1kinko

Just to shift the original question about AOI a little, has anyone here had experience with the auction, where it seems no one else was interested and then got outbid minutes before the auction closed? This has happened to me several times. It seems to me that there is a way to have your computer do the bidding at the last moment and avoid having to bid and outbid. How does one compete? Thanks in advance.

For well organized, high quality, color images, of the various schools try the A.H Church Collection at the Asmolean Museum site at the Jameel Center (Oxford University). Church had a predilection for floral, geometric and animal forms but he had a good eye. The Asmolean staff are also very helpful if you want images of the ura side. jameelcentre.asmolean.org

If you go to Japantown you will find Asakichi who sells antiques (not real old), new boxes and tea utensils and tea. I consider the Asian Art Museum to be the Chinese Art Museum, but you may find a book or 2 that may be useful and there could be a special exhibit, but the Japanese collection, including the De Young's netsuke collection seems to have disappeared.

Nori, made by Yasutomo, is starch glue. Coming fromJapan I assume it is rice-based. Anyway, it works perfectly for saya construction and because it is a commercial product, it is uniform and produces reproducible results. Cheap too.

Is there such a thing as a cast kozuka? Casting such a thin hollow shape is much more difficult than soldering the 2 sides together. Embossed, possibly, but not cast I think. Anyway, this is easily resolved by looking for the solder lines along the sides and the join area on the koguichi.

Acetone has no effect on patinas and will break down superglue and epoxy.

Sebastien- For tsuba you can use chirimen silk from used silk kiminos or furoshiki. Both are available online and can be dyed easily. This is pretty thick stuff and will do a good job of protecting the metal patina. It is also easy to make into futons. I recommend against balsa because it bends rather than cutting precisely and will not give a crisp edge to make a tight fit for the tstuba. Try basswood as a closer approximation to paulownia. Use a thin layer of thick rice glue as it is sticky and will form a good bond between the material and the wood (I press them together for about 2 h. Use the cutouts from the basswood tsuba form to press the fabric into the sharp edges of the tsuba shape.) and will not bleed through to the surface. Liquid glues will bleed through and produce an undesirable sheen on the surface. For furoshiki chirimen you need about a 1 mm gap between the wood and the material. The chirimen grain is usually horizontal.

I certainly will. I'm still seeking the weight of the chirimen to use for fuchigashira since the fuchi requires the most stretch. For kozuka, and tsuba, the 1960 era furoshiki weight chirimen silk works fine. Several years ago, I bought a roll of cream chirimen and this year I dyed it purple. I looked fine until I streched it, but then I discovered the weft was made of synthetic and did not take the dye. I use 2 layers of thin basswood for the base material. I tried balsa but, in my hands, it bends rather than cuts precisely.

Thank you Guido! It has been surprisingly difficult to get this information, but I've finally come to the right place.

Thanks for the welcome and reply, but Ford's post does not address my questions: 1) what are these bako called (as opposed to those with elastic)?; 2) what weight and weave of chiramin silk should I order? I need 1 in order to accomplish 2. None of the bako with recesses that I own use 2 pieces of fabric like Ford used. That's the point of using chiramin silk- it stretches. The question I'm trying to answer is what is the exact name and weight of the silk that has historically been used. I hope this is clear now. Thanks.

Hi, I'm new to posting on the forum. I'm an amateur tsubashi and kodogu collector. Most fuchi bako or fuchigashira bako I see today use elastic to secure the kodogu to a thin piece of wood that is covered with chirimen silk (or synthetic). Since elastic is a pretty recent innovation, I assume that pre-1940 bako (if they existed) held the kodogu in place in recesses or cut-outs in a thin piece of chirimen silk covered wood. I have some such bako and the recesses are about 1 cm deep, or deep enough to come up half way on the nakagoana of fuchi when inserted sideways. Danny Massey has suggested that such boxes are called otoshi bako. I am attempting to upgrade my kodogu collection and replace boxes with elastic with otoshi bako but I’m having hard time finding the chiramen silk that will stretch enough to allow a fuchi to be inserted sideways. I have ordered and received a number of old chirimen silk furoshiki, but in my hands, this silk seems to be too thick and stiff to stretch sufficiently. I have read that there are several kinds of chairmen (hitokoshi, yuzen, kinsha, rinzu, and oni) and I understand that silks are sold according to weight and range from about 5 to 30 momme (or 18.5 to 31.7 oz), but I do not know how to order silk of the weight or kind used in kodogu bako. So, I am hoping that someone might 1) confirm the correct name for bako with recesses, 2) know what pre-1940’s boxes looked like, 3) know what weight of silk I should order, 4) suggest a possible vendor, or 5) provide a link to someone who does know this admittedly esoteric stuff. Any information will be appreciated and I thank you in advance for even reading this post!