Bugyotsuji

I think this links into the present 2024 NHK Taiga Drama every Sunday evening. What a lovely thing, Colin. Congratulations! https://www.japanesewiki.com/person/FUJIWARA no Yasumasa.html

Or coney kebabs as they used to call them in Norfolk…(?)

What are we looking at?

Anyone know if the JAS site is working? (Also Netsuke and Sagemono Lounge!)

(The NAKAGO - "with tip pointing upwards" means tip of the blade, not tip of the nakago, by the way!)

So if this is a Showa blade, that narrows it down a bit for you.

Hoping it harmonizes into the display.

Then you'd have to add a PS. PS "But if it really is Gold Standard legit Kosher Shoami McCoy, i.e. something to be confident in and proud of, please state this clearly!"

Tell the musum staff to lick them and see if the white stuff tastes sweet.

Got about 10 of these chests, 'LOVE EM!

Maybe when you send tsuba etc., away for Shinsa, you could include a note at the bottom, "Anything but 'Shoami', please. We have figured out that when your team's opinions are divided you choose Shoami. So rather than just writing Shoami, please send me my money back. Thank you."

'Bottle gourd' is a generic and recognizable shape. For example the iron ingots which came in on Namban ships, susequently used in Japanese swords and guns for a while at the beginning of Edo, were described as gourd-shaped.　南蛮鉄　瓢箪形 Also, many priming powder flasks take that shape, and today you can find containers of Shichimi (red peppers) made of wood but in 'bottle gourd' shape. Actually, just to take a moment here, I have a problem with the expression 'drawer handle' shape, as the handles themselves (and other common objects) are and were describing older traditional shapes. Otherwise a drawer handle is a drawer handle is a drawer handle, shades of Ikea. They need to look a little fancy. For example, opposed fern heads, or warabite design 蕨手模様

On another topic, I mentioned earlier a little mid-Edo Nami-no-Hira blade that I purchased last year. The togishi was unwilling to work on it as it was a little loose in the saya, so it went to the shiroganeshi who inserted some 'koppa' shavings to grip the habaki better. Finally it went off last week to the now-satisfied togishi for a 'light polish'. (Something to look forward to in the background!)

In case anyone is tempted to play with the stuff, I was reading yesterday about someone who blew the top joint of their thumb off, when loading an old toy cannon. Jean, normally I would just just flush it away in water, but I was curious to know what it was, so I took care to burn it on a flat rock in the garden, and not under any compression.

Well, he said he makes all his own lacquer tools so he didn't need the spatulae. (My other friend who was also there however, did want them.) As he handed the 'finished' article back to me, he added a final word. "I still do not like this. You should strip it all back and start again." "The cannon is probably just an old casting reject," I said, "so I am not too bothered about getting everything 100% correct. Besides, I do not have your patience." Footnote. While I was preparing the guns for Sunday's live event, I gave the barrel of the little cannon a quick clean-out. Imagine my surprise to see how much blackpowder came wafting out of it. I wrapped up the pile in a tissue and burnt it outside. Gunpowder indeed! The pungent smoke gave off that familiar burning blackpowder smell which we get at every event. The inner walls must have been caked with it. Perhaps it had once functioned as a powder tester after all.

With those Mon patterns, it could be Christian.

That's great. Thanks Mark. I think Ray nailed it, but that was a TOUGH one!

A couple more shots under different lighting conditions/angles would surely help clarify this, Mark.

It’s true that the do should be held up by the mawashi round your waist. The wadakami will not bite into your shoulders. Can you show us a clearer picture or two of your problem? Have you tried attaching the front string to the front tip of the wadakami?

蕨手文様 - 検索 画像 (bing.com) Page full of warabite motifs

Great topic and for me quite timely. Yesterday after the NBTHK meeting, I visited the excellent tsuba exhibition now on at the Osafune Sword Museum, and our sword sensei showed us around, commenting on almost everything. I took the chance to ask a raft of questions. Later over lunch I showed him a tsuba and asked where he thought it was from. Owari? Kyoto? Akasaka? He turned it over and over in his hands and I saw his facial muscles twitching as he narrowed it down under his analytical mind... Finally he handed it back to me and said with a smile, "Let's just take the Shoami escape route!" 「正阿弥」へ逃げるか？ On the box I had written a note in pencil: ‘Owari?’. Later I erased that and wrote ‘Shōami?’ 'Shoami' is like a sponge to mop up the rest.

Liking the tsuba design. I would go with a couple of your earlier ideas. Much (but not all) of that reminds me of iron kabuto etc., where the lacquer has been subsequently removed.

Congratulations! Looks like a lovely blade. Apparently the 2nd generation Nobuyoshi, according to Tsuruta San at Aoi Art, later changed his title (affiliation?) from 藤原 Fujiwara to 源 Minamoto.

Sadly I missed that NKBKHK tour too, but I joined them later for a day, on the coach ride to Oyamazumi Jinja and back again to Fukuyama Castle.

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