Bugyotsuji

Might as well add this one, then. (32 petals) and

筑後柳河住久廣 Chikuo Yanagawa Ju Hisahiro Oops, apologies to Jan above, just seen his answer!

Juan, once in Japan I was told that a spear only had to enter the eye of an opponent, their weakest spot, and then they would be permanently out of the fight.

In my limited experience those altered or modernized guns, even if they have proper registration paperwork (and many nowadays are more likely to be refused) are generally not of any great worth in Japan.

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.