Bugyotsuji

Some years ago I bought an iron mask at Olympia militaria. For a small horse or a large dog (?), I never did find out.

橙色 daidai-iro is a specifically Japanese colo(u)r originally named after a mikan-like citrus fruit. Slightly different from 'orange' in the western world, it has marked redness in it, and when the red quality increases it can be called 赤橙色 akadaidai-iro, or sekitoushoku, 'red daidai'. Many Satsuma saya are lacquered in versions of this colo(u)r. (To me it has shades of terra cotta and salmon pink in it.)

No that really is wonderful work Russ! Ian Bottomley once showed me sets of tools, shaped anvils, armour making equipment etc., in a work room at the Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, which had originally come from the Tower of London. (Or Greenwich perhaps?)

Although I both repair and make things, it is on a self-taught and very limited level. Love watching others work, ...something about the concentration (?), and I kind of wish I had devoted my life to working artistically with my hands. I have kept a partial photographic record for my own satisfaction, though, but it's tons of photos for each object and I am not very organized. Fascinating subject.

Mysteries we like, agreed.

In other words, if you consider the double-bubble hole a kozuka hitsu ana, then these tsuba are not necessarily for a tachi...

The rust looks much older than a month in customs, as if someone had already tried to remove some of it even beforehand. I can understand why the seller might want to claim that it must have happened in transit. No use crying over spilt milk though, and no way to prove anything. Suspicions will rot you from the inside, so just bite the bullet and move forward. Thus we grow! (And learn for next time, hopefully...)

Nice collection of objects in a tsuba.

The last knobbly object seems to be a bamboo muchi (whip).

Thanks Brian. It was the gaiso shape and colour that drew me to it originally. It's rare to find such a thing in these parts; they have usually been snapped up by Satsuma collectors.

Here are some overall shots of the little Satsuma Nami-no-Hira tantō.

One good thing about Japan is you can fly over, wander around and step back into this kind of atmosphere, forgetting all about the troubles in other parts of the globe. Last weekend was another busy one, with a sword display up in the grounds of Achi Jinja on Tsurugatayama in Kurashiki. Always a pleasure to go back there as I once lived at the foot of that hill. The Jinja and surrounding walks are lovely at any time of year. During the day on Saturday the polisher handed me back the little Nami-no-Hira tanto. One or two spots of rust were deeper than he had thought so he had been forced to use a coarser level of stone, he said. That evening I had a message to say that the Satsuma long gun had been repaired, so sneaking out of the house I did a two-hour round trip to pick it up. The snapping lock now works again, at last, and he had managed to extract the stuck Bisen breech screw. The folding trigger turns out to be a strange affair that somehow disengages from the serpentine lock when in the folded position. I wonder if there was a further external soft cover that held it folded, protecting the exposed trigger for travelling? Now I must create a karuka ramrod for it. Luckily someone gave me a length of red oak, (the proper stuff) which I may attempt to whittle down into a suitable shape.

Not quite so strange when we remember that many post-Edo English maps, texts etc., referred to Tokyo as Tokio and Kyoto as Kioto.

Hmmm... at the moment I am just reading single letters, and not finding much meaning. Hoping someone will come along and tweak it further. Top right looks like a kanji, but it's very worn. What I suggested was ハ at the top left might actally be part of a kanji like 池. It could even be a sales tag, with those red edges. (?)

To keep John's ball rolling. ...八号? ハマルキY 一円半? (Just messing around and taking no responsibility.)

We had this discussion last April! Here is one from today.

Chatting to a tsuba collector today and he said that the Kōgai Hitsu ana is not specifically for a Kōgai. As an example he mentioned tsuba with Kōgai ana on both sides. The smaller extra cutaway does not indicate such a strictly limited function, he said. No problem to pass the end of a Kozuka handle through there, he said.

Not forgetting of course that many of this type are in softer metals.

On one Japanese site I visited there was a photo of some fragments of stone molds with this chrysanthemum design, suggesting that some tsuba of this type at least were cast.

One of the artisans at Osafune looked at it for a while and then declared, "It would take me six months of hard work to make one of these!

Thanks guys!!! My bad, I keeping thinking this is Reiwa 5… but I haven’t been out much this year officially. I went to the bank in March and on one form I wrote Reiwa 5… Hey, it’s Reiwa 6!!!!!!

The paperwork looks legit from that shot, although it was issued only just over three months ago, so it’s as fresh as an early morning baguette!

Hmmm… Dale, you beat me on another one I have which is 10.6 x 10.8 cm, but, but, but, …it does have a box!

By the way I have a gold coin from the Edo Period, a little Himé Koban. On its own it’s probably worth 40,000 JPY. If I send it to Tokyo for certification it will cost me 10,000 JPY to go through the process. If it gains good paperwork it could be worth ¥100,000. But if it fails, I will always know in my heart that it’s an old fake, or a newer fake. Most people in Japan do not seem to bother to file for certificates.(?) So the ‘value’ of the paperwork depends on the reputation of the organization, and paperwork for objects might vary in value depending on your collecting field. Thus paperwork for J guns probably add little to the value of a gun, whereas paperwork for swords which demand serious scholarly judgement tends to be of higher value. Back to your armor above for a moment. Recently I bought a kabuto with paperwork such as yours from the NKBKHK, and personally speaking I am glad, so I value the paperwork and the thought processes behind it.

To purists who know everything about katchū, it has little value, simply stating what they already know. To 99.9999% of the world’s population it is a wonderful thing to have, a vote of confidence, a relief, proof, a back-up by the ‘experts’. The paper on its own has little value, but together with the armour they complement each other. If you want paperwork for your armour, this is the best you’ll find, apart from very rare old manuscripts of course by long-dead appraisers. And yes, I like it!