The Blacksmith

I have just ordered a bayonet from a dealer in the UK, who informs me that he has only been using UPS for a while now anyway, without any problems. Though I still have to find the total cost of the shipment. My last parcel via Parcel Force was just £20.

A book that I recently acquired and which I can thoroughly recommend is Cutting Edge, by Victor Harris. Victor Harris was Keeper of Japanese Antiquities at the British Museum for many years, and was widely regarded as one of the most knowledgeable people outside of Japan on Nihonto.

The problem is Mat, that 'plod' in the post office will probably just see an edged weapon and act accordingly. Many of them don't know their own rules unfortunately. They tried this before, but bayonets were not included, but 'plod'in the post office didn't know this, and threatened to destroy my parcels! The parcel with the two bayonets that I ordered from the UK, arrived this morning, safe and sound. These were posted on the 3rd of May. Now the interesting bit, as there are two more that I am after from the Uk.............. I'll keep you informed.

A fake 95, but a much better quality one than many that we see!

Looks to me like it is perhaps the bonji for Shaka (Shakyamuni).

A beautiful blade! Shirasaya are good Klaus, nothing to distract from the beauty of the blade! This was one of the reasons that I collected mainly Shin-Gunto swords, though back in the late 70's and early 80's, not so much was known about all the various different fittings. Do I see slight utsuri in some of the pictures?

The business account idea gets round any possible problems with shipping to private address I suppose. many dealers already wouldn't ship to a private address in the UK.

They seem somewhat reminiscent of kuwagata* to me, which as the tsuba is a Myochin piece might just be a possibility perhaps? ......................................................You can stop laughing now But I think Damon is thinking along the right lines. * For the those who may be unfamiliar with Japanese armour, kuwagata are the ornamental horn fittings on a kabuto (helmet).

If that was the UK Piers, they'd be wanting to ban trees now!

That is like saying that if someone dies in a road accident, it is obviously the fault of the car manufacturer!

Many years back, I lost my, legally held, pistol as a result of some nutter going into a school and shooting people with a pistol. Result: All pistols banned in the UK! Had he gone in throwing Molotov cocktails instead of using a gun, would they have banned cars I wonder? I very seriously doubt it! I have heard that the two bayonets that I have ordered have now left the UK, so that is good. However, I am after a No.4 'spike' bayonet also from a dealer in the UK. The bayonet is only £39, but wonder what UPS or DHL would want to ship such a small item? Far too much to be worthwhile I would imagine. Also, we have to pay customs on the carriage too as well as the item!

When I was collecting Nihonto, many moons ago, I heard about curses being wrapped into the handles of Japanese swords. One person I can remember shuddering as they told me about this! They wouldn't have anything to do with Japanese sword because of this! Fortunately, I knew a few people in the Japanese sword world, long before the internet!, and eventually managed to find out that it was an old wives tale, born of ignorance in the late 19th century, when all things oriental were in vogue, and large collections of Japanese swords and fittings were being formed. Evidently, as the kashira and menuki were cut from the tsuka, the little paper triangles would fall out, and as not many people in the west could understand the kanji, the myth of the curses was born. They would often use any odd bits of paper under the tsuka ito, flyers or even old prints. I presume that others have heard of this fable?

In the interesting post by Ynot, it states at the bottom, Royal Mail will now continue to carry “any knife or knife blade, including cutlery knives, bread knives, knives that can be used for hobbies and trades, butcher knives (including meat cleavers), felling axes and razor blades” Isn't collecting classified as a hobby? I have just had two bayonets sent to me today from the UK, which have been collected by Royal Mail and is in the system, we will see what happens...........

Isn't sarashi a form of wrapping? Possibly 'Sarashi Kitae' is another term for kobuse saku? Just a guess admittedly.

A badly written Hide possibly?

Those were good times. I can well remember buying Exchange & Mart every Thursday I think it was, and immediately going to the militaria section, which was avidly read and re read. As a teenager, I was known as 'spiky' to a couple of local shops as I was seemingly always carrying a pointy weapon of some sort. Nobody was bothered, or even gave a second flance, and I never had a problem buying items either from shops. Those were good times indeed. I'm pleased to have been around then. Perhaps the UK might introduce a permit for edged weapons, like they have in Denmark. We do not have it here, but in Denmark even for blunt weapons a permit is required.

Thank you John. The first of the two Great Helms , was based on the Bolzano helmet from Italy, and would date to about 1300. The second Great Helm, was based on the Black Prince helmet in Canterbury, Kent. This dates to about 1370. This helmet (the copy), was originally made for use, and was intended to fit over another helmet. The customer eventually asked me to make a slightly lighter one, which I did, and then I russeted this example. As it was originally going to be used on horseback, I made the occularium a bit wider than the original, again at the customers request.. Vision is of course restricted, especially with another helmet underneath, but as the occularium is relatively close to the eyes, one does see a bit more than one might perhaps expect. I had made another one of these many years back for a stuntman friend of mine, and he was knocked off his horse while jousting, which was planned, but what wasn't planned was his horse kicking him in the face as he fell! He lost four teeth, but thanked me as he reckoned that it saved his life, or at least very serious injury! I'm proud of that!

There are several wonderful childrens armours in Leed, though none unfortunately belonged to Henry VIII Piers, though there is one for King Charles II as a boy. However, there are two delightful little German half armours, that quite possibly (I think!), were made for the same boy, one when he was about eight and the other when he was about ten. I think this was for the reason that you stated, that at that age they grow so fast, so the smaller one wouldn't have fitted for very long. The proportions are also quite different. There is also two quite matching armours, possibly for father and son. What sort of age would a Samurai boy have been given armour? I have seen some of the toy armours , made for the boys festival, but do not recall seeing boys armour, which must be absolutely delightful.

Thanks Piers. Yes that was taken in my workshop. Actually, two different workshops, but both mine. Childrens armour is great fun to make, as the proportions are all wrong until they are about nine or ten years old. I was actually thinking about armour yesterday. I mentioned Henry VIII's armour, and two of his armours had a device that held the great weight of his armour from the waist, not a dead weight on the shoulders. But thinking about it, Myochin Hisaiye did a similar thing with the Yukinoshita do, the renjaku chords also helped to keep some of the direct weight off the shoulders. Simiilar thinking, fifty years apart, and halfway round the world! I did have the front plate to a Yukinoshita do, and it was extremely heavy, easily bullet proof.

Always nice to have matching numbers of course, but if these are anything like British issued swords, non matching numbers are quite normal, especially if the sword has been back for repair at some point. One positive thing with mis matched numbers, is that they are far less likely to be modern repros, as those nearly always have matching numbers.

I remember a trooper falling from his horse a few years back, and the papers commented that he was saved from injury by his breast and backplate! The MOD have sold many of the original cuirass' now, and many of those in use are made of plastic. A modern technological improvement.........

Awesome, thank you very much for that Piers, that is much appreciated. A chanfron (horses head) A modern made one though ! Miniature armour of all types is quite popular, as well as great fun to make. This is also how many people learn the various techniques needed to make armour. as it is much easier and cheaper in miniature. On full size chanfrons, or ones intended for use, the side panels are usually held by hinges, this makes it more secure, but also cuts down on noise, which helps to save the horse from getting scared. It takes quite a time to get a horse used to the noise of a man in armour, and even longer if the horse is wearing it too! Thank you again! On the subject of childrens armour, here is a childs armour that I have been making. Greenwich style, ca. 1590-1600. Here is a another view of it, in a much earlier state of completion, with a visiting school class. Note the teacher who is struggling to hold it! It weighs 9kgs (19.8lbs) and this is only a half armour down to the waist, as at this age , about 6yo, they were too young to have a horse, and thus didn't need legs for the armour. This is about the correct weight for an armour of this type and period. It is possibky half the boys own body weight! Just thought this might be of some interest.

This is worrying. I will have to ask a few of my dealer contacts what they will do. Much of my collection has come from abroad, mainly UK and US. Luckily, I have never had a problem, either with anything going missing, or damaged. Only problem I have ever had was a bayonet that came from Ireland, and which took seven weeks to get here, and nobody knows swhy, or where it had been. There are a couple of items that I am hoping to acquite from the Uk, so I will ask them about sending them to me, and report back. I did buy a rare bayonet some ten years back, and the dealer wouldn't send it out of the counrty, as he informed me that the Royal Mail would destroy it! I had it sent to a friend of mine, and he tried to send it to me, only to be informed the same thing. I eventually had it sent to a dealer friend of mine, who very kindly sent it to me, via Royal Mail as per usual, no problem at all! I have bought many bayonets from him, and never had a problem. It seems that Royal Mail didn't know their own rules, as bayonets were not prohibited in any form!

Wonderful, I'd love to see it!

I don't suppose you have a picture of that on file do you Piers? Certainly in Europe, after the age of about eight, children of noble rank would have had a small horse, and that probably had armour too. It is thought that children as young as three would have had armour so that they could get used to the weight and the heat of it. At eight they would begin armoured horsemanship, and by about fourteen or fifteen, they were adults and took their place in the line of battle. Edward of Woodstock, the famous Black Prince 1330-1376, was only sixteen when he commanded a wing of the English army in the thick of it at the Battle of Crecy. So it was necessary for young nobles to get acquainted with arms and armour at an early age. So perhaps a small horses head (Chanfron) is possible. Dogs too had some armour, both for war and for hunting, though this is extremely rare. The other possibility is that during the 19th century there was a huge revival of all things medieval, and many extremely good items were made, and antiqued, to satisfy the market greedy for such historic artifacts. Many large collections were formed at this time and Pratt, Pigeon, Bacheraux and Schmidt were famous producers and suppliers of these items, many of which have fooled collectors and museums. Many of the items are beautifully made.