Bugyotsuji

Hmmm… a present from a friend. Adzuki bean manju from Fukuyama Castle. Expecting a guest today my wife put these out before she went out. This thread is easy stuff, not for you Colin, master of the arcane.

4. Thread your doubled cord through about 20 eyelets in the leather. This is a fiddly job requiring all kinds of useful tools, and plenty of free time and patience. 5. Somehow get the loop and the two loose ends to all go through the ojime. (Note that many beads will look like ojime, but the central channel of a typical ojime is usually larger than most ordinary beads.) 6. Final result with new black cord. Jabara concertina mouth pulled shut with tightly fitting ojime.

To start this thread here is a leather kinchaku drawstring purse set hanging from a stag antler netsuke, with a red glass(?) ojime. Four braided cords passed through the ojime, but two had snapped. I sourced some black cord (not string) and after a couple of hours restored it to working condition. Some would say to keep it the way it was found, as is, with frayed and snapped cords. There is no absolutely ‘correct’ answer, but if it’s an easy job, I like to resurrect without damaging what is solid. 1. Photograph original stringing for later referral if necessary. 2. Remove Netsuke by undoing internal knot. Observe how the knot was tied. 3. Find a cord of similar braiding and strength, four strands of which the ojime will accept. (I like to collect natural strings and cords, old and new.)

Now you tell me Colin!

Matsukawa-bishi and yajiri-tsuki chigai-ya.

As in the two pages above too, the MCI seems to have more detail.

“Worked between 1840 and 1875…”

Pay peanuts and get monkeys! Some time ago this example came along. Too badly damaged to be repaired, missing a hand, but plenty here to enjoy!

Not really, no John, but they would have had drills at hand for making Netsuke and himotoshi holes, so it would be an easy way to add decoration, and lose some of the unnecessary weight of stag antler. There is actually a third large hole on the one above, (see to the left side). Tsuba holes. We have a thread running here on the NMB concerning holes in tsuba. Sometimes they are said to be udenuki no ana, for lashing a sword to your wrist when on horseback, and when they are a large and small pair, sometimes they are said to symbolize the sun and the moon, 日月 jitsugetsu.

Today I found another example of a 'hanaire', still attached to a kinchaku purse. Thanks to this thread I recognized it as such (Jean!) and we can clearly see which himotoshi hole(s) was/were used for the himo cord. The other holes look decorative... except that on the back this one has a tiny slot as if to hang on a peg or a nail. Bamboo (stag antler) Hana-ire hanging wall vase container. Behind

Thanks Pietro! There are many ways and means of finding good netsuke at a reasonable price, but you do need to train your eye on good examples first in order to be able to spot the bargains. Then get out and about to fairs and auctions and discover the sweet spots and the places to avoid. I found one this very morning. Definitely if you don’t mind a little damage you can buy a very good Netsuke, even signed, and admire the carving work for a huge saving compared to a ‘perfect’ example. It will also educate you as to the hand of a particular master carver. Step by step one gets to Rome!

Yes, there was a Koshosen Nagaharu Kinko around Bunkyū, who was Shuei of Kyoto Gosho.

On the left is Chōshun (Nagaharu) 長春　作

5-3 Kiri Mon. After derusting I discovered that each paulownia ‘imprint’ is carved out in fine detail, not merely stamped. Three on front, two behind. Detail

Assuming for the time being that these really are Korean (i.e. not Chinese.) With poles…