Bugyotsuji

Follow-up. Just checked the records and there is/was an Enamiya Ihei gun dated 1801, so you know roughly when yours was made, during this smith’s working lifetime. He seems to have travelled to other parts of Japan to teach gun smithing. There are guns with this signature Enamiya Ihei, but living variously in 石州、播州、and 周防. Sounds like a talented smith. But yours has all the hallmarks of a gun made in his hometown.

Thank you very much for looking at the puzzling inscriptions, Trystan. You have given me a couple of ideas. It’s always good to have another set of eyes to help zero in. Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered his guns and his troops and invaded Korea in the 1590s, and they found themselves facing single- and triple-barrel guns much like the ones above, so a bronze gun dated 1583 would not be so strange. The bore is 1.55 cm, which is a decent size of ball for a battlefield gun.

Definitely oil the red rust. I like to mash oiled red rust gently with a hammer and wipe off repeatedly with cloth or tissue. Quite satisfying to see the amount of orange-red staining the tissue! PS If you ever need to reblue the whole barrel though, you’ll need to thoroughly remove all trace of oil first.

A good example of a Sakai/Sesshū/Settsu/Ōsaka smallbore (are you *sure the bore is 1.5 cm?) long gun, the Mei saying Sesshū Jū Enamiya Ihei Saku’, i.e. made by Ihei of the House of Enami in Sesshū. I wouldn’t worry about the small piece of kirikane, unless you have money to spare and a friend with the right workshop to recreate it for you. There’s plenty to enjoy as it is. Normally these decorations come out of a drawer and these flashy guns were owned by rich merchants rather than Bushi, so no clan involved. There are two that you could be referring to as Mon, the eight-hammer wheel and the bamboo motif. You give both the barrel length and total length as 130 cm. *Guns like these do not exceed a bore of 1.3 cm as they are not military guns. Too flashy! PS 巻張 Makibari tells you the barrel is bound with iron helix twist.

None really have a Japanese feel to them. All products of subsequent bandwagon workshops, mostly from China I suspect.

Others and as above but some of the characters are soooo faint…

Thank you both! Posting some more inscriptions! It would be great to figure out what was torn off the tag… The date as above. 萬(万)暦 ‘Banreki’ in Japanese reading. To the left of the date:

Ah, thanks for that Tom. There are some scenes with early pole guns in Miyazaki Hayao’s Princess Mononoke. I suspect Studio Ghibli did some background research before introducing them into the story, although the early squeezing matchlocks shown in other scenes are probably too unlikely. The photo below shows ‘Ishibiya’ carried by Eboshi Gozen’s troops in Mononoke Hime.

Yes, oshigata are common on NBTHK certificates.

Agreed! It’s certainly very different, almost eccentric.

Single barrel and three-barrel side-by-side. Poles are temporary props. From muzzle end From behind

Apologies to Kiipu (Tom) for thread napping, but this looked like a good thread to keep alive. Approximate Total length: 54 cm (21.25 inches) Barrel length: 46.5 cm (18.25 inches) Bore: 1:55 cm Weight: 2.4 kg The Chinese names are a separate study. Ishibiya 石火矢 , hiya or hiyari 火槍 these were called in Japan, although the name Ishibiya lingered on and was later used for breech-loading cannon like Furanki-hō. There is an Ishibiya-Chō in Takahashi (old Matsuyama Han territory). Ishibiya probably refers to the original function of scaring people and horses with bangs, flames and assorted stones. In Okinawa they once used coral balls. I’ve heard of and seen pottery ball examples. Iron was also used for ball until sources of lead became readily available.

A couple more fire lance angles. (Some measurements to follow.) Iron block underneath, on opposite side to touch hole. For insertion of pole, receiving end.

Imagine the amount of work that went into creating that!

Sorely tempted to agree with you Brian. Will update as necessary if I find out more. It had a tag attached to it interpreting the inscriptions, but only half of the tag still remains. The date