Bugyotsuji

What's a zero or a comma between friends?

Hi Bradley, this video was just posted yesterday, but nice find. In here... Improving nihonto museums in Japan. - Nihonto - Nihonto Message Board (militaria.co.za) Some of us have already been to see the sword floor, jam packed with blades. There is also an armors floor, and a teppo guns floor too! If you want to see everything in a day, you'll need to get a good night's sleep first, then get in there right as the doors open in the morning! By the way, it's so new that no-one at Nagoya main station knew where it was, and even the taxi driver asked for the correct address to put into his navigation system as he'd never heard of it.

Found this in a drawer. A copper yataté (worn through the obi like a netsuké and sagémono set, which illustrates the first post of this thread.) “Now you see it, now you don’t!” Opened for brush calligraphy or sumi-e painting. (Two kozuka examples shown) And how they pack away. The small ‘Kozuka’ for cutting paper, etc. See partition inside hollow tube.

Lewis, if you pass through Okayama City on the way to Osafuné, (most catch the local train there) then check out in advance what is on at the Hayashibara Museum of Art opposite Okayama Castle. Often they have blades from their own good collection on display.

Ah, well, it gives this information here: 無鑑査.広木弘邦刀匠の父.筑州柳川住弥四郎國広作之.来写し.綺麗な直刃.刃長75.6反り3.0.状態良.居合刀. Mukansa. Father of the swordsmith Hiroki Hirokuni. Mei (as in earlier post above) Rai Utsushi (copy) Kirei na (pretty, beautiful) suguha. Blade length, sori, etc. In good condition. Iai-Tō.

Do you not find it strange that it records the date of birth of the owner, but not the name of the owner, Moriyama San? It is almost as if it is recording two births… Is it likely that this ‘owner’ is also the smith?

Yes, possibly, …but I am not really sure why it would say that. The date on the left may be the time of manufacture, June of Showa 52.

I think it says that the 所持者 shojisha owner was 生 sei/umare born in Showa 39, and the inscription itself is signed in Showa 52?

筑州柳川住弥四郎國廣作之 as you said above. Showa dates are slightly blurred in that shot…

The Buddhist Wheel of the Law is also know as 法輪 Ho-rin.

Almost best and quickest way is to buy some bamboo knitting needles of the required gauge, chop off the ends, and sand off.

Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. I will pass on the link to this thread. It will be hard to replace him as he was the de-facto go-to tsukamaki Shi for Osafuné, Bizen. I remember Hashimoto Kun once saying that he orders in ‘himo’ (string), but once it’s strung it is called ‘ito’ (string, thread). The very same material. Perhaps the difference is in the tension, and corresponding thread thickness when strung.(?)

Oh and I found these of his from five years ago in the camera memory. (Repeated spaced clicks will make these shots grow bigger and bigger.)

I remember some years ago a group of us went for a bite to eat at Yoshinoya after the local sword NBTHK meeting. He mentioned he had started a paper round from 3:00 am each morning, to supplement his income. Some of his work

That looks like my Alma Mater, but they’ve sure done it up swell.

Just recently he went to Tokyo with other artisans for the NBTHK awards ceremony and fell ill during the celebrations afterwards. He never made it home. Tsukamaki-Shi Hashimoto Kun from the workshops at Osafuné was the humblest, kindest person you could imagine. He didn’t say much, but his eyes shone with respect and honesty. I simply wish to record his short life and eternal passing here. He leaves his young wife Ai San. (Last summer he restrung the hilt of a wakizashi for me, and it was even better than I had expected. Everyone had high hopes for him. Such a sad affair for all.) Awarded 14 prizes. This he did for me.

Awwww.... bars on the windows, no fair, even white ones!

Once they’ve contacted each other to check, it’s easier and safer for them all to fall into line, eliminate any doubt, and say “No” more clearly than before.

All shots upside down, but looks like Bizen Kuni Ju Osafuné Sukesada. IIRC Nice presentation!

Nothing to brag about, so facts and figures it is. At 56? when visiting a well-known sword shop in Japan. (Fin) *Additional notes. Daringly bought a cheap, mumei wakizashi in black lacquer koshirae as a starter piece. Carried it home guiltily and hid it from the wife, taking it out occasionally to stare at it, expecting some miracle to occur. When nothing happened, a week later I took it back to the shop, disappointed, also shocked at the realization that a sword is for life, not just for Christmas. Well, you don't just 'own' it, there is responsibility to maintain it in the same condition, and there are those future generations somehow involved, waiting their turn. So as they say in Japan, 泣き面に蜂 naki tsura ni hachi, (when the kid is bawling its eyes out, a wasp comes along and stings him on the face) the store paid me less to take it back. A customer in the shop assured me that the loss was just 'school fees' and the opportunity to upgrade. I knew I would need to know something about Nihonto first, so I joined the NBTHK. All of the above were sobering lessons I learnt from the brief process of buying and selling my first real, traditional Japanese blade.

Looks like the very same one.

Check out the usagi 兎 rabbit Kamon family crests here: 兎家紋 - 検索 画像 (bing.com)

My immediate thought on looking at the soft metals was modern, but it could be over-polished. There are some really nice details in the chisel work though.

Seriously though, you could run a ‘fake’ auction here and see what people would actually offer for it. Might get more accuracy that way! (If it were for sale, of course, which we know it isn’t.) PS I like the unusual way the dragonflies are done.

Would you take $50 for it?