Baka Gaijin

A brief resume: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/wol/dy/culture/090924.htm Malcolm

Morning all http://www.koryu.com/library/harmstrong1.html Cheers Malcolm

Hi Henry PM sent. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all Thank you for clarifying Keith Cheers Malcolm

Thank you Keith KSR refers to Kashima Shinto Ryu 鹿島新当流 ? Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Henry http://www.davidrumsey.com/Japan/ Cheers Malcolm

Good evening all. Thanks to everyone for the input thus far, however I am looking for something more Ryuha specific. Much in the same way that the Ogasawara Ryu (小笠原流) School of Etiquette influenced the Rei - Ho of many Gendai Budo. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, What are the traditional methods of tying the knot in the fusa himo of a sword bag and which school(s) of etiquette do they come from? Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Carlo: The devil is always in the details :lol: Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Screwball theory again..... If we mix a cocktail of Occam's Razor with a hint of Marcus Aurelius and add a dash of Semantics. Q: What does the object look like? A: A Sword. Q: What is the chief material it is made of? A: Wood. Q: How would you describe it simply? A: A wooden Sword. Now put that into Japanese and we have Bokken (木剣, bok(u), "wood", and ken, "sword" /Bokutō 木刀. Diehard Martial Arts Movie fans will remember the cyber controversy caused in the 2003 movie "Last Samurai" when the character of Ujio played by Sanada Hiroyuki 真田 広之 cried "Katana Osae!" to Bokuto weilding Tom Cruise. :lol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTXGRtAQ ... re=related Cheers Malcolm

Afternoon all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERhCbPEw ... re=related Yagyu Shingan Ryu, watch from about 4.22 in, techniques with the Kodachi using saya. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Screwball theory time: Here's both a Literary & Film observation about the decline of the Samurai fortunes in both Edo & Bakumatsu and the wearing of either solid koshirae or koshirae with tsunagi: The novellist Fujisawa Shûhei 藤沢 周平 describes Bakumatsu decline and how the central character in Tasogare Seibei - たそがれ清兵衛 (later filmed in 2002 as Twighlight Samurai) is forced to sell his Katana blade to pay his debts, and so wears a tsunagi in Koshirae for sake of appearances. Hashimoto Shinobu 橋本 忍 co wrote a stunning indictment of Samurai moral & financial decline for Director Kobayashi Masaaki 小林 正樹 in his 1962 film Seppuku / Hara Kiri 切腹 describing how one of the characters has to use a blunt bamboo blade to commit Seppuku, because that was all he could afford to wear. Somewhere on NMB is a breakdown of the Samurai Stipend system showing the dire straits low stipend Samurai were in. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all Brian mentioned "Tsukahei"... I didn't know what that meant: http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/Di ... %20hei.pdf Apologies if stating the obvious. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Here's an example of Bokken/Bokuto preserved (Jisso Enman no Bokuto): http://www.hyoho.com/Hyoho1.html Here's a modern maker of the major Koryu styles: http://www.bokkenshop.com/category_s/43.htm And then there's Yakumaru Jigen Ryu and others which use branches from trees (still with bark on in some cases): Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Not just a dull edge, but I would add "made from a non ferrous material incapable of taking an edge". (e.g. Duralumin and varients suitably plated), Cheers Malcolm

Good Afternoon all, Terao Magonojo (寺尾孫之允), Terao Motomenosuke (寺尾 求馬助) & Furuhashi Sozaemon (古橋 惣左衛門). Cheers Malcolm

Evening Paul, Your DVD comes pretty close in timing and execution: Well done. Aspire higher yet..... A limit is only that which we set upon ourselves....... (No reply is expected or required - Just an observation) Cheers Malcolm

Hi Piers, I think our host is "sampling" from Tom Cruise..... (ref: Timothy Spall - Voice Over) Cheers Malcolm

Morning all Here's something serious from the Budokan Check out from 3.14, one of their old spears broke during the embu, though they do not show the moment, it clearly shows the position of breakage. And here's a bit of entertainment on a Sunday...... And,,,,,,, (The voices, they made me do it....... ) Cheers Malcolm

Evening all, Concerning Eric. K's observation re the relative size of mekugi in Yari v Katana. Here's another of my Screwball Theories..... I reckon it's all to do with dynamics of motion & Newtonian Physics. The Sword travels in mostly forward arcs which encourage the blade to exit the Tsuka, thus a large mekugi (or two) is necessary to hold the blade back. The Yari however involves itself mainly in thrusting movements which encourage the blade to move back into the shaft. QED Cheers Malcolm

Morning all Here's an interesting link: http://www.bowdoin.edu/mongol-scrolls/ Cheers Malcolm

Evening all, A word of caution regarding some items found in 19th Century sourced collections. Years ago in one of the major rooms in London, a screen came up for sale which was literally bristling with every sort of arcane Japanese polearm blade imaginable plus a few more; to top it it was flanked with a host of tsuba. Great find, greater estimate or its worth, even greater potential for the commission; until it was discovered that they were all half side castings. Can we ascribe some of the items we encounter outside of the repositories as artistic "caprices" being hastily constructed for western dealers hungry for the ever more exotic? Just a thought Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Eric, It's looks like a Kamon called Migi Futatsu Choji Tomoe http://www.tozandoshop.com/v/vspfiles/k ... ant11.html Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Here's a link to the Nihonto making episode of the 1974 BBC TV series "Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 2988346810 While we're on the subject of early BBC TV series showing Nihonto making "Way of the Warrior" with Yoshindo Yoshihara: Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Ian & Ford, This may be of interest as the source for Gekko & I believe Utagawa Kuniyoshi's earlier rendition of the scene: http://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_037.html If you scroll down you have the entire play in English and Japanese. Here's the Kuniyoshi version: http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp? ... width=1280 Cheers Malcolm