Bugyotsuji

Jacques. Excellent links. No more questions. Thank you.

Someone mentioned cleaning kits the other day. Recently I found an old kit where the oil has turned into a kind of wax or something! In the photo I have included an old Edo Period Mekugi Uchi and brass hammer. There are various bits that came with it that I have strung together. I don't know what the brass blade is for, but it doesn't appear to be so old. Likewise the other rounded hammer is probably less than 70 years old.

I was looking at a sword in a museum today that recorded in the Mei that it had cut through two dead bodies at Tameshigiri. This reminded me of your picture above. The sword would not just find the right place between the joints, but would cut right through the bones! Van Gogh also collected Chirimen-e when they were simply Ukiyo-e that had been minutely folded into a kind of crepe and used as packing for tea containers.

Today I was watching a deshi finishing off a black urushi saya at an urushi nuri workshop and thinking about asking him to look at my saya. Too many people crowded around so I gave up. (Some time ago, I stepped back when changing out of armour/armor and I heard a crunching sound under my heel) Asking someone to do it perfectly for you would be one way, but it might prove expensive.

Why don't you ask the NTHK directly about their "kinsei" attribution? And while you're at it, tell them to fire the guy who writes Japanese like a first-grader .... Too right! Or... who writes Japanese like a Western learner! LOL at Guido. :lol:

There seem to be three readings of this name, but I am not sure which is the 'accepted' correct one. Is it 1. Rai Kinmichi, 2. Rai Kanemichi or 3. Rai Kindo? My first instinct was no 2. Kanemichi for the sound, which doesn't mix On and Kun readings. But then I found a reference to 3. Kindo, which keeps true to the On reading of Rai; this also seemed good. Finally I found a reference quoting all three readings and thus decided to post the question.

That's a gorgeous manju Netsuke there, Eric. All of what you say rings true. What slightly puzzles me is how the section of ivory signed by Masamitsu (my first impression was how similar the Mei was to a Netsuke-shi) with that scene could have been independently created. Unimaginable in Japan as a stand-alone object. It must have been an order from Europe. The lost wax decoration by Barbedienne would have been added later, but can you be sure that they never met, or never cooperated?

Good to see you here, Andrew. My eye is completely untrained, but that looks like a good solid blade, and you may have got a bargain. I suspect that the chip has knocked the price out of that. A very good start to your studies. I bought my koshirae separately and had the sori of the saya adjusted for it.

Which one? (There are in fact some glitches due to them converting my Japanese fonts into Chinese fonts, but I don't see any in this particular description.) Takanashi should be Takahashi

Ian, are you left-handed, or is that a quirk of Daguerrotypes? :lol:

Sorry Eric, your post got swept away in the subsequent flow of daisho postings. This is a vase? Does it have a waterproof container inside? That is one massive section of ivory from a noble elephant it would seem. It is such a curious mixture of styles, very Napoleonic(?) and it looks quite valuable. What do you know about Masamitsu and Barbedienne? They must have known each other and cooperated together at some known point in time.

I don't have anything comparable, but my katana-kake is a folding type and can hold up to five swords. I usually put the katana koshirae, and my boku-to and iai-to on it.

It has a late Kamakura period Aoe blade (but not in the Koshirae). Some classify Aoe as Bizen-den, others [including me] as Yamashiro-den. Btw, it's first sword on this page http://www.arscives.com/historysteel/japanese_swordlist.htm from the "History of Steel" exhibition in Macau. That too was very instructive. Mmmm... Yamashiro-den. I didn't know anything about Aoe until today, even living here in Okayama on the Asahi, right between the Yoshii and Takahashi rivers. I'm going to find out what I can. (By the way, there is a small spelling mistake on the site where it gives Takanashi for the river name.)

Guido, thank you for posting that link to your earlier project. Lovely swords, and a very interesting explanation. I particularly like the long kissaki on your wakizashi. A beautiful polish has revealed such workings in their blades. Again I see how much I don't know, and how much there is yet to learn. As to the placing of the tsuka on the kake, you make a good point about the blades being in shirasaya, and thus no danger with a tsunagi in the koshirae. Even with a blade in place, it should be locked to hang in midair inside the saya. Perhaps it is the aesthetic in me which winces when I see for example the photo of the tanto on the previous page. Unfortunately you have now whetted my appetite for a closer association with Nihonto, namely the desire to possess something really beautiful and to be able to look after it and appreciate it as it deserves. But I am not ready yet.

There was a similar question in the following therad. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1603 Thank you Koichi sama.　That was back before I was born!!! So, it's perfectly all right to rest the katana on the tsuka if the stand is too wide.

Holy Mackerel! Look at those, and yours are matching colours too. Oh, no, how am I going to keep face around here? *Quick question there Guido. You don't rest the wakizashi on its tsuka, whereas Eric does. I've watched carefully in Japan and seen both on many occasions, but my sense of what? mechanics? tells me it should rest on the saya, not on the tsuka, so that the blade is less likely to move inside the saya in an earthquake or something. Never asked anyone, but is there a saho about this at all, would anyone know? :|

Yes, I see what you mean. The sori of the black saya are picked up by the hills in the picture. Quite clever. Thank you for showing those. Is that a low ceiling or a cabinet roof? Now I am beginning to imagine how good it would be to own a pair of daisho. I used to toy with the idea of dai-chu-sho; having one katana, one wakizashi and one tanto and absolutely no more, not necessarily matching. I had a lovely shirasaya wakizashi, but in a fit of pique I went and sold it.

He must be a young one! Actually most of the Shigami that I have seen have been hairless, come to think of it. Great set of armour/armor there. I like the design of the dou breast plate.

Mae-date å‰ç«‹ã¦ That little chap on your kabuto is called a Shigami (originally Shishigami) or biting shishi ç…噛㿠1/3 of the way down the page you'll see three sets of explanation (in J) and some piccies. http://blog.livedoor.jp/roy333/archives/2006-08.html

Actually it says "wave dragon". Best Woody You are absolutely right. Waves and dragons. Aarrgghhh.... old age kicking in. Nuts Shall we go for a combined attack on the rest of it, or leave it to Koichi san? Actually, all that's left is a semi-detailed description of what the shinsa person sees when he looks at it. It tells you nothing about who made it or when. It's a list of Japanese expressions for describing tsuba. To write out the Kanji sentences, and provide a pronunciation list, plus an English translation would take someone quite a while.

OK, here's something in reply! 1. loading 2. posing In pic 1 *The chap on the left is loading his matchlock pistol. You can see the pistol hanging upright and the short ramrod in his right hand. He has placed his long gun, a lovely castle gun-yo-zutsu matchlock from the arsenal at Himeji Castle on the ground behind him. *In the middle I have just loaded my long gun, a gun-yo-zutsu from Kumamoto Castle in Kyushu, and I'm trying to balance it upright against my breast plate without dropping it, as I reach to pull out the tanzutsu or bajo-zutsu for loading. My wakizashi is in the way. *The chap in the background has loaded his gun, and is checking the pan after pouring priming powder into it. You can see the matchcord wound around his left forearm.

That's a nice Mae-date that you have there, Milt! And those look like yak hairs. Very impressive.

Joan of Arc, or Jean d'Arc? I will tell him/her? to grow a beard from you, Milt. The black hairs might get caught in his teeth tracks/braces, though. White hairs indeed, in the devil's ears? There is a name for these little Mae-date fellows with the red ears but it escapes me at present. OK. I will have a look next time we all parade our finery, er... sorry, strut our stuff. Actually they are white whiskers, right?

He is the son of an eminent sword and gun shop owner. I'll tell him what you said about him and his maedate!!! As to the little arrangement, normally I would say no. But for your son? Mmmmmm.... Actually she is pretty, much, spoken for, at present! :lol: The other one makes jewellery and is one Oriental zodiac cycle above her sister. :D

How can you have a collection but no idea of what you have, Sebastian? The paperwork says Flying over/Passing/Crossing Dragons. No Mei. Mito. Signed Heisei 11. Edited to say "Waves, dragons, design." Thanks to Woody Guido for pointing out my mistake.