Bugyotsuji

Usually a bisen will cause problems if it has not been touched for a century or two. No panic. Removing one is a fine art, but some bisen will not budge whatever you do, and you may do serious damage in the process. (To be cont.)

Yes, that is a very nice example of a Sakai muzzle surround with silver zogan inlay. See this photo of four examples from the region. The pan lid has 38 beautifully incised on it, suggesting that this may have been on a gun as part of a multiple order. The number is often repeated on other parts, so if you do not see it elsewhere this strengthens the possibility that it was drafted in as a replacement cover. The pin may also be a replacement as they were usually a hollow cylinder for insertion of a particular wire to support a small protective rain box. 三 八 (三八 Sanju hachi, thirty eight) From the Sakai (Osaka) section of Sawada Taira’s ‘Nihon no Furujū’ (Old guns of Japan)

Looking forward to seeing whatever you have, Lars. "Fer better or fer wusser" as my Scottish mother used to say. Thank you for your frankness and willingness to share and learn. Really refreshing!

Thanks Rob! So just a small decorative mask.

Some thoughts on a Netsuke I bought a couple of days ago. In hyoutan (gourd) style, an example of a Netsuke with natural attachment, i.e. no himotoshi-no-ana holes. You can find them plain like this, with the cord tied around the 'waist', or sometimes with a metal (silver, brass, etc.) ring fitment there. (I already had some from before, a pinewood 'koma kara uma' example, an Edo glass one, plain, and an ivory gourd with a ring fitment and wooden stopper, for example.) The material looks to be horn, possibly cow or buffalo horn. Under certain angles you can see the lacquered remnants of 壽 kotobuki, and some flower designs. The central waist looks well rubbed, as though that section had been worn with a cord or string for some time. The price was not too bad, but I could not really decide on how old it might be. I have a suspicion that it is early to mid 20th century. Even so, after some humming and hawing, I decided to undo the purse strings and place my cash on the barrelhead. After all, I can use it to hang other things from.

You are a dog? Hmmm... better than me, I guess. I'm a rat...

That's good to know. The reason I asked is that the pan cover/lid is of an enclosed type which is usually associated with the Tazuke, Sakai and Tabuse schools of gunnery. There are no other Ryu-ha indications on your gun to these schools, so it seems likely that the cover has been changed at some point. This led me to wonder if the barrel and the stock might be a later match, but if everything lines up then possibly it's just a question of a replaced pan lid, i.e. no big deal! (Sometimes old barrels were refurbished with new stocks, and your stock and butt look in very good condition for such an old barrel.)

Recently sent a box from Japan to the UK, full of things left behind by a visitor. I paid ￥17,000, but the post office people were not happy with the papers I had spent three hours printing out that morning. 'The system has changed', they said. 'You must identify every item inside, declare the weight and value of each item, and state the correct category code for each'. They lent me the post office notebook and I spent a further hour there struggling with it. Finally one of the kind ladies came over and walked me through it. And boy, was I glad to get out of there! Later I heard that customs had charged tax at the other end too, even though the contents were listed as worth ￥6,000, for cups and plates and a teapot. Who even dreams up this complicated stuff?

Jay, hi and welcome! Congratulations on a fine-looking Tanegashima smoothbore matchlock! The Mei reads Takakura Jinroku 高倉甚六　plus 作 (saku = made by). He was a smith from Sakai in Settsu province, today's Osaka. There is a Kanei 10 (1634) dated bronze barrel pistol listed for Takakura Jinroku Shigemasa kept at Itsukushima Jinja, who could be the same person or a later offspring, but it helps suggest that your gun was made sometime in the early Edo period. (Quick question. Do all the mekugi pins line up correctly with the barrel?) PS A poppy muzzle is an indicator for Sakai manufacture. Sadly, many of these old Japanese matchlocks were not thoroughly cleaned after use, so the bore is often in terrible condition. Only one of mine is still pristine!

Saw one with similar dark patina at the antiques market on Monday and nearly bought it for illustration here! Attached to a kinchaku purse. If this were to be worn as a Netsuke, you would think that the string would come out of the single hole at the back, showing the decoration at the front. The front holes could have been added later for decorative effect, or possibly the string could have come out through a couple of them to tie at the front in a fancy knot or bow. The base rim crenellated notch design suggests it had dual-purpose use as a funky okimono.

Hi Tracey, thank you for showing us your cute little horse. From January it will be the Year of the Horse, so households throughout Asia will be putting one on display somewhere. Tagua nut, vegetable ivory, as you say, but the balance of possibility tips towards Chinese with a double-kanji ‘Japanese-like’ signature. 松山 (Matsuyama) is one of the signatures often used by these modern Chinese carvers. A tourist piece, full of memories for you I can imagine.

Sweet little colllection, Lars. Thank you for showing them. The ‘last’ one 95% passes the construction test for a Japanese ‘kōyaku’ priming flask. It is in such good condition that it could almost be new. Without taking it in hand I cannot be 100% sure, but if we give it the benefit of the doubt then it may well be a high quality primer flask in gilded leather. The body and the pins look right. (The photos are fuzzy, though. When you remove the pins, does the spout assembly pull out? What is the spout made of, and does it look painted? Is it missing its little cap?)

That is a Japanese kinchaku purse, to hold zeni cash coins etc., with rudimentary netsuke and ojime (And a powder flask inside it…!?!?!) Someone combined the two!

Hmmm… don’t know what others might say, but it doesn’t look Japanese to me. It does not really follow the structure of Japanese flasks. The work is not neat, not tight enough, IMHO. Continental, Mongol, Tibet, S E Asia? Interesting in its own right, and surely worth delving further.

All good! This kind of long thin bamboo blackpowder container is one style that was probably pushed through the obi to carry in the same manner as a Tantō. Although long, they do not hold a large quantity of powder, which tells you the gun was a smallbore long gun, probably for a Matagi hunter shooting bird and small game. Powder left in the flask. OK. No ball in the bag? PS The top central plug has come loose and needs gluing in place. The cap should not allow ingress of rainwater.

Is it fixed to the board? Can we see the back of the mask?

This example is a Kayaku-iré large coarse powder flask (A) from Tottori with Ikeda butterfly mon. Pouring spout enclosed, and opened. and PS Shinchū brass fittings do not strike sparks. The ‘netsuke’ was attached by the previous owner! Please disregard.

Recent posts regarding powder flasks have led me back to look again at A. and B. in the list at the top of this thread. 1. A gunner would have a large flask (A) for coarse gunpowder to replenish the quick-loading tubes, or to pour in measured amounts directly down the barrel for the main charge. 2. Hanging from the front of his armour would be a smaller flask (B) for the pan-priming powder, which is the same powder, but more finely ground. The pouring spout is narrower, to pour a pinch of fine powder into the pan. (B) flasks are smaller than their companion (A) flasks, though for a large gun you could have a relatively large flask (B) and a much larger flask (A). Photos below, showing example 'pairs' of (A) left, and (B) right, and their relative sizes.

Hi Lars, thanks for posting your nice collection. Western powder flasks usually had a better measuring system incorporated into their necks or spouts! We have a thread running on accessories for the Tanegashima, but I will post some typical Japanese powder flasks here if you like. (If you can find a copy of 'The Ogawa Collection', it will show you a large variety of them. He donated his collection to the Meirin Gakusha Museum in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture.) https://www.city.hagi.lg.jp/site/meiringakusha/ The black leather covered copper box above looks increasingly like a water canteen from a Nobento travelling picnic set. The hole at the corner is an indication, and the central hole would be to allow air in as you pour out the water. The bone/antler plugs are a later creation. Dealers will often sell these as 'powder flasks'. See for example: https://auctions.afimg.jp/m415446915/ya/image/m415446915.3.jpg

Yup, all good things come to those who wait. It was meant to be. Serendipity at work! Great find, and nice write-up.

PS Lars, without further shots I cannot decide whether your container is a water canister or blackpowder flask. They are often confused, especially by dealers. If it has a drinking spout and another small hole to release pressure, then it’s likely for water. If it has a large hole for filling, then more likely it is a powder flask. What size is it by the way?

The present condition of every barrel is different depending on the life it has led. How to ‘clean’ it depends on what the problem is, but too much cleaning once done is almost impossible to undo. Go gently. Any barrel with zōgan inlay presents extra difficulties, and probably needs to be seen in hand by someone who knows what they are doing. Otherwise it is usually better to leave as is, until a way forward becomes more clear. There are threads here on this site describing how to dismantle a Tanegashima and remove the bisen breech screw for cleaning, etc. Your gun was made in Mito, north of Edo. (The history of Mito starts really with Tokugawa residence at the beginning of the Edo Period.) The Mito City Office might be able to point you to (a museum with?) similar Mito guns and their foresights. Your gun is a generic Tanegashima with little to indicate place of manufacture, except that your muzzle surround does look distinctive. This may or may not help you to choose a foresight shape. (No particular school of gunnery was specified in the original order for this gun either.)

What is an Obidome? what is an obidome - 検索

Lars, the standing ‘ageha’ swallowtail butterfly was used most famously by Ikeda Terumasa who built Himeji Castle. His Ikeda offspring also controlled the Tottori Han and the Okayama Han, but at some point in the later 1600s the Okayama Han changed it to an open-wing version, the Bizen Chō. So your Ikeda blackpowder container is probably from Hyogo or Tottori. As to the Mon on the gun, I suspect it was added later at some point. Just a feeling. I cannot yet see a link between Mito and the Ikeda Daimyo family, although I may be missing something.

Despite the elaborate decorations which were added at some point, the gun is of a rather basic generic design. The wood used for the stock is nice quality, and most of the vital parts look to be present. The front sight could be replaced with one of several basic patterns, many illustrated in Sawada Taira or Sugawa Hideo’s books. You could study Kunitomo sights, for example, as the smith was surely proud of his roots, or you could contact Mito and ask for photos of Mito long guns, particularly their Saki-meaté fore sight.