Bugyotsuji

How long is a piece of string? How much is a car today? How much is a house today? How much is an education today? They are what you can afford, and there should be something for (almost) everyone. One counter for “a suit” of armor is “Ichi Ryō” 一領 It is said that “ryō” means residence or domain, according to one explanation, i.e. it could cost the price of a plot of land and a house.

Bob, try 廣正

Several sets of 47 Ronin woodblock prints were produced in different formats by different artists. Natually you are wanting ones from this same Seichu Gishiden series. Nishiki-e 誠忠義士伝 - 歌川国芳 -『浮世絵・錦絵』などを見る【みんなの知識 ちょっと便利帳】

Sadly my good friend Mr Hashimoto died suddenly this summer, so young. Besides being a general all-round good guy at the Osafune workshops, he was brilliant at tsuka-maki and was in Tokyo at the time for the artisans' awards ceremony. Such a waste of all that training and experience when so few young people are carrying on the tradition.

Had a look, Colin, and made sure there was no extra play. Still no room for tsuba or seppa, so it's back again to the single silver seppa/tsuba thingy. Although the copper top plate of the fuchi is comparatively thick, the fuchi fits perfectly. The worn nanako on the fuchi go nicely with those on the kashira. The koikuchi, however, is of a rather insect-eaten black buffalo horn, so it is possible that this tanto koshirae was originally an aikuchi and the fuchi itself had been badly eaten away. I like your idea of sawing off a section of the end of the tsuka wood, and will float that with the artisans if it does not come up in conversation. Meanwhile, here are some of the tsuba I've been playing with.

I like your thinking. Apart it comes once more, when I get home. Hoping you are right!

I am still trying to imagine what has happened to this blade. Possibly it was in shirasaya, registered, and someone had the bright idea of putting together a koshirae package. The saya and bashin seems to be iron-based.The tsuka however is shakudo with a nice pair of matching menuki, and ... maybe the fuchi and kashira are random, or as you say, perhaps the fuchi has been changed? The blade does kind of fit, but not perfectly; the two mekugi holes are too near the habaki to allow for a fat tsuba, or a even a super thin tsuba and seppa set. It looks like a new hole for either the nakago or the tsuka if a tsuba is to be fitted. Anyway, thanks everyone for the thoughts so far, nudging me in hopefully in the right direction for this blade. I always end up trying to 'improve' what I find out there, in some small way righting the wrongs that others have found too troublesome or too expensive to bother with. :nuts:

Ignore that guy above! Me, me, me, I collect Hosokawa artefacts! Congratulations Okan on a lovely package!

Ah, now I understand where you are coming from. Thank you. Yes, that makes sense. I spent some time just now trying to find some evidence of hamon that could actually be photographed under the kitchen light! Will check the shots and see if anything came up... warts and all. May be beyond redemption.

At the munemachi Lewis, the kasane is roughly 0.6 cm by my non-digital Shinwa. The thickest part of the nakago is just behind that at 0.7 cm, covered by the habaki.

Not sure Lewis. I'll get it out and measure it. (That's the thickness at the habaki, right?) Yes, I love these little bashin, though they do not come up too often.

Re Hidetsugu/Eiji Mei. Visiting the place where my books have been moved to, I found the book I wanted and looked up the Mei on the fuchi. There were three Kinko artisans with the name Eiji 英次. I wonder which one might have signed with just 英次+Kao. This Yokoya school work has similarities: 小柄　貞義（花押）　伊勢海老図　　 | 日本刀・刀剣・名刀・短刀の販売・通販・買取は和敬堂へ Photo of entry follows below... .

I have one somewhere, but now in the process of moving house, I am not exactly sure where it is...

Well, I hope so Alex. If/when there is any interesting update, I’ll post here.

Thanks for the feedback, Ray. Food for thought...