Bugyotsuji

Brian, some good questions you have raised. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts. Tamahagane has to be a strong possibility. The rod seems to have been covered in a black patina which is wearing off. Urushi? The tip being exposed... so covered in brass... softer? ...to prevent it causing sparks...? As an artistic balance against the brass at the other end? Reflecting the decorations on Koshirae?

Nice armour! The width of the Shikoro plates suggests mid or later, but not early Edo. (The Kabuto has slipped too far back!!! The line of sight of the Bushi wearing it should mean his mabisashi is almost on the horizon as he looks out.)

Lorenzo, yes! Brian, here are the shots you ask for. Fresh from the camera! Some are too big, so the small ones first... (the others I will host elsewhere and link in...)

Some bits have flowed past the windows of my submersible in the last few days. One is a Jitte/Jutte which has a Mekugi enabling the Tsuka to come off and the Mei on the Nakago to be read, much as with a Nihonto. It has an iron tsuba bound with a Gin-fukurin, and special seppa on either side made to slide along an oblong cross-section. The very tip of the weapon is not steel but brass. Another object is an Ugai-wan, a shallow dish which a Daimyo would have used for gargling apparently! I was assured it was a very rare object, so, despite the restoration work, I thought I must have this. Last night someone gave me a copper Maedate of Agari-fuji, enclosing a Bonji character (?), the whole topped with a Kiku sukashi. Then today I was given a large (9cm x 8cm) iron Tosa-Kuni-Ju Myochin Tsuba in the shape of a rough Dai-no-Ji. At a glance it looks like Bizen pottery, or even something you could eat. Why am I so popular all of a sudden? Is it my new aftershave lotion, or pitstop? Are people happy to see a real live foreigner still braving the plumes of deadly radiation? (Not) ...Or is April just a lucky month?

Our resident expert Ian Bottomley from the Royal Armouries in Leeds should be able to point you in the right direction.

Impressive. Many thanks for the heads-up and those links.

Is that a digital image that they own, or do they have the actual object, Malcolm? Today we had an unusual study meeting with a lecture on Gibutsu, the types, the history and the reasons for. Following that, some examples were laid out for us to handle and discover what the problem was. Then we visited the Sano Collection which is on loan to the Osafune Token Museum until June 12th. If there are any foreigners still in Japan and mobile, this is worth a visit. 45 blades in total, of which one Kokuho, one Tokubetsu Juyo Token, 18 Juyo Bijutsuhin, 10 Juyo Token, and five Juyo Bunkazai. The Kokuho is a 13C Bizen Nagamitsu Naginata. There were three Heian blades from the 11 to 12C, and two Muramasa, one of which was unpapered.

Thanks for starting this thread, Ron. You are quite right. We need to see good examples of what was once vital equipment.

Read his blog. Seems to be a friendly enough sort of chap...

From the way he keeps changing the subject, he sounds as though he is not really sure about anything, including Samurai 'sabers'. Probably relieved that he has a 'Wow!' captive audience.

And here are some more Netsuke for lighting tinder, and for use as ashtrays.

Here are some bits. Two tinder containers (Gamaho-ire) with steel strikers. Three household steel strikers of various sizes, one missing its blade, the small one held by bamboo.

Quick word of warning for anyone wanting to own one of these. The antiques markets in Japan will have these sets for starting fires, in various combinations, but many will be from the continent, eg Mongolian. Often they will be very rough. Ron's example above is more refined, with a good working Netsuke and Ojime. The Himo string looks replaced, naturally, as most have perished. When I can get my systems up and running I will add a pic of some of my bits. The only ones that I can be sure were for lighting matchcord, though, are the ones with a ballbag attached. Otherwise I think they were for more general spark and tinder use, most often for tobacco.

Am I seeing 　? http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89% ... 7%E8%BF%91

Definitely shades of... uncanny how plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Good spot, Ron.

Talking of apples, there was a bowl of them on the table on the verandah, but I cannot recall seeing anyone giving one to him. Old 'Milky' chomped constantly at the bit, and at one point was hoofing back the sand with his foreleg as if to charge the cameraman. The long photo shoot must have been a bit harsh on this 18-yr old veteran.

What, this?

And from the pot, the shot you have all been waiting for.... WAIT FOR IT!!! (Maybe he didn't like the apple?)

Experiment 3. One ImageShack size larger again.

Experiment 2. One size larger.

Thanks for the thoughts, 'Renzo! Well, here goes. This is an experiment... one photo at a time.

They are very well known here in Japan. I have friends who have had new stuff run up for them and they seem to do a good job. Not able to comment on their restoration work per se though, but I could ask around.

Well, this seems to have generated some interest and amusement here, so to fill you all in, the day went ahead roughly as planned. With an 8:10 am start and a heavily-laden van we picked up various members and headed for the hills. Stopping at a large hospital we met the rest of the convoy and the chief doctor who led the way through winding trails to the little parcel of land up in the morning mists, the 'Forest Horse Club'. Three of our members and the owner of the stables were to dress as Ashigaru and stand with the horse and rider. Three of us were to help these doctors and professional types put on some quite fancy examples of armor/armour. Early on I began to sense that my turn would never come, so it was easy to let go and focus on helping people. As the main dignitaries finished their turns, the poor old horse looking more and more exhausted with all this posing and camera work, it became apparent that they really did want us to join in too. So we three did a lightning job of preparing for battle and finally made the cut. There was a professional photographer there. Managed to sneak some private shots myself but the computer is dying. Will attempt an upload in a minute... (Edit. The pics are slightly too large, plus ImageShack is playing up. Giving up for now.)

John it's a warning as to how you must keep the registration with the object at all times and what you must do if you lose anything. This must be returned to the Education Committee of the stated town/city. An older example of a registration paper, the full regulations not yet being completely fleshed out at that time.