Bugyotsuji

The throat guard (tare) probably qualifies for the name 'itamono', and yes, relatively speaking it was a cheaper and easier construction, made up of four single solid metal sheets or plates. (At least this is the impression I have formed in conversation with people, but I'd be happy to be corrected.)

Yes, just found the photos from 2013. Named blade, the “Kuki Masamune”. On display at Hayashibara Museum of Art, Okayama.

Also tantō were only made in certain eras, e.g. not much during the Edo Period when wakizashi were more common. More likely made when they were functional. There’s a Masamune tantō in the Hayashibara Museum of Art that allegedly cost more than a million US, if my memory serves me.

Both Kiri and Fuji are in blossom everywhere right now. Although the flowers are similar in colour and style, from a distance, the leaves are very different. Fuji, wisteria has rows of slim oval leaves, but Kiri paulownia leaves are each wide and multi-lobed. Fuji is a vine, somehow endlessly associated with the powerful Fujiwara family, whereas Kiri is a tree with Shogunate and imperial connections.

TJ Happyzebra seems to have some good ideas on how to approach this, and I can understand the desire to start with a blade in hand, almost any blade. And before even that, he/she has decided to consult here first. Owning a blade, with the responsibilities involved, certainly helps to focus the mind, and with that anchor you can then build a frame of reference around it, discovering useful sources of information concerning its various relevant aspects. Two or three blades down the road and some of these larger frames can start to interlink, creating the outlines of a Japanese sword universe inside your cranium. That first blade may suffer some indignities in the hands of a newcomer though!!! Good luck and happy hunting!

南條元長 Nanjo Motonaga (?)

Incidentally, wisteria (Fuji, 藤) in bloom yesterday at Achi Jinja in Kurashiki.

Some of the first Tanegashima reflected ornamentation from Goa and south-east Asia, but most of that was soon lost, Japanese taste tending towards simplicity and minimalism. There was a later school of gunnery called the Namban-Ryu (Barbarian school) or Tanegashima-Ryu which emphasized the strange and ornate, giving an 'overseas' feeling to remind people or the roots or origins of these things. I did see a gun in a cabinet in the exhibition rooms at Nagashino, where the great battle is commemorated, which had an ornate serpentine somewhat like yours Dale, but this was very rare here.) Sakai 'merchant' guns were the most flashily ornate, but the serpentines on even these were plain and smooth. Chinese guns on the other hand were more traditionally more elaborate, and I think they liked to see a strong connection with mythical birds, dragons etc. PS Back in Europe I do have an example of a matchlock hand mortar; the serpentine looks like a squirrel(?) head.

Yesterday I was helping the local branch of the NBTHK set up a display in Kurashiki's Achi Jinja. On the top of a small hill, a simply beautiful spot at any time of year, but this week the wisteria are in full bloom, making it extra special. It was a small exhibition room, but we had 400 visitors yesterday alone, of whom perhaps 100 from overseas. Had long chats about Japanese blades with a German lady, a Scottish couple, an Australian couple, some French people and a half-German half-British guy named Dominic! (Exhibition continues today, Sunday). There was an unsigned Unju naginata naoshi Katana 薙刀直し刀 of around 1360 AD on display, but with no kaeri. Long 'Bo-utsuri'. I asked if that last kanji should be read '-to' or '-gatana'. "With a hard 'k', Katana" they said. (The caption did not indicate when the conversion from naginata to katana might have taken place, but they must have judged it worth saving.) Photos follow... and… and…

https://kojodan.jp/castle/82/memo/1884.html In 2005, to mark the opening of the newly-built Bitchu Yagura corner tower at Tsuyama Castle, we were invited to dress in full bushi armo(u)r and fire broadsides over the city from the remaining castle walls. The finale in front of the assembled suited and seated dignitaries was for our leader to fire the 100-Monme hand cannon. We were not sure what would happen as it hadn't been fired for centuries, and I now suspect that he had added extra blackpowder in order to impress. Well, when the thing went off with a sizzle, a whoosh and a BOOM!!!.... it blew the wigs off the dignitaries, and they swallowed their dentures. Afterwards I noticed that he had a bleeding hand. Despite binding his left hand to the stock, the Ozutsu had kicked back, the pan/lid tearing open a gash on his right thumb.

Can't imagine it would make a difference. The plug is not an intrinsic part of the blade. Incidentally, I saw a gold plug the other day which caught my attention. It could have been either solid gold or possibly gilt, gold on copper.(?)

No, I mean that this particular description (the wording) is not on any of Jussi’s lists. Naginata-naoshi-gatana

薙刀直し刀　it says on that page!

I have one really looooooong Yari with a very small Sankaku 🔺三角 blade.

Thomas above said something that caught my eye. “I suppose I am the soul of my collection.” This is probably true for me too. I have several ‘collections’ of things, mostly of what I like, with no conscious philosophy behind, things that resonate with me, or call me. Generally background education and artistic sensibility help funnel or channel the inflow of these. As to Nihontō specifically, there is admittedly a little more of the brain involved, shaped by what I have ingested over the years, but not enough yet. This must come from lack of serious study and lack of funds. Serendipity is part of it: a slow way to collect, but gentler on the bank. I am still able to forget, not constantly on the boil. Each of the few blades I have is a pleasure to recall whenever I happen think of them. Actually, I do not even think of them as a ‘collection’.

Ended up watching the whole thing, DL. LOL. Many thanks!

Australia only…

“The soul of your collection” means the soul that runs through it. Like a philosophy. OK. Here I was trying to imagine one piece that lies at the heart and epitomizes it!

Kind offer, Dale, appreciated. One of my sideline jobs has been proof-reading, so we are ok in that department. Back to your original question, though, Mr Sugawa is a tireless investigator, so for that reason alone (and the photographs) I would recommend getting his Book 2 in English, as part of a broader background. My instructor told me not to bother reading Sugawa as so much was plain wrong, back when he was new to the field and first writing books. "It would take too much time to sort out the good from the bad", he would say. This brought me into direct conflict with Eric (sadly no longer with us) who started Edo Period Corner Part II on this forum, and wanted me to tell him exactly what was wrong with it! As to Noel Perrin, I am not here to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but bear in mind that his subliminal message was/is that if Japan could give up guns, then surely the US could too. He seems to have overlooked that Japan continued to have a mass of guns right through the Edo Period, but they were strictly regulated, whether used within the various schools of gunnery, or for target practice at designated shooting ranges or in communities for hunting. Japan never 'gave up' guns. This 'continued-but-well-regulated' usage is something that Jan documents in our new book. Actually, although something is known about how guns originally reached Japan, we switch on a light and fill in the as-yet unknown gap from there onwards, between the arrival of guns in Japan in 1543 through to the end of Edo/beginning of Meiji.

Bruno, I spent some time checking my books but although there are other possible readings, Eisei is still most likely. Sadly nothing in my Kinko book, but could be a later disciple of one of the listed 栄 Ei artisans.

美作真島森島載方作 Mimasaka Mashima Morishima Saiho/Norikata Saku Made by Saiho (possible alternative reading Norikata or Toshikata?) Morishima in Mashima, Mimasaka.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/木更津県　 Well done on finding this gun. Many people are searching for a decent example but they are comparatively rare. For those marks on the side of the butt, look for very early temporary Prefectural names like 'Kisarazu Ken' which start with a Ki 木. National firearms roundups and registrations were held for all guns in Japan, starting with the big Jinshin roundup of 1872 in early Meiji. If it is a 'Jinshin Bango' you should be able to see some faint numbers there too. Registration stamps were placed either in the wood or sometimes on the upper part of the barrel.

The same egawa leather pattern was also used on cloth.

I have one English book of his, and two of his books in Japanese. Although it is full of errors (as you say) of one kind or another, not only editing, it still contains plenty of useful stuff. Also popular but sadly misinformed is Giving up the Gun by Noel Perrin. The best illustrated book in Japanese is Sawada Taira's Nihon no Furuju (Old guns of Japan), but it's out of print, and they can be difficult and expensive to source. Full of mostly accurate information. Worth getting a copy though for the abundance of photographs alone! Jan Pettersson and I have written a pretty comprehensive illustrated book on the Tanegashima, but we have not yet found a publisher to complete the work. We really need to get this into print!