Bugyotsuji

A slight adjustment in the angle might get your blade(s) to last a little longer, MalX. A (live) friend here has just agreed that the holes are most likely simply decorative. Thank you everyone for your considered thoughts.

Not disagreeing with any of the above, and agreeing that yes, it is Japanese. Of course the original idea could have come over from the continent. Thanks for the words of wisdom. This bowl didn’t break the bank. I’m now thinking about how best to string it decoratively. (A Bizen potter friend said he likes the fine brushwork of the vine tendrils round the outside.) But then, it could be a nice birthday etc. gift for someone…

Incense? Mosquito coil? Where in or outside a Japanese house?

Two people I know objected to that idea Lewis, as the central design would be obscured, but reconsidering it now the central design is quite rudimentary, so you could well be right! Thanks.

Recently I could not resist buying a small to medium sized Imari bowl. Butterflies and plants. Around the rim are six holes. Assuming that the holes would enable stringing and hanging, what would be the purpose of the bowl, I wonder? Today we might toss the car keys in there. Back then, what? One person suggested a mosquito coil, and I can kind of imagine a set of fire lighting equipment, i.e. striker and flint. A B

I remember seeing the handle name Winchester, but had no direct contact as far as I can remember. So brave of his wife and parents, and so much is left unsaid...

Thanks for the reply. It looks good, worth the extra effort. (I've seen other attempts around the world to make shirasaya that for various reasons just look wrong!)

As a decoration, why not? And you can learn a lot from the construction since it looks like it closely follows traditional work in many places. Personally I would put a wider pedestal underneath the yoroi-bitsu box just to give the whole thing added height and presence. You might want to add a sword at the side? And I would take the two long cords and tie them behind the neck as a first step in how to correctly tie a shinobi-no-o. A fun journey lies ahead! I feel sure that in due course as your budget allows you will be filled with a desire to collect old parts or even display a genuine old set too.

Full of admiration for your work, John. Q. How does aged maple compare to ho-no-ki magnolia obovata?

It looks quite small in the original photos.

Thanks, Steve! 御守護 Go shugo = Protection, for your protection. From Wiki （サムハラ）[5][6]とは不思議の4文字で、身を守ると言われている。これは漢字のような文字であるが、神字であり漢字とは異なる、とされる。Unicodeには、一文字目と三文字目の「𪮷」、四文字目の「𪮇」[注 1]が収録されていて２文字目の「」のみが収録されておらず、活字変換は不可[注 2]。収録された文字は全てCJK統合漢字拡張Cに収録されている。 東大寺（印西東大寺）（千葉県印西市）、雷山千如寺大悲王院（清賀上人により十転化の功徳があるという）など各地の寺社のお守りの呪文に使用されている。

Like children's toys. Going backwards through evolution, to percussion cap or pill-lock weapons! Thank you for the link and background. Really interesting, but kind of sad to contemplate. This kind of ties in with the missing drawer handles on the chest in the attic. I also have a bunch of small, corrupt yen coins from 1945, the last year that coins bore the grand title of 大日本, reflecting the dire straits in which the Japanese population must have found themselves in those late war years.

Slightly off-topic, but a friend has a signed Sadamune which they sent off to the NBTHK for shinsa. It was sent back 'horyu' because allegedly the panel had never seen a legitimate Mei to compare it with, and thus felt unable to authenticate it. Subsequently this friend had the Sadamune Mei erased, and then sent it off again for shinsa. This time it came back attributed to, yes, 'Sadamune'. By now they had found an old meikan entry with a photo of the same blade, with Mei, but as they had by then registered the sword as unsigned, they ended up in some kind of a Catch 22 bind. (Any factual errors in the story above will be from my failing hearing and lack of ability to follow high-speed explantions in Japanese! ) PS I know very little about Soshu and look forward to reading the articles linked by the OP (Brett) above. Thank you.

The backgrounds are all very similar, in horizon and vegetation, almost standardized. A missing scroll makes sense. Is the figure on the left carrying a peach, for Momo Sennin? For the missing panel, another Sennin is likely.

By the way, the idea of using a peg to hold in a cord like that is neat, but I haven’t seen any evidence that the holes in the pinch flaps were used for that purpose. It’s an idea, and a small pin could serve to stop the cord blowing away at ignition, but cords burn constantly and need to be moved forward with every shot. A locking pin for carrying then, to prevent misplacement or loss of one’s match cord? Many serpentines do not even have holes there. There is also a theory that they were to allow air to permeate the cord, helping to keep it alight. Or were they simply decorative? Anyway just something to think about, as the answer is not yet clear. We’ve had this discussion before. The answer must be out there somewhere.