Bugyotsuji

“Extensive lacquered wear on Koshiraé.” This is deliberate, a red lacquer surface, allowing black lacquer to show through, creating the famous Negoro-ji nuri effect.

That is clever! Many thanks for posting this. I have not seen this combination before, though you do find them disguised in other ways, inside Tantō Koshiraé, or as Jutte, etc. Ignition is by crushing of small pellets, ‘pills’ of mercury fulminate.

Yes Bruce the one you showed at the bottom of the previous page. And look at these two:

Yes, the Kikusui is a famous Mon/Kamon. It alludes to one of the most famous classical legends and is associated with Lord Kusunoki, inter alia. 33 says Kikusui, i.e. chrysanthemum and waters 34 says Kikusui with leaves, i.e. chrysanthemum and waters, with leaves.

From what I remember a group of NBTKHK (Japan Armor Society) members created this before having it printed out. The names outlined in red indicated they were older than 1600, and the black ones (like yours) post 1600. For the print copy of this hand-written version I put wavy red lines around the ‘old’ names. (I’ll see the official version in due course, but I don’t have it here.)

First shot is upside down and fuzzy, but the second is a little better. Can you focus clearly on the signature once more? It seems to be carved into a resin material…(?) Sometimes if signatures are not immediately obvious, we have to work with dictionaries to narrow down the possibilities. (Many are spurious, many are poorly written and barely legible, and many of course are not listed at all.) So, an art name, beginning with 籍 (Seki) or 簑(or an older kanji version of Mino or Sai?) the last character of which looks as if it might be 雲 (un). Please do not expect an answer right away!

Looks good from here. Do you have some overall shots?

Thanks for the menpo ‘Hideshige’ Mei example, Uwe. Here is the map. I have a final printed version of this, but not here at the moment. See 1. the whole of Japan, then 2. the Kanto section and finally 3. the block of names attached to Tokyo/Musashi/ Bushū. Your smith is between the points of the caliper. PS 函人 ‘Kanjin’ is an old word for an armourer. Notice this unusual Kanji is used in the description 武陽函師 Buyo Kanshi master armourer, under the bell photo above. 1630 seems reasonable to me. 1. 2. 3.

老 possible? (Rō, at an old age)

I’m liking your thinking, Uwe!

中谷要人(秀重) *Nakatani Yōjin (Hideshige) On a hand-drawn map of armourers of Japan, I have just found the name above listed for the Edo/Bushū area. *Alternative but less common reading ‘Nakaya’. http://blog.livedoor.jp/kayoko1227/archives/31862120.html On this page is a reference to a Buddhist bell with an inscription of this name and date of 1630, saying in the Shin Kacchushi Meikan that this refers to the ‘armourer of Buyō’ (Bushū) Nakatani Yojin Hideshige.

Ah, thanks for that info Jon. Tanegashima had a variety of front sights, …only some of which were triangular. (I have an old Tanegashima pistol with a rounded rear sight, which I am guessing is for ease of use with a holster.) But surely it’s only rounded from sideways, and triangular when seen from the front and rear, no?

Was at college in the US with his grandson, who was very proud of his ancestry, but a crazy guy! He had a French girlfriend from his time at the Sorbonne. He wanted my corduroy jacket and $50 dollars in exchange for his leather-scabbard gunto. He let me have the sword, but only on condition that I would one day return it to him. Sadly I discovered that he had later died, after a long and successful career in journalism. I am guessing that the sword must still be in the USA somewhere. 芝生瑞和 - Wikipedia 母方の祖父は荒木貞夫元陸軍大将、第一次近衛内閣文部大臣、男爵。父方の祖父は芝生佐市郎元陸軍中将。 Araki Sadao, his grandfather on his mother's side.

Hope he sees this thread!

若松 Wakamatsu (a place or personal name) 二号 = No.2 (The character after Wakamatsu is not clear to me.)

Nice idea! (ChatGPT could be totally wrong, of course.)

As Uwe says above. The Mei is quite faint and that one character is very hard to make out.(正市?) A-Shū is Awa, Tokushima, on the east of the Island of Shikoku. One of the gunsmith families was the Fujikawa, and many of their individual smiths used the first character 正 Masa… They would have been making guns through the 1700s and 1800s. The decoration resembles guns from Osaka but in a couple of details they are quite different. Sadly the photos do not show everything. PS Why is the rounding of the front sight ‘an issue’?

Ed Wolf, ‘sparrows and bamboo’ seem to be a recurring theme of the Date clan. Here is one of my personal favourites, with the watery marsh or river theme in shibuichi on the reverse, and five silver and gold egrets on a shakudo obverse. Kaga-zōgan inlay technique.

Maybe X-西 (Nishi) on the left? Can’t work out the first character…

Thanks for the clearer photos in the meantime. The unusual diagonal file-down of the top tip of the kissaki suggests that something was broken and smoothed off there.

Thinking about the meanings contained within the second character 露 Tsuyu/Ro, I came across this. It suggests a common theme to me through jade, green tea, dew drops, ambrosia, purity, the soul, the Buddha nature, all at the same time.

Your gun is from Osaka but possibly the owner had it decorated to indicate trade to and from Awa. They are fairly close geographically, so it is nice to imagine the background. My own collection reflects the ‘spread of different styles across the country’ as you put it, something I have been gently but consciously aiming for, for some years now. PS If you can find a copy of Sawada Taira’s 日本の古銃 ‘Nihon no Furujū’, it is full of illustrative photos of this spread, among other things, despite it being in Japanese.

If your wife is happy, let it grow and take over a whole room to start with…

阿波 Awa Awa no Kuni indicates present-day Tokushima on the east coast of Shikoku.

Waves and ships again, not a common subject, but an amazing coincidence. Good job so far and happy discoveries! You must surely be relieved, Tony.