Bugyotsuji

Just had a communication with a friend who lives in that area and John is correct. The locals pronounce it Iwado. She says it is part of Wake-Cho today but was formerly a part of Saeki Cho.

The koshiraé for this tantō has iron tosogu with hon-zōgan inlay of silver arrowheads. The tsuba is iron but with inlay of brushes in various metals. The message seems to be 文武両道 Bunbu Ryodo, the samurai ideal of balance, proficiency in both letters and martial arts.

Hi Tony, thanks for posting your new gun. Yes that certainly does look like a heavy oil coating but why? For protection against the weather, or for long-term storage??? To cover up something? My guess is it should be removed, somehow. A one-off solution. Paint stripper? Hmmm… maybe test out various things on a tiny corner somewhere. Yes, it is an Osaka gun. The Mei is unusual in that a second name is added below 作 which should normally come last. 摂州住嶋内市右衛門作信定 In my lists I can find Nobuhisa and Sukesada, but not your ‘Nobusada’. Likely a smith of the same Shimauchi house, though. Maybe he added his name later for some reason? There is a Shimauchi Ichiuemon dated 1801, so yours would be a little later than that.

You mean the Date of Uwajima in Shikoku? (kuyomon in a circle)丸に九曜紋 Agreed, but they too used the Kuyomon only as their third mon, their ura Mon. In the prominent place on your sword it would surely be a primary Omote mon. But those generic metal mon discs are sold everywhere, so I would not be sure of anything…

Multifaceted question there. Remember that the nine-star mon (Kuyōmon 九曜紋), or nine heavenly bodies mon was used by several families throughout Japan, in various configurations, with or without the Maru, solid or sukashi, large stars or small stars, etc. The most famous users of this mon were probably the Hosokawa of Kyūshū and the Daté of Sendai. *To answer your question Volker, I would say no, as the Date preferred a different one as their Omote Mon.

To add to John's posts, the purple boxes, centred around Bizen, contain the following Ha (group/school) information, from the top right down: 大宮 Omiya, Omiya Ha 長船 Osafune, Osafune Ha 畠田 Hatakeda, Hatakeda Ha 片山 Katayama, Ichimonji Ha 福岡 Fukuoka, Ichimonji Ha 岩戸庄 Iwado Sho, Ichimonji Ha 吉岡 Yoshioka, Ichimonji Ha 吉井 Yoshii, Yoshii Ha 宇甘 Ukai, Ukai Ha (Also pronounced Ukan)　Said to be from the sound of Ukai, 鵜飼 cormorant fishing. 岡山 Okayama, Higashi Tamon Hyoei Kei (line) Very few examples said to exist today

“I thought we had adults here.” Brian’s wrong of course. The adults took fright and left the room a while back…

Mark, have you tried the 蔦 Tsuta ivy Kamon? https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=e63747d83a281166&hl=en-gb&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeioyp3OhN11EY0n5qfq-zENyQuF3_WaPI4Qgb6AZzy-etFjo9fqZ_m1LmwOk0Tw7NqzRByaVxBM1fsvEyMalinYBnZSbPsMGKnfuTgCN-kMPLGu-9S4H_wozMCmxOUp_MU4XAZj8Ws9KVbcwnvg86KE93TYmL1kpnleGzufE81r9xCWvfA&q=蔦家紋&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSm8fztKmPAxXbQUEAHQgcG7YQtKgLegQIGxAB&biw=390&bih=663&dpr=3#sv=CAMS-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-AzABSgoIAhACGAIgAigC

That’s a Takeda-bishi inside a Mokko surround, Sam. 木瓜に武田菱 https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=68354a3c7c70afc3&hl=en-gb&udm=2&fbs=AIIjpHxU7SXXniUZfeShr2fp4giZ1Y6MJ25_tmWITc7uy4KIeiAkWG4OlBE2zyCTMjPbGmMU8EWskMk2JSE__efdUJ3xCy-TJvLh102VajJHlWcuOMzuudcRq6McxYvTDw4xql9ltBOHIJaSaTfN7wuQcwsNEykFXCmH-aW_zRjpKtpTVfBkZf-L9m_IJvYLcwjwgMx7BTMU9NqkzLP44Nj6uc5ciPTJCQ&q=木瓜に武田菱+家紋&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiSm5H6lqmPAxXGUEEAHUTPHeAQtKgLegQIDhAB&biw=390&bih=663&dpr=3

Great going, John!!! 宇甘　Ukan or sometimes read Ukai, where the Unrui school worked, I think. 岩戸 is in Wake, I think, maybe pronounced *Iwato... will check that out. *Result, see below. Pronounced Iwado in the local area.

Anyone care to extract some more juice from the 10 purple ones?

They were giving these to participants in the national meeting at the Keio Hotel some years back. If you were lucky they even had a flash of colour in them. (As I understand it, they are designated 'cultural materials', only supposed to be for swordsmiths and not for general release.)

Half a day’s run in a Norimono/Kago if you ‘encourage’ the runners, and an hour or two on horseback.

PS Distances. It’s about 30 minutes by car from Okayama to Osafuné, a day’s walk in them olden days.

Okayama Prefecture prides itself upon three great rivers, the Asahi right down the middle, upon which sits Okayama City, the Takahashi River on the left which goes through Matsuyama/Takahashi City, and the Yoshii River to the right which goes down through Tsuyama City and then further down Bizen and Osafuné. The purple flags denote Bizen swordmaking areas, the red Bitchū to the west, and blue in the north Tsuyama/Mimasaka. (Not shown is Bingo, further west over in Hiroshima.)

Quiz question! How much information can we all get from the following map? To start with, what does it show? Photo follows...

OK Gen, I'll keep an eye out, but don't expect any immediate updates as I am travelling and teppo are on the back burner. If anyone else can help Gene out, please join in! There are also extant examples of (brass) 'yagura' sights, detachable folding ladder sights that could be inserted for distance shooting. (Just as an aside, you do occasionally find a rare teppo with a 'hokin' bronze barrel, so naturally these will have bronze sights on them.)

That's funny, I saw a very similar one yesterday! One member here said it was definitely gimei. Assuming the third kanji is Shu (?), then Bizen Shu Munetsugu... (But I cannot recall Bizen ever being called Bizen-Shu. OK, Bishu, yes, Bizen no Kuni, yes, but... anyone?)

Agreeing with Uwe, but on balance I would go with 吉武 Yoshitake... Edo Period without much doubt. See https://www.samurai-nippon.net/SHOP/V-1761.html

No, I was curious, as it is such an unusual question! Forgive me. Looking back through my photos today in order to answer your question, I discovered that iron sights are definitely in the majority. They would need to be strong in case the teppo ever got dropped, something that must have happened with some frequency. Damaged serpentines you often see, again probably because someone dropped the gun. The other factor is that battle weapons need to be dull, not glinting, so barrel inlay was frowned upon. I do have one decorated 'Daimyo' gun, which has gold and silver nunome zogan on the front and back sights. Sadly a previous owner 'cleaned' the barrel too enthusiastically, losing much of the inlay. Nunome zogan is a kind of surface foil inlay squashed against a filed surface, as opposed to properly inset deeper inlay called hon-zogan.

Here is a front sight with missing inlay. Guessing the brass tip had been knocked out, I later had a new piece made and inserted.

Hi Malae, Are you saying iron front sights, ok, but with various other metals inlaid? (Why are you asking this question?) Yes, I have seen examples, but not sure if I have any photos right now. Here is an iron front sight on a Bizen gun, with a blob of silver inlay.

Moriyama San, this getting old is no fun! Big oops!!! Need to double-check and edit!!! Many thanks.

兼忠 Kanetada 正和十七 Showa 17 it seems

February Eiroku 12 it is.