Bugyotsuji

Been collecting data about this gun. Will report shortly! *Pity we can’t see everything, (shape of butt, etc., front sight missing ) but an interesting example. Could be the Ogino-Ryū school of gunnery; the butt shape would tell us. (Later) Small Honda fiefdom in Ōmi called the Zeze Han. Made in 蔓延元年, which is 1860, during the Bakumatsu, towards the end of the Edo period. The smith seems to be 鈴木鉄造 典貞? Suzuki Tetsuzo Norisada(?) Not sure about the very last kanji… 0.69 caliber in Japanese terms puts it at 1.75 cm, close to a 10 Monme Samurai gun or Shizutsu, a bore larger than the standard ashigaru battlefield gun of 1.5 or 1.6 cm.

Pretty sure this is a later work from a Chinese workshop. The signature 玉田Tamada or Gyokuden, is supposed to look Japanese, but actually looks like strongly like a typical Chinese effort at ‘casual Japanese’ from just such a workshop. PS Being ivory today is sadly a minus, not a plus.

These mokumé tsuba were quite fancied.

Here’s a tsuba for reference.

I like the design a lot, but it looks quite fragile!

Ah, that’s eased my mind a little! Thanks. Looking forward to hearing what you find out about it once it’s in your hands. (It’s not so easy judging from photos.)

If it’s for sale I would prefer not to have commented on it.

Seriously good point! Dodgy stuff!

伊賀守金道作 Iga no Kami Kinmichi Saku

Is this yours, Pown, or are you wondering whether to buy it? The Kozuka blade is not good at all. I have to admit that Koshiraé, like human clothes fashions, are interesting in their own right, but not so easy to date without a lot of experience, which I sometimes wish I had. (Hoping someone else may like to comment here…?)

Efugo, bait or captured game containers, for Takajo falconry.

Oh wow that link is amazing, Sam. Many thanks. One of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s favourite pastimes. A world about which I knew little. (Now after many years and at a stroke I know what the original purpose of four objects found at antiques markets really are!) Also I have a set of falconry menuki but these look quite different again.(See below) PS The caption to your photo just above looks mistaken. That’s a riding crop and two ‘shiodé’ fasteners for a Kura saddle.

Just a feeling but I kind of agree, e.g. from John’s link above:

As Dale did above, placing them the right way around, point of the central triangle upwards, tri-lobe side hole to the right, but on a plain dark background under neutral lighting or lighting which allows a sense of the actual metal to show.

Not sure if it was all a ‘set’ at first, but my immediate thought is most horse-themed parts are from mid-Edo to the Bakumatsu. (?) The Tsuka wrapping looks new.

Fantastic result, congratulations!

A zero too many?

As a starter price, $80~$100 sounds about right. She knows her oats! Tsuba will always be a gamble, but each one will teach you something, helping you develop an eye for a) what you like personally, and b) what is universally sought after and why.

I guess the store owner needs to put a price on them. No sizes? The first looks quite small...? All iron, did you try a magnet? My feeling is that they are not top-value collectors items, but they could look good in a themed wall decoration. Whether to sell separately to someone who might like one of them, or better to sell as a lot?

No-Shu Ju Kanemichi Saku Kore 濃州住 兼道 作 之 'This made by Kanemichi living in the province of No-Shu'

Has the opposite side of the mimi been struck/hit and slightly flattened at some point, or did the sukashi for the Nata pull the edge out a little?

Looks like a pair of Abumi stirrups as suggested above, against leather Aori side flaps (with Kamon in central position). Horse tack indeed.

Bush clover is Hagi 萩 and it seems to have been a favourite theme among the Kinko artisans in the Chōshū, Hagi 萩 area, being a play on words. To summarize, it is often an indication of origin.

Sorry Dale, busy here sweeping up the piles of rocking-horse dung.

Whenever it works, it works fine! “There was a little girl, And she had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forrid. When she was good, She was very, very good, But when she was bad, she was ‘orrid.”