Bugyotsuji

Mark, I'll put up a couple of shots later. The blade looked like nothing special so I didn't take any close shots of it. Watch this space...

Spent the morning playing with a very clean example of a 管槍　早槍　Kudayari. Nice long shaft. Ended up probably buying it. (Blade rusty though. Tempted to have it polished...)

Mariusz, what a wonderful Yoshitoshi you have there. It triggers off all sorts of thoughts and associations. Fascinating

At risk of taking this thread even further off-subject, I expect that yours are probably genuine Ron. When I was given the above Bu coins, I was assured that they were rare. The bloke might even have had them run up in China. I carried them around for a while. One day at an antiques fair one of the dealers pointed out a coin 'expert' in the crowd. I handed him the above coins and he looked astonished as he examined them. "Has it really come to this?" he asked. So I do not think we need to worry unduly. Just check the edges.

I like your frame and the display Ron. Apologies. Cannot find the 'old' Chinese/Japanese brass circular coins which might have been interesting in this thread. Instead I offer these, all fakes, including the Ichi-Bu Gin, the two Isshu-Gin, the Bu-Kin and Ni-Shu-Kin.

Incidentally I have a collection of fake coins that I have picked up over the years. When I can get the camera and some time organized I'll post them up, in the name of education of course! :lol:

Nobody, I like the way you operate, with that ace up your sleeve.

Do you mean the Mei (of mine) reads... ?

信光作　Nobumitsu saku. PS Look at this:　関 Seki 佐光　Sako Nobumitsu http://www.bidders.co.jp/item/137309973

Kanto air raid practice commemorative medal! Very interesting. Personally I like WWII stuff from all sides in the conflict.

Carlo, this thing was so long that if a less-than-giant person pushed it through his obi, it would have surely dragged along the ground. :?

Only just read this thread and it reminded me of a fairly long bokuto/bokken at a friend's house. Instead of a Tsuba, it has an iron kagi to catch the opponent's weapon and presumably protect the right hand. No doubt that it is old. I was tempted to ask for it as I suspect he would have given it to me, but there are limits to cheekiness, so I limited the request to taking pics of it.

Agreed about Lorenzo, or as he is now officially called. Here is the thread, but it's quite old and maybe out of date/Date? viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2524&hilit=Daimyo+katana+kaji+Date+Munetada

Ask Lorenzo about his box first... :lol: (Actually, yes, I have posted some of the contents on this site in the past and even ran a thread on it, a Shinshinto tanto made personally by the seventh Lord Date Munetada of the illegitimate Date Daimyo line in Uwajima, Iyo.)

There is praise that I value. Thank you. Congratulations on the Kinko name, by the way! Very nice avatar!

Here is a box that I refurbished for insertion of a Tanto, Shirasaya and Koshirae, side by side. The paperwork, history etc., goes inside underneath the bundle. Nothing great to look at, but this box has some decent age, is made with wooden pins and has small copper ring handles on the sides. The top was covered in brush writing, but with a little elbow grease and a magic wand, that has now disappeared.

Eric, you can whittle down the ends of toothpicks, or kushi-katsu (shishkebab?) sticks, made from bamboo. You can buy various sizes here in the Hyaku-en Y100 shops. If the old pin has dropped out, knock in a slightly fatter one, or change the shape from round to square cross-section or vice versa. Dip it in wood glue before tapping home. File off and rub around to allow the wood colour to blend. Often the pins have popped because the wood has dried and warped, so simple replacement may not be enough. Find the spacing of the pins and add extras in between in a way that doesn't stand out. The gun carriage is at a friend's place. Not quite sure how he got it, but I'll ask him.... Gotta rush now! Some years ago I visited that hillock with the gun emplacement and the view across the choke point in the estuary.

Well, let me the first to say that I know little about either swords or photography, but those shots are stunning.

Carlo, very good! It is a gun carriage from the hill overlooking the estuary to our city. As the Western powers were messing around with China the Japanese ordered the provinces to rearm and prepare against attack. If you remember Britain had just formally signed an end to the Opium Wars with China at the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The name on the box was I believe.

Promised photo

Actually John, you probably know a lot more about this than I do. He said it suggested that the owner was a Bushi, not a farmer or merchant.

Some boxes have a simple flat lid which may be tied down, but others have a tight-fitting lid that allows no air in or out. Yesterday I was thinking about air. Air is air, right? Well, no. An acquaintance once told me of the swords he had upstairs which he would have liked to be able to show me, but it being the wrong season, he couldn't. As with the Shirasaya, a box would also serve to keep humidity out. Just opening the lid in the rainy season could completely change the nature of the air inside. One of the reasons that so many objects in the Sho-so-in in Nara are in such good condition after a thousand years is owing to the use and understanding of the nature of wood and the boxes that things were stored in, I am sure. Personally I like boxes and to my wife's dismay I occasionally bring one home because it surely wants saving. One box had a broken section at one end. Recently I had great fun shaping a piece of wood to fill the gap, drilling holes in it, fashioning wooden pins to knock into the holes, and finally adding age to the repair. The box is not long enough for my katana, but just right for a wakizashi. On the underneath there is a Tempo date and a name. I showed it to a friend and he asked me what I could sense from a name of five characters. So... hehehehe... Question: what does a 5-character name tell you? PS Attaching a photo in due course.

Ian, yes, the Maedate connector may start to become misshapen, but I think it is the integrity of the tsunomoto attachment into the helmet itself that is the real worry. And now for another jump, this time into boxes. Not too long ago there was a thread about Katana-bako. Well, I have been sorting through boxes and trying to find nice presentation boxes for some of my treasured pieces. Why? Well, as everyone knows, the Japanese have a predilection for wrappings, coverings and boxes. My matchlock pistol for example has no box. It is naked. It needs, no, it's shouting out for a wrapping and a box. I couldn't 'see' this before, but now I can. Well, boxes are a dime a dozen here, if you can find repositories of them. They are expensive to have made up, but many good, old boxes are ripe for recycling. There are boxes for cups and dishes, and boxes for lamps, and boxes for hanging scrolls, and boxes for anything really. You may have to erase some brushwork, and you may have to find a calligrapher to write something suitable, and you may have to carrry out repairs to the box, and find the right kind of cord or ribbon for it, but it is all fun. You can't rush it. It all takes time, but there is an enjoyment in the process as you move towards a fitting and respectful sanctuary or repository for your valued item. (To be continued)

Here we go. Special present for Eric. Are these the pics you saw, Ian? One is the Momoyama single one for archers; the other is probably Edo.

A fascinating slice of history there Clive. Many thanks. I didn't realize that so many clans got into debt around the same time, each seeking unique ways of dealing with it. This has just fitted another piece into the jigsaw.