roger dundas

My poor brain has just exploded. No wonder that my collection is so mundane- but can be enjoyed for what it is. For all that- wonderful information from smart people. Roger j

You are welcome to give me a kicking here if you like but were these pieces ever mounted or ever intended to be anything other than examples of the maker's craft ? If mounted, about when ? Tsuba in #4 looks to have been used ? Roger j

What a great piece especially with it's attribution. A lot of these Dayak knives came back to Australia because our soldiers were given the job of clearing out the Japanese from the Island of Tarakan, at Balikpapan oilfields on Borneo, the Barito River/Banjarmasin in south Borneo and other places that probably Ian Brookes knows more about. A number came home with them. The Americans had gone on to the Philippines as well as those other hellish Pacific Islands. Hellish because of the ferocity of the fighting and the huge loss of young men from both sides. I have a small collection of these 'bush knives cum headhunters weapons- one and the same. Roger j

Mark, I am a nobody here but I want to say you need to not allow yourself to get riled up about responses you don't like. Just sift them out and learn from them all. Roger j

As something of an amateur in these discussions, I love these posts. Did Ford Hallam mention using Renaissance wax to finish off ? Roger j

Swiss Army knives are terrific- one or two blades, scissors, tweezers ,tooth pick,awl, screwdriver and so on.Blades hold their edge too unless you misuse them. Roger j

And at least it is a real Tsuba, even if somewhat down in condition rather than one of the many modern versions being seen now. Roger j

No doubt very adept archers, even on a galloping horse but for all that it must have been extremely challenging with all that movement going on underneath you, the archer. As for a Samurai not expected to abandon his mount/his fighting platform, those situations can happen in the blink of an eye, a horse stumbles and off you go, air born . Especially if you are concentrating on your arrow shot, you can be off and down in a moment. Roger 2

The Japanese stirrup also allows the foot to easily slip out in case of a mishap whereas a European stirrup can sometimes trap a rider's foot and drag them along the ground even though only the ball of the foot is meant to be on the plate not the instep and certainly not the entire foot in the stirrup. Many riders have been badly hurt and sometimes killed from brain injuries as a result of being dragged by a bolting horse. Certainly has happened in our community here over the years. And if the Japanese chose to ride stallions as many macho men did, they can be a weapon in their own right, often enough quite savage and aggressive. A rider might welcome no impediments when coming off a horse in a hurry. One of the great scenes, shot in the rain, in 'The Seven Samurai' was the war horse kicking out at whoever got in its way- a stallion I imagine. Also BaZZa's comment about the Japanese stirrup providing a stable platform for firing arrows etc makes sense. The Parthians, the Romans and the Greeks just hadn't got around to inventing the stirrup in their time. Maybe I have told you what you already knew ? Roger j.

Nice to get your input BaZZa- always value you opinion. Roger j.

Just to follow up on the earlier posting, here is another similar, simple style of Heianjo inlay IMO ? I quite like these flush inlay types of tsuba, also for their period of about 1600 ? A very simple design, nothing to stir the soul but for all that, a pleasant example. 75.5 by 72.3 by .28 at the mimi, .35 at the seppa area. The other point is that they can be pretty much O.K for price which suits me very well nowadays, as much as the display of the U.K collection currently coming on line here for viewing is something altogether different and greatly impressive. Roger j

I would be happy to own this one too-well done, well considered IMO. Roger 2

Here we go again: I hadn't intended to go further with the above but looking at and enjoying the V&A, London Museum's tsuba on line again today I noted two more Namban tsuba similar to the above and both with the Christian Orbs with a cross above, one of them with the extra crosses as well. The interesting thing to me was what unites them all (as well as the orbs and crosses) is that the seppa-dai on all of them is the same (maybe an exception in Grev's Birmingham museum collection). I am a little uncertain- my eyesight is not too good. V&A Accession numbers; M.772-1931 page 60 of online display; also M.764-1931 page 59 (also as noted above M.194-1916 page 51). Hope someone is interested. By the way John, there are a few tsuba similar to yours (above) in the V&A display but you probably knew that already? Roger 2

Thanks once again for your interest and thoughts Piers- what you say fits the bill and makes sense. John your examples are quite 'overt' but could be explained away as a genuine part of the subject design - is that it ? Christian crosses but part of the design . Thanks again Piers and John. Roger j.

Yesterday, following up the similar tsuba 'of minor quality' in London's V&A Museum collection - it appears identical with my example but with gilding in good order (and larger sized, similar to the 'Antiques by the Sea' tsuba). Also (today), in Grev Cooke's book - "The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Tsuba Collection V2", there also are two near identical examples on pages 71 and 72, both again larger than my example but similar to the 'Antiques by the Sea' tsuba except for the gilding- which differs both in original coverage plus later wear and tear. The whole lot appear to me to have been made by the same hand. All have the Christian Orb plus little crosses. A 'covert' identification maybe, but if so why would you do it if it endangered your life ? And thank you also Brian for your interest. Roger j.

Thanks for that Geraint. Roger j.

Another one for 'the pot'. From a wakizashi. Roger j.

Thank you all very much for your comments and your liking of what you see. And Michaelr commenting that there are times when we, all of us, have paid less for somethings than we feel they were worth- and that does happen often enough to even things out. By the way, the increase in price was quite substantial, by about another third. Thank you all very much again. Roger 2

Thank you to Geraint and you are also so right- the pleasure of having such a Nihonto piece to wonder about, admire as a work of art and something made for a purpose. Roger j

Once again, thanks Piers for your input- really encouraging to get your take on things and knowledge. In the past I might have posted a tsuba for comment and nothing came forward, no comment at all, which puzzled me until I realized that it probably wasn't worth commenting on ! Roger j

I greatly appreciate your encouragement Piers and I thank you for that. I personally like the deep curvature of the blade. I presume that the original owner wasn't out in the field long or often with this sword judging by the generally good condition it is in. Some swords you see show a hell of a lot of wear and tear which tells us something of the comings and goings of these tenacious soldiers. Roger j

This Namban style tsuba was purchased very recently from NMB 'For Sale' page for the skill shown in its making and the price was better than fair to my mind. But when examining it closely there appeared 3 small crosses on either side. Being not particularly interested in the 'Christian cross' genre I looked to see what the internet could tell me under "Christian Cross tsuba discussion". Here there appeared a tsuba for sale under 'Antiques by the Sea' 2020 which is pretty much identical except my version is a little smaller at 7 by 6.8 and the gold overlay shows a fair degree of wear/loss where the other is larger at 7.5 by 7.1 and with most of its gold still there. Mandarin Mansion also has a near identical tsuba for sale/sold (could it be the same one ?). Both sites refer to one similar but of minor quality in the V&A museum, London Accession No.m194-193. Both Mandarin Mansion and Antiques by the sea say amongst other things : ....Canton style...Typical Chinese design but likely Japanese made for Japanese use ? C 1700s.- A Namban Tsuba with Christian Orb (and crosses). Roger j

Probably this (to me) fine wakizashi is not worth what I paid for it about 25 years ago? For all that, it is a favorite piece and I hope members also like what they see. I can give you no blade details so it will be up to your own eyes and knowledge. What I do know: Blade length 20 1/2 inches (52.1 cm) Maker; (many thanks to BaZZa here) -GEISHU JU FUJIWARA FUYUHIRO ....Aki Province, Edo period ...maybe 1661-1675, 3rd generation ? Pre-war polish, Beneath the leather combat scabbard covering is the original pre-war lacquered scabbard with some inlay losses but overall not bad condition. What happened re the dealer, his brother quoted me a price which the older one over rode with a higher figure, they disputed further but the higher figure prevailed. It was a 500 mile, 8 hour trip for me so I accepted it. But I still bitch about it to myself- not so much the money but for my not walking away, maybe strangling the brother but that is an uncivilized emotion. Roger j

Thank you Piers and Mark for your comments. And to Jean (ROKUJURO) for your advice. I should clarify the "barracking from the sidelines" was directed at Mark(the other Mark ,'CHISHIKI", the seller) and not me. I was surprised at the comments, impressed by the tanto, further surprised it hadn't sold after enquiring about 'the state of play'. One further thing about CHISHIKI- he was more than fair to deal with as I have found with other items also, tsuba etc .So thank you again Mark Roger j

Have very much enjoyed the above presentations. Hoping someone can clarify my offering. Purchased here at NMB just over a year ago from Mark who was very generous to me after being given something of a barracking from one, maybe more spectators on the "For Sale' sidelines. A Kwaiken, a concealable women's knife, great condition, about 16.8cm blade, originally a Kikutchi Yari cut down to make a small tanto in 1897 as per inscription on reformed tang. The maker's name is more obscure ?-Kane ? Koto period ? Actually it was Mark then BaZZa who put me in some of the picture. It is a lovely Kwaiken in my opinion. Thank you.