Baka Gaijin

Good Morning all, I've seen a few in this style, I believe they are mostly from the 1920' & 1930's often with a Tachi kake and an accompanying Yumi Ya set to flank mid to upper end Gogatsu Ningyo (May 5th - Boys Day) Armours. The blades are ferrous, with a thin chromium plate and fake hamon, rust comes through readily. They were often supplied in plain wood boxes, sold as a set, the best quality were manufactured by Maruhei of Kyoto and Tanimoto in Osaka (The latter factory bombed in 1945 did not continue after the war). Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning Joe, I don't think the Kanji is Hon. It's got some more strokes, top and bottom possibly. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Got one this am. Same format and details as above. I've disabled my email facility as suggested. Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning all, Just picked up on this rather late, but it pinged a few memories of unsolicited emails offering swords from a few years back. http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubbt ... Post366337 http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/archive/i ... -6142.html They do say the past repeats itself...... Of course it could be legit. Cheers Malcolm

Afternoon chaps, Good points Carlo & Guido. However, I suggest the source of the celluloid yakuza using blades in shirasaya may come from an actual event which was romanticized by the woodblock artist Yoshitoshi in his series Kinsei Kyogiden of 1865, about fifteen years after the real events took place. The series tells the story of two gambling rings in 1849 and their struggle for power. Iioká Sukegorô led the larger, stronger gambling ring, while a man named Hanzô led the other smaller ring comprised of Fishermen and market workers. During an epic battle, Hanzô’s smaller force of twenty-five was able to drive away the larger force while only suffering one casualty. After the battle the Edo police cut off all means of escape for Sukegorô’s men. At this time one of Sukegorô’s men, Seiriki Tamigorô, took his gun and shot himself. The fighting between these two rings continued on even after this battle. happened, and also became the source of the Zatoichi sub genre. A blade in shirasaya is somewhat similar to the oroshi hocho long blade used for cutting Tuna in the Fishmarket, may this be the source of the Post Modern mythology? See illustration: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... %26hl%3Den Cheers Malcolm

Good morning all, If you scan most if not all of the many Yakuza films starring the late great Takakura Ken, you will see shirasaya being used in urban combat. See: 1.Abashiri Bangaichi: Bokyohen Dir: Ishii Teruo 1965 not to mention the host of follow ups: 2. Abashiri Bangaichi: Aku eno Chosen (1967) 3. Abashiri Bangaichi: Dai-setsugen no Taiketsu (1966) 4. Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Toso (1967) 5. Abashiri Bangaichi: Hokkai-hen (1966) 6. Abashiri Bangaichi: Ketto Reika 30 do (1967) 7. Abashiri Bangaichi: Koya no taiketsu (1966) 8. Abashiri Bangaichi: Nangoku no Taiketsu (1966) 9. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi (1968) 10. Shin abashiri bangaichi: arashi yobu danpu jingi (1972) 11. Shin abashiri bangaichi: Arashi yobu shiretoko-misaki (1971) 12. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Dai Shinrin no Ketto (1970) 13. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Dai-Dassou (1971) 14. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Hagure Okami (1970) 15. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Runin-masaki no ketto (1969) 16. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Saihate no Nagare-mono (1969) And of course the marvellous outing for Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken The Yakuza Dir: Sidney Pollack 1974 Just to up end the thread slightly, the matter of a wooden or bamboo blade in a koshirae, the once proud Samurai forced to sell his blade has become part of Japanese Chanbara Eiga genre. See: Tasogare Seibei (Twighlight Samurai) Dir: Yamada Yoji 2002 Seppuku (Harakiri) Dir: Kobayashi Masaki 1962 Cheers Malcolm

Good Afternoon Ford, Here are a few possibles: http://www.old-Japan.co.uk/ http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/unive/ http://www.gettyimages.com/Creative?country=usa (Getty Images are geared up for media usage, and have some amazing 19th Century archives). Best regards Malcolm

Good evening all, Excuse me if I've posted in the wrong area, but there's a very interesting tanto for sale in San Francisco, at Bonhams. http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.s ... 87-1-1.jpg The points of interest for me are: 1 The semi circular cut out on the tang,,,,,what is that? 2 The 5 7 5 leaf Paulownia Imperialis on the saya and the 3 5 3 Paulownia on the menuki...why? Cheers Malcolm

Cheers Dirk Malcolm

Morning Zanshin, When I use the link provided on page 1 of this post: http://www.Nihontoden.co.uk. I get "Not Found" URL/error php was not found on this server. I get the same result also using Google. There is a flashing mysql repeat image when you try to access via: http://www.nihontoden.co.uk/site/forgotpasswd.php Is it IE8 playing up? (I've had some problems with Internet Explorer 8 recently.) Or is the site down? Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning all, I have a problem accessing the new auction site, I'm using Internet Explorer 8. Cheers Malcolm

Good Evening everyone, Can anyone help to clarify this: According to several Japanese websites, Yamaura Saneo's father was called Yamaura Masatomo (山浦昌友), but in Oi no Nezame, Saneo refers to his father Nobukaze (Inami: Nobukaze信風). It may be that his father's true name after his adulthood (Inami) was Nobukaze, and his Aza (common given name) was Masatomo. We are preparing a paper which we will share on NMB. Best Regards Malcolm

Thank you Brian, I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. Best regards Malcolm PS It's interesting to watch Gunto emerging, one supposes from ancestral "Kura" in Japan......

Good Morning all, A point of clarification between Gendai-to and Showa-to please. Tsuruta san currently has a Navy Gunto in the Aoi Art Auction, the blade of which he describes as Showa-to. https://www.aoi-art.com/auction/en/auct ... 1213703271 Cheers Malcolm

Good Evening all, Hi Ian, I wonder if the holes are contemporary with the object, which is quite skilfully executed. The holes are pierced crudely, cutting the bottom hanging spray of foliage, and I agree that a clock movement might have been secured to it. The hooks may have been left to secure a wire or chain weight and pendulum on something like a Vienna Regulator movement, if the double hook was rotated 90 degrees to the right, the pendulum arm could be pushed into it whilst the clock movement was being wound. I think the playful cat is a clue and suggest Shinto festival and the hooks, which look "right" may have supported something like a shimenawa or similar straw offering to the Kamisama related to the season and pursuit. Cheers Malcolm

Hi Rich, If you zoom in and look carefully at the tsuba in question, the line seems to continue the other side of the nakago ana, which suggests that if it is a sword damage, then it occured when the Tsuba was unmounted. I've a vague recollection of an article concerning the destruction testing of blades in the late Edo period using various items of varying resistances including Tsuba. Can anyone expand on this? Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning all, I suggest that we don't see many tsuba with battlefield damage due to the fact that with the exception of the Bakumatsu/Boshin war period, the bulk of tsuba were produced during the Pax Tokugawa and thus pass down from an age with little conflict apart from personal. Tsuba surviving from Momoyama and before, survive perhaps for aesthetic reasons, the battlefield damaged pieces being discarded when a blade was remounted, in the same way Katchu becomes modified as it passes down the years. However, there's a tsuba with a suggested musket ball dent on No 9 of Grey's 30 Tsuba sale currently showing in For Sale or Trade. Here's some actual examples of a documented combat, the blade and habaki showing the scars to ha side: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/katanainfight.html and a Wakizashi with scar to mune: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/Taema.html Cheers Malcolm

Good Evening all, Just picked up on this thread, and Moriyama san's observations about reversed menuki. In support of his opinion, I draw your attention to Tozando Budogu's Yagyu Koshirae Iai-To with "Sakasa Menuki" (Reversed position according to: the document of the historical Yagyu diary (sic) http://www.tozandoshop.com/Yagyu_Koshir ... 6-s106.htm Cheers Malcolm

Thank you Moriyama san. Edited accordingly This is what makes NMB such an important study tool. Cheers Malcolm

Thanks again Steve M. Here's a link to Saneo's work (No 4): http://www.choshuya.co.jp/0705/thanks_info.htm And to Kiyomaru's work: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... 26a106b238 On a wild aside, it seems that the Historical novellist Yoshikawa Eiji (1892 - 1962) wrote something about about Yamaura Kiyomaru's turbulent life in 1942 http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1335 ... 3details Cheers Malcolm

Good Morning SteveM, Thank you, any light shed on this would be excellent, I've come across oblique references to it over the years and have always drawn a blank. This is the first time I've had glimpse of the actual work. For the record, as far as I can work out, Yamaura Saneo was the elder brother of Yamaura Kiyomaru, and "Oi no Nezame" was Saneo's summation of the key elements which made a sword practical as opposed to the more flamboyant forms of the early Bakumatsu; (based upon his experiences as a swordsmith). I'm not sure, but I think he is praising Masahide's work in several places in the text. I think he writes that he wrote this in 1871 at age 68. Addenda: The navigation button at the bottom of the text takes you to a brief overview of the work. Below this are three text hyperlinks: 郷土の偉人；刀匠山浦真雄とは takes you to some pictures and text relating to workplace and grave I think. 芳扇書；『老いの寝覚め』の自運 The calligraphy seems to be written by the owner of the web site. She (the owner) is a calligrapher, and 芳扇 (Hosen?) may be her art name. Courtesy of Moriyama san. 随想録「老いの寝覚め」（全文）returns you to the original page you started from The nav button at the bottom of the overview page takes you to the origianl poster "BarBa".. Thanks BarBa Good old NMB Cheers Malcolm

Good Evening all, Is there an English translation of "Oi no Nezame" (The waking of an old man) by Yamaura Saneo (1804 - 1875)? Cheers Malcolm

Good morning all Again NMB comes up with the goods. Thank you gentlemen for your input and oblique humour. Cheers Malcolm

Morning all, Hope I'm in the correct section. What does the term "Zokumyou signature" mean? http://www.aoi-art.com/sword/wakizashi/09062.html Cheers Malcolm

Good morning everyone, Herewith a slice from the dreaded You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_gcPGI-ZMI& Cheers Malcolm