date, Tanegashima, Hosokawa immediately spring to mind.

Many Japanese will choose to read some names ‘wrongly’ however, in order to immediately bring up a certain unusual character in another person’s mind. Thus, if you say ‘ Shige-‘ something, the other person may immediately ask ‘Which Shige-?’ You might answer ‘Shizuka no Shige’. To shorten the Q&A back and forth it often helps in conversation.

The reading Shigetomo is used by the 日本刀銘鑑; they do not offer 'Shizu' there for these Takada/Iga smiths.