Bugyotsuji

Hmmm… could be a Tosa smith in Shikoku. The shape and construction of the butt should clarify this. Family name Ono. There are five Tanegashima matchlock gunsmiths listed under this name, two of them working in Tosa, a large province in the southern part of Shikoku. (There were two in Hyūga in Kyūshū, and one Ono smith in Bizen.) The style of your name is very similar to one of the listed Tosa smiths, so although unlisted I reckon yours should be a relative in the same Ono smith line. Can you spot it?

Congratulations on your purchase, Grahame! 大野善三郎作 Ōno Zenzaburō Saku (I think!) (Possibly Zensaburō?) I’m about to check this smith out. If I find anything I’ll post it here.

All the pieces of an armour set were usually placed into individual soft cotton/hemp/linen bags, each with designation kanji on the outside. E.g. 脛宛 Sune-ate. But with all the materials available today we can protect things better. I remember Mr Morisaki once telling me that bubble-wrap is not good however, as it can trap moisture and can foster rust, etc. "Everything needs to breathe", he explained, while showing me some of that typical Jaanese wrapping paper. (He also disapproved of modern mothballs, and said that to protect against insect activity, dried togarashi peppers were usually placed inside an armour box.)

Nothing to do with the subject matter but I was shown a naginata on Tuesday, the first time I have ever been tempted, a giant 'ryosaku' 両作, by Katsumitsu and Sadamitsu from Meio, around 1490, if my memory serves. In shirasaya, with no naga-e. Long nakago, with long special order Mei on one side and rows of Bonji on the other. The condition was ubu, and the blade was gorgeous, to my untrained eye. The owner said, "This is a Ken Bunkazai. Why don't you buy it?" I was a little astonished, as I was not there to buy anything and I only had four thousand yen in my wallet ($30), but it certainly was an attractive blade, and when I say tempted, I have never particularly wanted to own a naginata. "Just out of interest, how much are you wanting for it?" I asked politely. "Ten million JPY", he replied. Funnily enough, after that initial eye-watering, this dream blade haunts my memory.

Today the long-awaited phone call! The sun-nobi Masahiro tanto shirasaya and tsunagi are ready at last. He says that they have used a nice piece of ho-no-ki 朴の木 magnolia wood for a jewel-like surface finish. Hoping to pick them up at the sword museum on Sunday. All good thngs come to those who wait. The little pension is a blessing though, oil to the clanking gear wheels. Then the decision will have to be made on nugui, etc. "To polish, or not to polish" as my old friend Hamlet once said.

Sometimes wish human relations could be simpler…

Oh, one of the rusted and stuck bisen I had asked him to have a look at was on a signed Bizen barrel that someone had given me a while back. As a kind of joke I asked if he had a spare stock for a Bizen gun. "As a matter of fact, I do, but it is in terrible condition, and most of the lockwork is missing!" he said, and went off to fetch it from the back of his garage. Well, it's filthy, but close, and about the right length, but doesn't quite fit. I may be able to ream out the walls of the stock a little and get the barrel to settle in properly. What do you reckon? Two-thirds of a Tanegashima must surely be better than one third!?!? And with a missing serpentine, perhaps there will be no need to legally register this Frankenstock...

Good news and bad news. Which should I announce first? To go with the bad. When I bought the Inatomi-Ryu military gun at auction, there was some trouble with another bidder. Can't go into detail here, but he thought that I was driving him up beyond what he was willing to pay, so as a point of pride he started to outbid me. After the auction he absolutely insisted on letting me have the gun at my highest bid, at a loss to himself, but the air between us was not good. Anyway I took it home, added a proper ramrod, gave it some TLC, and eventually managed to clear the blocked vent, as above. Ta-daaaa! On Sunday he suddenly said, "If you're not too bothered over that gun, can we have it as a spare for the matchlock group?" This is an offer I cannot refuse, and I know he will give me what I paid. So, I have to hand it over. He virtually runs the group and I cannot really say no. But I know inside that he will sell it to one of our members. On the other hand, he is the leader of the group, and this will finally clear the air between us. Seen it before! So a short but sweet goodbye to my first Inatomi school gun. The other piece of bad news is that the trusty shirasaya-shi is overloaded with other orders, for Jinja ho-no-to, etc., so my tanto is stuck in a backlog. The good news is that the Sakai long gun is back with the bisen loosened and missing part replaced! Can you see it? (He also opened another two stuck bisen for me, but the final one of those three he gave up on.)

Normally the do is placed in upside-down, and the kusazuri hung inside, but this may be in order for the armor to fit inside the box, and not necessarily to protect the watakami shoulder pieces while travelling. (We also see examples of the kusazuri/gessan tied up in individual bunches with string.) If this was my armor, I would not use the armor box for the house move. (Within Japan?)

Volker. Try Maru ni chigai kashiwa. 丸に違い柏　家紋

篤明 seems to be listed under both readings of Atsuaki and Tokuaki. Kyoto. 田中信造, with 'go' of 一寿斎, d. aged 50 in Meiji 22.

I do occasionally see a small bag or bunch of spare parts for Tanegashima, maybe once a year on average. Since these guns are not all of a standard size, Dale, and their construction and proportions vary by region, you can easily end up with a result looking slightly out of balance. An overlarge serpentine, for example. I know others are looking for parts too. I would look to have parts made up, but I am guessing you think that could be expensive.(?) Tomorrow I hope to be collecting one with a newly-made pan cover, but I know the guy and he won’t rip me off. I’ve given him spare parts in the past, so there’s an element of give-and-take. Hoping someone can help you out. And. Please let us know how you get on! Good luck.

https://nqs.takaebi.sa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19442 Your Fuchi could be the same Meiji Kinkō artist 篤明 as in the link above.

The top one might be kata-or tan- udenuki no Ana, 片 or 短腕抜きの穴 perhaps, but the lower tsuba to me is more like sun/moon or tentai 天体　透sukashi. I would be interested to hear other possibilities! (Nice finds!)

Here are some more Usa Jū Nobukuni to sift through, from the Nihontō Meikan. (cont.)

(The old papers suggested Tensho, as Steve says.) Good luck and happy hunting. With such a regional, even local blade, I agree that there was probably no benefit to anyone by adding a gimei to it, as you say.

Minh, it's just his opinion, and he is 'treating it as...', which is a temporary position just to be on the safe side. Green papers were often correct, but often wrong, so their track record is not so good compared to more modern paperwork. Anyway, it is safer to assume a measure of doubt with anything, but keep collecting information in the meantime!

Hi Jon, and apologies to Peter on his thread, for the quick answer, imagine the strength of the desire to update at that time. They were under pressure from all sides, and hearing rumours or seeing armed groups with new-fangled firearms, willing to try anything, which accounts for every combination that started to appear. These were crossover times. Any kind of bridge that will get you to the other bank! Of course the earlier imports were smoothbore, as the matchlocks were, and barrels with rifling, true rifles only came along later. You'll find imports with butts that were cut shorter to suit the Japanese physique, and copies made from scratch (or melted down matchlocks) in Japan that were shorter overall, and various types of ignition modifications to smoothbores. Sawada in his book that Peter has, illustrates several evolutions of early pill-lock. Jan has a Bizen matchlock that had been converted to a pill lock, but the added parts were removable, so it could still be safely used as a matchlock if or when necessary. For me it is simpler to confine myself to the Golden Age of the smoothbore matchlock, 300 years from 1540 to 1840. Beyond that the mind goes crazy trying to map out all of the military developments happening as the country faced political turmoil from within and without. Perhaps someone will one day provide such a post-Tanegashima evolutionary map of late Edo and early Meiji. (I have seen two wonderful cased examples of inlaid Tanegashima matchlocks made during Meiji, each probably the swan song of an elderly gunsmith pouring out all of his inherited talent from a by-gone age.) There is a good display of much of this stuff in the new 'Token World' Museum in Nagoya if you have a chance to visit. There are floors dedicated to Nihonto and Katchu, but the firearms floor alone has about 300 guns on display, with examples of just about everything. Last year I must have posted photos here somewhere from my own visit.)

Thank you for the detailed reply, Jon. Wow, that's quite an impressive collection you have! Have you ever been to a competition in Portugal? Quick question. The target holes look consistent. Do you have a separate-sized ball for each gun, which you have to keep track of, or have you managed to source barrels that all take the same size? Or is yours just one of these? I'm pretty sure that the cotton match cords used here in Japan do not use any added substance, relying solely on the natural oils in the plant. I do have a section of genuine old cord for static exhibition of artefacts though, which seems to be made of very thin woven threads of cedar bark, possibly. The latest batch of cord that we have nearly run through is slightly too narrow for my pistol and long gun, so I have placed some tape inside the serpentine pinch flaps as I do not want to bend them.The previous cord was woven differently, but just the right size. For the hand cannons, we have sections of a fatter cord. Thanks for the kind offer. Don't worry about me, though, as it will be someone's responsibility here to order a batch. If I find out who makes it, I'll let you know.

Nice timing! Great, thanks. Definitely some strong similarities there, Jean!

Hi Peter, thanks for the further clarification. Most everything you say in your first paragraph about the police and modifications still holds true. I do know one importer who has deactivations performed abroad and successfully seems to import almost anything in some quantity. He must have established a track record to do this. Matchlocks modified to percussion caps do come up regularly in auctions in Japan. To purists, they do not hold the same value as a straight untouched matchlock, so interest will thin a little, but many collectors will not be too worried by the lockwork if the decorations look good, and most dealers will be aware of that and still hopeful they can sell. Some years back while I was writing the definitive Tanegashima book with Jan, we needed a gun for the Choshu section. I had a finely inlaid matchlock which had been modified to use percussion caps, so I sent him a set of photographs. "Actually, can you source a genuine matchlock?" he asked. Now that was difficult, as most Choshu guns you find on the market today were once modified to percussion. Eventually I did find an untouched Choshu matchlock, which I still have, but it does illustrate that in the case of Choshu guns it seems that modified ones are actually more common. Modifications certainly pre-date Meiji, and were happening in different iterations from Tempo (1830s?) onwards. Pill locks came first, but percussion caps soon followed; in strong demand regionally, guns were either imported, native guns were modified, or they were specially built in Japan.

Hi Jon, apologies for the late reply. For some reason new threads in the Tanegashima section never come up in 'All Activity', so I have to go and open up through Browse to check manually. You'll be asleep when I write this. Genuine Tanegashima pistols are relatively rare in Japan. We are the only matchlock group in Japan where every member has one, I believe. Actually some of our newer members may still be waiting to source one. Dealers tend to bump up the price if they do have one, so the question becomes how to find one at a reasonable price. It is legal to buy and own one, but it must have a registration card with it, or the transaction will be illegal, and the penalties are harsh if you are found out. This means that you would have to deregister your potential purchase for export, or find a dealer who might be willing to do this. (Some may be willing to send abroad with the paperwork still attached, although this is illegal too, but that would require a level of trust that your friend may not be able to establish on a short visit.) All things considered, and the recent lottery of laws for customs and excise baffling most UK officials, it would be safer and easier if you can find one there in the UK. (If I were ever to bring mine back to the UK it would be a challenge as to how to do it successfully.) As to cord, this is a very good question. I am running out myself, with only enough for one further display this Sunday. Yesterday I was even sewing odd leftover pieces together! We have ordered previously from a (clothes line?) supplier who treats their cord for us in some specially different process, but I don't know who they are, or whether they are still going. I will ask on Sunday. I think we ordered about 300 meters' worth last time, but that was a special order a few years ago with no guarantee of repeat business. Can you tell us where you shoot? The only blackpowder experience I have had in the UK was a fun-packed day at Bisley with a variety of old firearms.

Brian, for some reason I missed your inspirational answer here. I can 'see' in my mind exactly what you are saying; that will be a really great tip for next time. Although I had booked a slot at my friend's house for this coming Saturday, I actually managed the break-through yesterday morning. The wife was out so I had the house to myself, and I decided this thing was not going to defeat me. Altogether, including previous sessions, the whole effort took about six hours, but using Kure 5-56 spray, a tough wire and various pipe cleaners, from outside through the pan vent entrance, and from inside the barrel (angled sunlight showed the inner end of the channel), I started to get a blacker colour of gunge on the wire tip. It was a question of belief, as I could not be 100% sure that it had not been deliberately deactivated. Gradually I began to be able to 'see' what the tip of the wire was doing (the passageway is only one strand wide), as it scratched endlessly and then slowly began to engage; minuscule changes in the colour of what I was wiping off it became my only source of courage. But what a relief! I was dead pleased yesterday, and this morning the same feeling of relief is still with me. This matchlock (the Inatomi-Ryu long gun I was discussing in the translation section) was no more than an interesting decoration when I bought it, but it is now back to full working order. Lesson learned. Always check everything, including the vent channel; assume nothing.

My friend tried to gve me some, but I wondered what I could use it for and hesistated too long..................

The back of the blade is mirror flat, with no discernable hollowing to it. As to the steel, it looks monosteel, though I am not confident as to what to look for. Is a traditional Japanese Nihonto a laminate blade? As to the handle, I had a look and it is a single section of wood, with the blade set into it. Your idea of damage and remediary binding makes sense. There seem to be three bindings, mini-pinned at each end. Interesting link. Thanks! (I think one is described as 刺身包刀 sashimi-boto, using the character 刀 instead of today's 丁 of 包丁 hocho.)