Edo Period Corner Part II

[Bugyotsuji]

Bonus shot. I am loving this gun at the moment, despite the damage and the previous owner having removed all the patina with..., I am guessing 'Brasso' or equivalent cleansing powder liquid.

 

The sakura ‘za’ are cloisonne, which first drew my eye, but it is the blend of iron and brass that also interests me. Notice how the long sweeping neck of the match serpentine is iron, but it has a shinchu head (pinch flap section). Although classed as a 'snapping' matchlock, the spring is relatively weak and the fall of the serpentine is gentle.

 

The pan itself is unusually shinchu (more corrosion resistant), set into an iron barrel. Not sure if I've ever seen this arrangement before. Shinchu sandwich with pan and cover! The sear is hidden inside the lockplate, but the little 'ibo-kakushi' outside is in the shape of a Takeda Hanabishi Mon.

 

Another unusual feature is the lack of a slit in the stock below the ramrod. This is sometimes seen in Satsuma guns, but would have required drilling out the length of the stock from the muzzle end.

 

PS Triple clicks. Photo can be clicked, and then the plus sign will magnify it once, (move the cursor outside the frame to get the plus sign) and then clicked again you can get a giant size. On my PC anyway.

 

 

 

[Brian]

Patina on brass is relatively easy. Suspend in a sealed container with a small cloth at the bottom with some ammonia on it.
You'll get a decent antique patina. You're only using the fumes...not the liquid. And wash properly afterwards.

[Bugyotsuji]

Good tip, Brian, thanks. Everyone seems to use gun blue on brass, and so have I, but you can spot its use immediately. 'Fumes' sounds good!

[Viper6924]

Love the sakura byo. Don’t think I’ve seen that before 🙂

Does it come with a signature?

 

Jan 

[Bugyotsuji]

Yes Jan, it’s signed by a smith from Matsushiro, the Sengoku homeland of the Takeda, and then from early Edo the Sanada. I think the ibo-kakushi should be a nod to the Takeda. (No date but this gun must be Bakumatsu.)

One mekugi ana za. (Sakura za)

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

A nice dark brown patina can be achieved on brass, copper, and bronze with a solution of liver of sulphur.

[Bugyotsuji]

I’ll check that out. Thanks! 

[Bugyotsuji]

On 3/1/2024 at 1:30 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

On Wednesday the phone rang and a friend said that there was an archaelogical dig in the riverbed in Sakatsu, Kurashiki, at the foot of the hill at the top of which is the old Hachiman Shrine, built in AD 947.  "Sakazu" as it is pronounced locally, is where Aoe swords were produced. He'd heard rumors that they might have found remains of Aoe sword workings, but that the public was not allowed to get anywhere close. Well, we drove to the site, and took photographs from across the river. We spent the next hour driving around figuring out how to get closer, and in the meantine climbed hundreds of steps up to the Hachiman Shrine. Eventually we parked the car, grabbed some meishi cards, and walked somewhat nervously past the 'No Entry' signs to the site where they were just finishing up for the day. The leader, initially a little hostile, proved to be quite friendly and told us about what they had found. It had once been a community in antiquity, but apart from the tachi in a stone-lined kofun tomb/grave, they had sadly not yet found any evidence of sword smithing. The river is low at this time of year, permitting such digs. Their plan is to continue their work next year beyond this season.

 

Our next adventure will be to go find where Unji, Unju etc., i.e. the 雲類 Unrui lived. We have found the spot on the map, where there is a house with some kind of an explanatory sign, apparently. Watch this space.

 

 

Well, I was reading his X account and it seems last week he went without me while I was away! Dang… 

An old faded sign indicates where the Un school (Unji etc.) lived and worked by the Ukaigawa around 1300, Namboku Chō.

(Still looking forward to finding my own way there sometime though when the extreme summer weather eases off.)

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Hectic times here. We have blackpowder displays every single weekend until the double on 7th and 8th of December, so 10 in total including last week at Tottori Castle.

 

On Saturday and Sunday we had the local NBTHK sword society display with some lovely things in glass cases. One corner was set up for the public to try their hand at tagane work. One wall was for a teppo display, which was my watch. With one Satsuma long gun from the south-west, and two Sendai guns from the north-east, I was finally able to complete the display I have been dreaming of, two tables with various guns representing many of the regional manufacturing areas throughout Japan. I used the green felt cut-out for the four islands.

Honshu

Sendai long gun

Sendai 30-Monme 0-zutsu hand cannon (Date Masamune)

Matsushiro (Takeda/Sanada) long gun

Kii, Wakayama 20-Monme O-zutsu hand cannon

Kunitomo pistol c.1610

Bizen pistol

Bizen long gun

Choshu long gun (Mohri)

Shikoku

Iyo long army gun, made to order in Nanto (Nara) Yamato

Kyushu

Kumamoto Castle long army gun (Hosokawa)

Satsuma long army gun

 

Apart from the nigiri deppo, for added variety, all the above were matchlocks.

 

(Kept four back in reserve, so as not to clutter)

 

 

 

[Gakusee]

13 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Hectic times here. We have blackpowder displays every single weekend until the double on 7th and 8th of December, so 10 in total including last week at Tottori Castle.

 

On Saturday and Sunday we had the local NBTHK sword society display with some lovely things in glass cases. One corner was set up for the public to try their hand at tagane work. One wall for for a teppo display which was my watch. With one Satsuma long gun, and two Sendai guns, I was finally able to complete the display I have been dreaming of, two tables with various guns representing many of the regional manufacturing areas throughout Japan. I used the green felt cut-out for the four islands.

Honshu

Sendai long gun

Sendai 30-Monme 0-zutsu hand cannon (Date Masamune)

Matsushiro (Takeda/Sanada) long gun

Kii, Wakayama 20-Monme O-zutsu hand cannon

Kunitomo pistol c.1610

Bizen pistol

Bizen long gun

Choshu long gun (Mohri)

Shikoku

Iyo long army gun, made to order in Nanto (Nara) Yamato

Kyushu

Kumamoto Castle long army gun (Hosokawa)

Satsuma long army gun

 

Apart from the nigiri deppo, for added variety, all the above were matchlocks.

 

(Kept four back in reserve, so as not to clutter)

 

 

 

 

Well done, Piers, looks lovely! 

[Bugyotsuji]

Finally, reluctantly, moving house. 30+ years of clutter needs to be junked or hauled.

 

The long Yari presents a problem. I brought it home in the old station wagon, which we sold. Now I have to carry it in (half out of) the down-sized ‘one-box’ car. (No roof-rack.) Law here says anything over-reaching must have a red warning cloth attached.

 

Might take out a few cyclists on the way tomorrow.

 

And this, ladies and gentlemen is why so many originally long Yari get cut down…

[Bugyotsuji]

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. 

 

When a friend sold this yari to me, about 10 years ago, the pole at nearly 13 feet long stuck out from the front window. I had no red, so tied a white section of cloth to it. As I pulled out onto the main road, I saw a police car coming up right behind me. I think the law says anything outside the outer dimensions of the car must extend front or back, but not sideways. It was a sweaty nerve-wracking drive, and the dang police vehicle followed me almost the whole way home, for a good thirty minutes. Coincidence that they were on the same route, was it, or were they checking to see if they could book me for something? Anyway, eventually they turned off, and I breathed a deep sigh of relief. That was the story of taking it home.

 

Well, you will not believe this, so I will not bother swearing on the grave of my mother, etc., but yesterday I had the pole sticking out a good three or four feet from the front window. I had wrapped it in a towel so it would not either bust the window or mark the yari, and then I placed a long red gun cover over the external protrusion, tied that firmly in place, and somehow made it down the drive, avoiding the overhanging bushes and trees. The gun bag was flapping mightily in the wind, the whole pole shaking as if in full Sengoku battle. As I was getting used to driving this extra-wide load in the rush-hour traffic, my hand on the pole, trying not to spear any cyclists, a police squad car appeared in my rear-view mirror, two or three cars back. NOT AGAIN!?!?! One by one the intervening cars peeled off and finally the police were right on my rear bumper! In the mirror I could see them there in the front seat consulting each other, but all I could do was sit in the traffic jam as we inched forwards, me sweating buckets. Would I have to pay more for the privilege of owning a long yari (yes, I had removed the blade!) with points on my license and a hefty fine? And what would I do with the damn thing if they told me to pull over? I stuck to just inside the centre line to take the widest possible berth. The tension in the pit of my stomach was killing me.

 

Well, they did not switch on their lights and siren, but I did notice that they had moved their squad car closer to the side of the road, ...almost as if they were covering for the pole!  I guess they were behind me like that for 15 minutes of so of my journey, finally pulling off and heading away up to the university. 

 

The whole slow drive took me an hour and a half to get the vibrating yari to its new home. Luckily the wife was away this week, so I was able to shift bits of armour and various other 'non-household' things. Phew!  
 

Posted before, but once more to help grasp the size of the problem.

 

[Brian]

Wow! The length of that is insane! How on earth did they even store that in a castle. Can you imagine the comedy skit of a Samurai knocking everything off the tables as he maneuvers around the room trying to get it to its place of storage? 

Edit to add...I think I just discovered another use for a sunroof

[Bugyotsuji]

 Good excuse to double-check my yari facts here! 

 

Ordinary yari were called 手槍 'Te-yari'.

 

Longer Yari with a length varying between 2 gen to 3 gen were called 'Naga-e Yari'. Naga-e translates to 'long pole'. 

二間槍 Ni-gen-yari as in the photo were 2 x 1.82m, = 3.6 meters in length.

三間槍 San-gen-yari were 3 x 1.82m, = 5.4 meters long!

 

Mine has a only very short 三角 sankaku (triangular cross-section blade) in it, but imagine if it had a long O-mi yari blade!

 

There is an interesting expression in Japanese to express overkill, relating to your comment about how to store in a castle armoury, Brian. Great for the battlefield, but... 二間の間で三間の槍使う, (Ni-ken no ma de, san-gen no yari tsukau) which is a play on ken/gen but goes: 'That would be like using a 3-gen yari in a 2-ken room!'

 

In other words, too much for the job, actually making things more difficult for yourself.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Quick update on the blackpowder displays this autumn. We had one every weekend from the end of September until the 17th of November, meaning very heavy usage, with much cleaning and repair of guns and armor.

 

The most recent event was for the Martial Arts Kobudosai where we fired our big guns indoors, nearly blowing the roof off the place.

 

Nine matchlock tanzutsu/bajozutsu pistols.

Hand cannons:

One 20 Monme big gun. "Ni-ju Mon-me!"

Three 30 Monme followed. "San-ju Mon-me!"

Three 50 Monme next. "Go-ju Mon-me!"

Two 100 Monme for the finale. "Hyaku Mon-me!"

(1. Short 100 Monme hiyazutsu for firing bo-hiya or flaming bolts.

2. Long 100 Monme gun.)

 

(Many thanks to Peter in Belfast and Anthony in Stockholm for sourcing the two largest guns for us. Both are lovingly used and looked after.)

 

WARNING! NOT office friendly

 

 

In December, at the request of the tourist board, there will be a (chilly) evening double-header with thunderous flashes in the grounds of Okayama Castle, on both the 7th and 8th, ...and that should finally wrap up the year. Phew! 

[Bugyotsuji]

Video continues here...

 

[Alex A]

Want one of those heavy duty hand cannons!

[ROKUJURO]

Alex,

I know one for you: 
 

[Bugyotsuji]

Jean, where is that?

[ROKUJURO]

Piers,

perhaps you will remember that I have shown this to you 2 years ago. It dwells in the SAMURAI-MUSEUM in Berlin. 

440 MOMME; not exactly a pocket gun....

[Bugyotsuji]

Ah yes, it was ringing a bell. What a thing, though! It must weigh around 50+kg…(?)

[Bugyotsuji]

All good things must come to an end.

 

Leaving this house after 30+ years. It’s been good for the family. Sigh.
 

Now, have I left anything behind?

[Shugyosha]

Good luck in your new house Piers!

[PNSSHOGUN]

One assumes the new house possesses an indoor firing range....?

[Bugyotsuji]

One is best not to assume… 

[peter]

On 11/27/2024 at 6:14 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

Video continues here...

 

Thank you for the mention Piers and it always fills me with pride how we where able to reunite the gun to its place of origin, literally. In which sequence where they fired ? Ie , mine and Anthony's ?

Well done on what looks like a great event, firing it is on my bucket list 😁 

[Bugyotsuji]

Peter, the short fat 100 was fired first, by Kaneishi Hiro Kun in red katchu. He is from Takahashi. You'll see our leader showing the fire bolt around to the spectators. (Anthony and Marjolijn call it their "baby whale".)

 

The gun you kindly sourced is the longer one, fired last, closer to the camera, by Takahashi Kun in black, from the south of Okayama. Mr Koike the shirogane-shi habaki maker has sprained his wrist, so he is taking a break from firing it for the time being as he needs the use of his wrists for work!!! This is good, though, as it trains younger members to be able to step up and take over one day.

 

There is another view of your gun being fired, seen from further away but giving a very good idea of the blast and smoke travel. It's on X. I wonder if I can link it?

https://x.com/kuroku...081786317729942?s=46

[Gakusee]

On 11/27/2024 at 6:14 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

Video continues here...

 

Very nice altogether. 
 

Piers: how much of the armour is genuine old armour? Do people wear modern repros? Some of it looks old but from the distance I could not tell. Also, what about the swords? 
 

Thanks 

[Bugyotsuji]

Michael, sadly/happily, most of what we wear is genuine old armour, generally Momoyama to Edo period. There are some bits (small primer flasks, footwear etc.) that we sometimes make up but in our troop we pride ourselves on trying to keep it all authentic as much as possible. The kabuto that I am wearing recently has special value papers for example, and I regularly wear all of the kabuto you see in the empty room above. This means that we have to learn how to repair sympathetically as there is constant damage and degradation. (Personally speaking I have a 'good' old pair of sune-ate, which I switch around with a pair from Marutake, to slow such degradation, depending on the weather and the venue.)

 

At the moment I am doing an armo(u)r society translation, and once again giving thanks for the years of experience wearing and repairing and the familiarity with this and that word or expression. And yet there is still so much I do not know.

 

(There are re-enactment troops and festivals where everyone wears repros, though, as you know.)

 

As to the swords, they are all genuine koshirae, but owing to the laws here the blades inside are substitute tsunagi/takemitsu. Once after a public display a member of the public tried to draw my sword, without permission!

 

The guns are all real too, repros not being permitted under Japanese law. My oldest one, a Kunitomo pistol that you can see being fired in the first video, is from around 1600 -1610. She played a trick on me though. Oops...