Bugyotsuji

Lovely! The story is of course Urashima Tarō, and the word Shinkiro literally means ‘spirit (dream) of the giant clam’, which is what people thought they saw when observing a mirage over the sea. In this case the dream is the towers of Ryugu Jo Castle under the sea where he was entertained by the Sea Princess. I have some Netsuke and Ukiyoe on this same story.

My guess is red rust which has been removed before stabilizing. Open to better ideas! When you say 'opinion on this Mei', Myochin Munekatsu, are you asking if it's legit? PS I like the sukashi.

For reference re Somada: https://collections.lacma.org/object/85065

In the box. 企, but one stroke missing. Artistic license? 川 口 Not having much luck, but (Kigyo?) Kawaguchi is the closest I could get so far. A museum in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. On the right, fuzzy but 企 again (?) plus 五 with the top stroke missing, which is an old way of writing 5. Maybe way off, but giving up for now. The answer must be out there. Anyone? PS Are you sure it's a woodblock? Last long shot, Elly Kawaguchi

If you mean that the head of the Bisen screw has a hole through it, that is the hole for insertion of a special iron 'bisen-nuki' pin for screwing and unscrewing it. Brass would bend too easily. If you like I can post two or three original examples. There is a way of relining the bore for competition shooting which involves inserting a thin-walled metal cylinder to create an inner lining. I am sure this would be easier to do within the USA today than over in Japan where regulations make anything weapons-related more than just difficult.

Hi Paul, that’s great, thanks. (Just having a look for possibilities…)

Any context?

There is a fascinating museum in Hagi, (Yamaguchi) called the Meirin Gakusha, a former Meiji school. On the second floor can be found the Ogawa Collection of Edo Period paraphernalia. His Bakumatsu guns and cannons are amazing! One room is devoted to medicine for example, and another to astronomy, each room filled with genuine old materials that he collected during his lifetime. イメージギャラリー｜萩・明倫学舎 See two bottom images...

Kyran, I have been shooting these for over 20 years, but if your (future father?) is going to use real lead shot, then I would advise having the barrel checked over first. Generally Tanegashima were built real sturdy, but a look down the bore should tell you if previous owners cleaned the thing properly in past ages. Many are hideously pitted internally! If it's in good condition, and you follow a ritual of cleaning before and after firing, there should be no problems. Naturally if you want to be 100% safe, then not firing it at all, or firing with blanks to start with could be the sensible way to go. If the *square-headed 'bisen' plug screw is a little loose, then a good trick is to wind some thin cloth (or kitchen towel) around the screw before inserting, in order to get a tight fit and prevent internal blow-back. It took me a while to figure out a good system for two of my regular guns which are also a little loose. Each time I check later to see how far the burnt powder has worked its way back along the packed threads, usually less than 50% of the way. (*Tazuke-Ryu guns on the other hand tend to have a round-headed breech screw, meaning they do not have to line up with the edges of the socket in the butt, and will always therefore slot in.) PS I have an almost identical example of a Choshu gun as yours, so if you need a reference as to the pan lid/cover, or ramrod, for example, I'd be happy to post a pic or two. Sawada Taira has a couple of pages of illustrated explanation about Choshu guns, but the book 日本の古銃 Nihon no Furuju is in Japanese.

Don't have the details with me right now but I read part of a travelogue of a young Japanese who travelled to India around 1625 and reported having seen the Southern Cross. (Can look them up if necessary) By the way, for those who haven't yet noticed it, stars in Japan were represented as round (white) polka dots, not the pointed star twinkly things that we subconsciously draw when requested.

PS The alphabetic ク 'Ku' mark at the bottom left of the barrel would be the smith's private internal message mark indicating a part, lot or batch number, etc. Maybe repeated inside the 'shinchu' brass lock. The two characters on the facet to the right of the long signature state that the barrel is of steel-banded helix construction, 巻張, 'makibari'. (winding/binding) 雷紋　雷文　卍紋 The serpentine and trigger guard on Chōshū guns are done beautifully in Manji Raimon Zōgan inlay.

Hi Kyran, You have come to the right place. Congratulations on finding this gun. It is a typical smoothbore matchlock (Tanegashima-style) long gun from the Choshu Han in southwest Honshu, Yamaguchi Prefecture today. There are several striking stylistic features which tell us this at once, particularly those you have highlighted in your photography. The signature is "Kagoya (gunsmith House of Kagoya) Daisanzaemon/ Daisozaemon/Daizaemon/Daisanemon(?) Saku" (Just double-checking the possible readings of his personal name characters). Kagoya Dai Sanzaemon...（best guess?）+saku. 籠谷台三左衛門 作 (made by) a smith from Sakai (Osaka today), where most of the Choshu Han guns were made to order. Although not dated, we can assume mid- to late-Edo, before the advent of percussion locks when most of these original Choshu locks were adapted and updated. In fact in my experience it is not so easy to find an original example. There are however a couple of temporary fixes that someone has thought necessary to perform on your gun. By the way, did you take the breech plug out, or was it missing anyway? That is the main body of information, while I try and double check how the smith would have said his name.

From memory I think 17k is about right.

There are many gold substitutes out there. Gold does not tarnish. Solid gold is expensive so they would be very rare, examples are more often gilded onto copper, or sometimes lead for the realistic lead weight. The first rule of thumb is to weight them in your hand.

This thread is dreaming of better photography. I think we should be allowed to dream.

Totally different construction but your swirling ‘ran’ orchid design reminds me somewhat of a Chōshū Tomonobu guard. The leaves run over the Mimi.

That bottom one above says Hokuto Shichisei.(The dragon’s tail probably indicating Polaris the Pole star.) Long lusted over this Sendai matchlock in Sawada Taira’s collection. Close-up

Whoah! I just took it as a seasonal symbol of the New Year. (The surface does look like glutinous rice though…)

There are so many ways you can look at this, and there may never be a convincing answer. You could even say for example that the Shippō pattern itself developed from people looking at the stars, and maybe seeing random patterns. In Japan of course they would not have seen the same Mediterranean mythical figures or creature shapes up there, though you do find allusions to the Hokuto shichisei 北斗七星 One of my netsuke could be a star map, but that is only one interpretation of it and other possibilities remain. I do not feel the need to come down on one side or another. My own feeling is that we are free to look at Shippō patterns and make mental associations, and that such poetic lateral association or subtle allusion is an active feature of Japanese art.

Shippō Mon (Chirashi) Sukashi Tsuba 七宝文散透鐔 (Scattered) Shippō pattern perforations (The rest is Mei and tsuba physical features.)

That is so unusual! Is there no end to the imaginative Tsuba cameo world? (Besides, I have a soft spot for orchids in Tōsōgu.)

I have a Sukekane Tantō blade dated Meiji 2 (1869) in black urushi Inaba Koshiraé with silver chrysanthemum style fittings, plus rings. No proof, but common sense says the Koshiraé has to be contemporary with the blade, i.e. c 1870. NBTHK Hozon

Dan, your post comes up in weird typeset format. It looked as though you were quoting from somewhere…(?) See:

Whose words are those Dan, yours, AI’s or someone else’s?

杵 Kiné wooden mallet for pounding glutinous rice?