Bugyotsuji

Sairen sounds like 'siren', as in air-raid siren, in English.

Who wrote the sayagaki?

A New Series of Banknotes and a New 500 Yen Coin : 日本銀行 Bank of Japan (boj.or.jp) Japan to issue new banknotes - Japan Today Quote: Photo taken at the Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo shows samples of new banknotes to be issued as early as July 2024 in the first renewal since 2004. The face of Eiichi Shibusawa, known as "the father of Japanese capitalism," will be on the new 10,000 yen bill; the new 5,000 yen note will carry Umeko Tsuda, an educator who pioneered women's higher education, while the new 1,000 yen note will feature microbiologist Shibasaburo Kitasato, who developed a serum therapy for tetanus. The backs of the three banknotes will adopt images of the Tokyo Station building, wisteria and a work on Mt Fuji by ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai, respectively. They will include holograms to prevent forgery. © KYODO

The copper coin shows the fleet review off Kobe in 1930, and somewhere among those ships was the visiting HMS Belfast.

https://en.m.wikiped...man_will_do_his_duty Quote: A similar signal was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War. At the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905, Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō – who had studied naval tactics in Britain from 1871 to 1878, and was known as the "Nelson of the East"– signalled to his fleet: "The fate of the Empire depends upon today's battle: let every man do his utmost".

The two medallions. The silver one on left is stamped 純銀 Jun Gin, for pure silver (135g), 6.3 cm x 0.5cm @mimi. The copper one, 7.0 cm x 0.6 @ mimi, shows Kongo class battle cruiser Kirishima, I think.

He studied in Britain in the late 1800s, and ordered dreadnoughts for Japan. He masterminded the great sea victory at Tsushima over the Russian fleet, drawing his inspiration from the naval tactics of his hero Lord Nelson. The Tachi he insisted in wearing on the bridge, splashed with seawater, was his famous Yoshifusa. He kept a diary in English, and is said to have believed he was a reincarnation of Nelson. Perhaps the name Horatio even sounded somewhat like his own name Heihachirō? Recently I came across this solid silver paperweight, which goes nicely with a copper commemorative medallion and saké cup, each from different phases of his life.

Brilliant stuff, Manuel! Nice to see some acquaintances on that list too. Must remember to congratulate them.

What bothered me about the 'sail/shade' was that any small breeze would tend to move the boat quite rapidly, and a strong gust would surely upset the pieces on their Go board as they were blown off course. No-one obviously in control. One at least of Jeremy's pics, and Vitaly's long scroll show a boatman behind the shade, able to take control with the rudder. Luckily it is now evident that this is mythology, so wind would never be a problem at Mt Horai! By the same token, though, Stephen K's Murtha collection tsuba above shows the nabiki/nobori banner waving in the wind!

Nostalgic photos indeed. Now from this thread I feel I know him much better than I ever did in life.

Apologies, Dimitri, I was only commenting on the pronunciation of the shape, (木瓜mok-kou or 木瓜型mok-kou-gata) which is difficult to express in English or French.

木瓜（もっこう）の意味・使い方をわかりやすく解説 - goo国語辞書　'Mok-kō' Nice!

Just an afterthought, Yurie San. You mentioned 'May or June'. June can be a gamble, very wet and humid, and/or very hot, switching between the two extremes.

Maybe it is copper! Very strange!

Is the tsuba made of wood?

The occasional link between classical paintings and tsuba themes is persuasive. I have a tsuba showing an ume tree, a lamp, and a nyoi-bo, which I think must relate to some illustration by Tani Buncho, but what, I sometimes wonder idly? Anyway, well done Jeremy on your unrelenting and detailed quest, and the amazing reply network above!

Probably 'Fukuda Kei'.　(Kei or Takashi) 福田 敬

Not an expert, but my book gives five Hamano artists using both names of Otsuryuken and Miboku, and they stretch from 明和 Meiwa to Kansei 寛政 1764-1800, kind of mid-Edo Period.

The Tada/Chu character is written decoratively, but it would be recognized by other members of the group as being distinctively 'different'. Since the leather thongs on the back are positioned at either end and in closely-located pairs, I am guessing this was tied onto a headband as a forehead protector (or onto an obi waistband, at the back of the hakama). The material is leather and 羅紗 RAXA Rasha felt, often used for jimbaori, chest protectors etc. Not having seen one exactly like this before, however, I am willing to be shown otherwise. Anyone? I thought of koshi-ate hip pad for a tachi, but the material looks too fragile to hold up to being struck repeatedly by a scabbard.　Search for Tachi no koshi-ate: 太刀の腰当 The Kanji character within the 'igeta-well-mouth-at-an-angle' is not as far as I know a famous Kamon, but seems to express both homage and lineage to a family beginning with 井, like Inoue, Ii, Ide, Izutsu, etc.

井桁に忠 Loyalty within a well mouth/frame. The first character of 忠実 Chūjitsu, loyalty. (Notice the bottom stroke of 中 is deliberately left out of the design.)

Thanks, Colin. Nice to know. Their descriptions are certainly not perfect, but better than I expected. Lot 129 is a serious battlefield weapon, Ogino-Ryu school of gunnery. The others look at first glance more like decorative merchants' guns for small game.

Next summer there is a plan being floated to display tsuba at a regional museum near here. We were asked to provide candidates for selection, so yesterday I placed about 30 entrants into two bags and set off for judgement. He will be holding a general viewing this August too. About 10 or 15 years ago I went there with my early collection of 50 or so tsuba, and he was like a Ninja flicking shuriken. "No, no, no, no, no.......................no!!!!! Piers, ...buy ONE for ￥100,000, not 10 for ￥100,000." Yesterday he was generally silent, but took much longer examining each one before rejecting them. Perhaps he had matured in the meantime? Occasionally he would say why he didn't like one, or mutter a life-saving word of ..... (was that?) praise. As James Murdoch once famously said, "Words are like bullets. Use them sparingly." Finally he had seen them all, and handed them all back. I was a little disappointed. As I was searching for something cheerful to say, attempting to fill in the silence, he suddenly said, "You need to 'te-ire' (TLC) some of those. The YamaK looks promising. (= Yes, send it for papers). The Cho-Shu tsuba and the Kyo Daigoro were good, if you still have them next year. Of course, Mr H (who recently published a tsuba book around his own collection) will probably provide the bulk of the eventual display." He seemed to be saying that even at this early stage they already had too many, and it will be hard for him to reject any tsuba offered by famous collectors. And here I was innocently thinking he wouldn't have enough. But, but, but, he hadn't rejected them all!!! 3/30 is 10% folks!

Well, yes, probably a local branch of the NBTHK could organize a hands-on visit.

If I am here next June, and the possibility is high at the moment, then yes, count me in. But I am not really 'outside of Japan'. And the next question that someone will ask will be, "Are non-foreigners welcome too?"

海軍大尉.. Kaigun Tai-i (?)　(Navy officer rank, Captain?)