Baka Gaijin

Morning everyone, There's a tsuba ascribed to Musashi Miyamoto which is based upon two namako sea cucumbers. cheers Malcolm

Evening all Check out American Civil War swords, in particular the M60 made by various makers such as Ames MFG Co of Chicupee Mass. (Ref CWS-97, CWS-95 & on page 2 CWS-88) http://www.johnnyg.westhost.com/swords-usa-cw.html Cheers Malcolm

Good evening everyone. The Pentacle in Christian symbology represented variously the five wounds of Christ or the five pure joys of The Virgin Mary, so not untoward for a decoration on armour. The Dark Magick (sic) usage is a conceit of various writers such as Eliphas Levi, Madame (Helena) Blavatsky in the 19th Century and Aleister Crowley in the early 20th Century. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Here's a link which may help..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing Cheers Malcolm

Morning all. To add to Roy's comment above, and I am only speaking from a U.K. perspective. None of the main carriers offer Compensation Cover on Antiques, Works of Art, Jewellery, Gold etc. The solution, which is expensive is to use Art Shippers, and the deal is going to work something like this: The object is priced according to weight or physical size, whichever is the greater. Example: a gold ring will not weigh much, but it will be packed in such a way as not to look like a gold ring....almost Shoe Box size. So you've got a large package which hardly weighs anything, and you'll be charged for the Dimensions. Compensation cover is going to be charged at around 2.5% of the declared item value. The price only becomes competitive when a number of items are included in the package. Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Thomas, There is a wealth of information on the site, if you start looking into "Okkashi - To" as well as "Satsuma Rebellion Mounts" using the Search facility on the Forum. Cheers Malcolm

Thanks Chaps, For a wealth of amazing ceramics, including the Honami Koetsu illustrated, check out this Link: http://www.ebara.co.jp/csr/hatakeyama/collection/# The legacy of Industrialist Hatakeyama Issei. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all I've seen pieces of Edo & Meiji ceramic with gold jointing repairs, I wondered what it was called and how it was done, http://www.youtube.com/user/kintsugisou ... 3mZgs0vkDY The aesthetic term Mottainai is used in the Video: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mottainai My favourite potter Oribe Furuta (1545 - 1615) a student of Sen no Rikyu (1522 - 1591) intentionally broke a Tea Bowl and reassembled it using Kintsugi technique. Not really on Topic, but adds to the knowledge base. Cheers Malcolm

Hi Ken, Google Translate on Google Chrome does a passable job of translating pretty much most of the page with all the eloquence of flat pack furniture instructions, which at least will allow you to navigate around it. Cheers Malcolm

Minasan Bump! 2 new titles 2nd sept 2010 cheers Malcolm

Bump! Check out the account of the First Embassy to USA in 1860.....Fascinating. Cheers Malcolm

Hi Roy, Warabite 蕨手 Literally a bracken frond uncurling, see the shape of the tsuka area. Cheers Malcolm

Good morning Eric, Looks like a Die for beating out low end Iai- To or Tourist type soft metal skinned Tsuba that were later filled with lead or pitch like substance. Ford would probably have a better idea than I Cheers Malcolm

Bump Post 1 with four new titles including an account of a Seppuku ceremony (Tale of Old Japan - A.B. Mitford). & Miyamoto Musashi (Japan in Days of Yore - Musashi volume - 1905) Cheers Malcolm

Bump Post 1 with four new titles including a piece about Musashi Miyamoto (Japan in Days of Yore). Cheers Malcolm

Good Afternoon Justin, If you start looking into "Okkashi - To" as well as "Satsuma Rebellion Mounts" using the Search facility on the Forum, you will find a host of information pro & con. Cheers Malcolm

Hi Jim, It most certainly is, and can be found in varying qualities on such items as Kendo Dou, Iai - To Saya, General Boxes for Sweets, Mobile Phones, Pens, Chopsticks etc etc. You'll need to find a Sayamakishi, there are some listed in the Restoration section of NMB. Cheers Malcolm

It's called Wakasa-nuri Wakasa-nuri, began in early Edo c.1660 at Wakasa in present day Fukui prefecture. Layers of different colored lacquers are applied to a ground roughened by the addition of pieces of egg shell or rice chaff. Thin gold or silver foil is pressed into the indentations and a coating of transparent lacquer is applied then polished to make a smooth surface. (Also used as a finish on Fountain Pens) Cheers Malcolm

Hi Ron, I think the more we show, the more we increase our combined knowledge base. The subtleties of design, particularly Japanese design in the immediate Post Edo period are fascinating. The writings of Basil Hall Chamberlain particularly: http://www.archive.org/stream/thingsjap ... 3/mode/2up Chamberlain was there closer to the time and some of his observations are to say the least...Insightful. Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning Ron, I believe that the Kiri Kamon (Paulownia Imperialis) used by the Imperial Offices and later the Office of Prime Minister counts five seven five petals (known as Go Shichi Go no Kiri) not three five three (San Go San no Kiri). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Constitution Much in the same way that the Kiku Kamon counts 16 petals on the Grand shrines, Bank notes & Coinage, Japanese Passport etc but appears frequently with other numbers of petals on more mundane items. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Seal_of_Japan Similar numerical variations are found within the three petal form of the Aoi Kamon used by the Tokugawa Family and its extensions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_shogunate I would appreciate a definitive please. (Purely for selfish reasons as I have an item bearing Go Shichi Go no Kiri Kamon). :? Cheers Malcolm

Bump!! Some really rare ones just listed in the first post 30th July 2010 Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Taking the cross shaped cutout a little further: http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.s ... ectionNo=1 Cheers Malcolm

Try: http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/ ... ing_itunes Cheers Malcolm

Edited Saturday 3rd September 2011 Morning all, here's more than a few links to some interesting 17th to early 20th Century books. According to the website, they are all in the Public Domain and can be printed off or converted to disc. (Some of them are Kindle friendly). If there are any restrictions, they are detailed in the small print. Latest additions: Warriors of old Japan & other Stories - Yei Theodora Ozaki - Published 1909 http://www.archive.org/stream/warriorso ... 7/mode/2up The Japanese Fairy Book - Yei Theodora Ozaki - Published 1903 http://www.archive.org/stream/cu3192402 ... 0/mode/2up ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the gran'daddy of travel books by Johan Nieuhof 1618 - 1672 (and although not Japan related, certainly responsible for much of the western hack imagery of China & Japan in the 17th - 19th centuries). http://www.archive.org/stream/lambassad ... 3/mode/2up (The actual drawings of 1658 were thought lost until found recently (1984) amongst papers in the collection of Prince Roland Bonaparte). Hagakure: Book of the Samurai - Yamamoto Tsuneo - (Opensource no other details) http://www.archive.org/stream/Hagakure- ... 3/mode/2up Gods & Heroes of Old Japan by Violet M Pasteur - Published in 1906 http://www.archive.org/stream/godsheroe ... 5/mode/2up Occult Japan by Percival Lowell - Published c. 1894 http://www.archive.org/stream/occultjap ... 0/mode/2up Tales of the Samurai by Asataro Miyamori - Published in 1920 http://www.archive.org/stream/talesofsa ... 7/mode/2up Agitated Japan - The Life of Ii Naosuke by H. Satoh - Published 1896 http://www.archive.org/stream/agitatedj ... 2/mode/2up A History of Japan 1853 - 1869 by Kinsei Shiriaku (Trans: E.M. Satow) - Published 1873 http://www.archive.org/stream/kinsshiri ... 6/mode/2up The First Japanese Embassy to U.S.A. (1860) - Published 1920 http://www.archive.org/stream/firstjapa ... 7/mode/2up Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art - Vol 1 by Ernest Fenollosa - Published c.1912 http://www.archive.org/stream/epochsofc ... 9/mode/2up Epochs of Chinese & Japanese Art - Vol 2 by Ernest Fenollosa - Published c.1912 http://www.archive.org/stream/epochsofc ... 1/mode/2up Noh - Accomplishment by Ernest Fenollosa & Ezra Pound - Published 1916 http://www.archive.org/stream/nohoracco ... 0/mode/2up The Japanese Sword & its Fittings (Museum Monograph) - New York - 1966 http://www.archive.org/stream/japaneses ... 5/mode/2up The Bamboo Garden by A.B. Mitford (Lord Redesdale) - Published in 1896 http://www.archive.org/stream/bamboogar ... 9/mode/2up The Satsuma Rebellion by Augustus Mounsey Published in 1879 http://www.archive.org/stream/satsumare ... 4/mode/2up The Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by Walter Denning - Published 1888 http://www.archive.org/stream/lifetoyot ... 5/mode/2up Thrilling stories of the Russo Japanese War by J Martin Miller - copyright 1904 http://www.archive.org/stream/thrilling ... 5/mode/2up Japanese Homes and their Surroundings by Edward S Morse - Published 1889 http://www.archive.org/stream/japaneseh ... 4/mode/2up In Togo's Country -Some studies in Satsuma - Henry Schwarz - Published 1908 http://www.archive.org/stream/intogosco ... 6/mode/2up Japanese Topsyturvydom by Mrs E. S. Patton - Published in 1896 http://www.archive.org/stream/japaneset ... 1/mode/2up Sketches of Japanese Manners & Customs by J. M. W, Silver - Published in 1867 http://www.archive.org/stream/sketchesj ... 1/mode/2up Manners & Customs of the Japanese by Philipp Franz von Siebold - Published in 1841 http://www.archive.org/stream/mannersan ... 6/mode/2up The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo - Published in 1919 http://www.archive.org/stream/bookoftea ... 7/mode/2up Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn - Published Leipzig 1907 http://www.archive.org/stream/kwaidanst ... 6/mode/2up And here's the Film pt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE3mJvsOtk4 Kokoro by Lafcadio Hearn - Published 1896 http://www.archive.org/stream/kokorohin ... 8/mode/2up Saito Musashi Bo Benkei by James S de Benneville - Published Yokohama 1910 http://www.archive.org/stream/saitmusas ... 8/mode/2up Transactions & Proceedings of the Japan Society of London Vol 1 1892 - published 1893 http://www.archive.org/stream/transacti ... 8/mode/2up The Classical Poetry of the Japanese by Basil Hall Chamberlain - Published 1880 http://www.archive.org/stream/classical ... 2/mode/2up Things Japanese by Basil Hall Chamberlain - Published 1902 http://www.archive.org/stream/thingsjap ... 6/mode/2up A Handbook of Colloquial Japanese by Basil Hall Chamberlain - Published 1907 http://www.archive.org/stream/hand00boo ... 3/mode/2up Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan - Yokohama 1885 http://www.archive.org/stream/transacti ... 4/mode/2up Imperial Japan - The Country & Its People by George William Knox - Published 1905 http://www.archive.org/stream/imperialj ... 0/mode/2up The Sacred Books & Early Literature of the East - Vol XIII Japan - Published 1917 http://www.archive.org/stream/sacredboo ... 1/mode/2up Shinto - The Ancient Religion of Japan - by W.G. Aston - Published 1905 http://www.archive.org/stream/MN40077uc ... 5/mode/2up Tales of Old Japan Vol I by A. B. Mitford (Lord Redesdale) - Published 1871 http://www.archive.org/stream/talesoldj ... 7/mode/2up Tales of Old Japan Vol II by A. B. Mitford (Lord Redesdale) - Published 1871 http://www.archive.org/stream/talesoldj ... 7/mode/2up Japan in Days of Yore by Walter Denning - Published 1881 http://www.archive.org/stream/japaninda ... 5/mode/2up Japan in Days of Yore (Musashi version) - Published 1905 http://www.archive.org/stream/japaninda ... 9/mode/2up Bushido by Inazo Nitobe - Published 1905 http://www.archive.org/stream/bushidoso ... 8/mode/2up Ehon Taikoki (Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi) by Takeuchi Kakusai - Published 1914 (3 Volumes) http://www.archive.org/stream/ehontaiko ... 5/mode/2up http://www.archive.org/stream/ehontaiko ... 3/mode/2up http://www.archive.org/stream/ehontaiko ... 3/mode/2up (Japanese text, lots of woodblock illustrations - Japanese format) Tsuba in the collection of the Cooper - Hewitt Museum (Smithsonian Institute) - Published 1980 http://www.archive.org/stream/tsubajapa ... 3/mode/2up The fighting man of Japan by F.J. Norman - Published 1905 http://www.archive.org/stream/fightingm ... 9/mode/2up Cheers Malcolm

Good morning all, Ref: http://www.nyoirinji.com/houmotu.html If you look below the poem image, you will see an image described as 楠木正行公短剣 - Kusonoki Masayuki's Dagger. This looks remarkably similar to those Meiji period Tourist items which often have inscriptions to Hachiman Dai Bosatsu. :? see: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6705&hilit=items+of+interest Is this what they are based upon? Cheers Malcolm