Brian Posted April 11, 2015 Report Posted April 11, 2015 Ah...very nice. I suspected it might be. That one is also positioned far better than the one in the other thread, and would have better balance. A simple retrofit too if it was desired. Nice one Piers. Brian 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 4, 2015 Report Posted May 4, 2015 Mystery object, seen worn around a young lady's neck yesterday. Quote
raaay Posted May 4, 2015 Report Posted May 4, 2015 Piers Is it a removable/ portable -extra gun sight ? Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 4, 2015 Report Posted May 4, 2015 With zero information, that's good going Ray. Part of a matchlock pistol that blew up. An artisan made a 'Netsuke' from it. Quote
Brian Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 What happened to the rest of the parts? Brian Quote
raaay Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 Piers I hope no one was injured when the pistol blew up. ! so the sight is portable now Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 No, luckily this time surprisingly no-one was hurt, Ray. Brian, the simple answer is that the middle section blew into many pieces and got lost in the long grass. The foresight section, and the breech with pan and lid were found. The gun stock splintered and shattered. I took some photos, but that was considered a breach of etiquette. Quote
Jean Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 I must confess Piers that I am much more interested in the young lady who was wearing it as necklace no pictures by chance? 1 Quote
Brian Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 Was just wondering, as I would love an example of a lock if it survived. Brian Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 5, 2015 Report Posted May 5, 2015 I have a feeling it is being recycled, but there might be an extra lock set in there somewhere. For a pistol, right? Will ask, Brian. Oh, and Jean, believe me, you do not want to go there. 2 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted July 1, 2015 Report Posted July 1, 2015 No, sadly Brian it got used. Today I saw an object that I could not get permission to photograph. Private collection. Mystery object challenge. Plain Ho-no-Ki tsuka, no traditional bindings or fittings. Extra large. Five or six mekugi holes in a line and one large mekugi. Two removable copper bands like those on a Hinawa-Ju gun barrel. A metal pin through the tsuka near the plain kashira end. Any volunteers? Quote
Brian Posted July 1, 2015 Report Posted July 1, 2015 Tsuka for testing blades for tameshigiri? Adjustable for various nakago? Brian 2 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted July 1, 2015 Report Posted July 1, 2015 Boring! No slipping one past you gentlemen! Grrrr... Yes, spot on. Slides open, hing(e)ing on the metal pin, and can fit most sizes of Nakago I guess. The bands would serve to lock it on to any blade. The size would make for a solid grip in two hands. Actually I thought I could see some Roman lettering on the cross-headed hinge-pin, suggesting 1930s to me. Might have another chance to see it today. 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 The general answers are hidden in the photograph if you read Japanese, or if your antennae are sensitive enough. Four questions of differing levels of difficulty. He is sitting in the hall, just inside the open glass doors on a very hot day, getting occasional cool breaths from the air-conditioning. What is he doing, why, and what or who is he? Enjoy! Quote
Baka Gaijin Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 Morning Piers., I'd hazard a guess he's plying part of his trade as swordsmith and signing with either your name or message of choice, small pieces of discarded nakago which are filed to a small protrusion, to be used as Mekugi nuki. 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 Well, Malcolm, that's pretty impressive. Yes, he is a swordsmith by trade, the younger Ando. This was an event being held on Sunday for the public at the sword museum, and as a sort of side booth he was offering to cut your name for a small price into a rectangle of copper: a dingly-dangly tag. No mekugi-nuki though. (Ken may recognize him as the one who is experimenting with things such as meteorite iron inclusion, recreating utsuri, etc.) Quote
Ken-Hawaii Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 Of course I recognize him, Piers. Just wish I could have afforded the meteoric blade he made! Ken 1 Quote
Brian Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 Piers, Next time you ever see an event like this, please ask them to sign "Nihonto Message Board" and let me sort you out via Paypal? Brian Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted July 30, 2015 Report Posted July 30, 2015 Brian, pm me some more detail. In katakana? He was charging 1,200 yen a piece, I think he said. I asked him if he could do one each for my daughters; I do need to get back to him on that. Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Over the years I have noticed my collection of Japanese Hi-uchi-gane flint steels growing little by little. This Tuesday at an antiques fair I found four on the same day! Cleaning the rust off them is a delicate task, but today I was rewarded with a legible Mei on one. (Usually such marks are hit fairly randomly, and no-one to my knowledge is able to read them). 豊前小倉大道作 it says. Buzen Kokura O-michi (Daido) Saku. Well, there was a Buzen Kokura Han during the Edo Period. Kokura Castle, residence of the Hosokawa and then Ogasawara families, proclaims it. There was also a line of O-michi swordsmiths forging there in early Edo at least... 3 Quote
Brian Posted March 18, 2016 Report Posted March 18, 2016 Nice find! I would like to retire oneday to Japan and spend my days travelling from one antiques market to the next 2 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted March 19, 2016 Report Posted March 19, 2016 Congratulations on your 10,000th! You must come and visit again next time you are over... () 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted June 26, 2016 Report Posted June 26, 2016 Quick follow-up on the above steel striker. Last month I showed it to an elderly and respected Katana-kaji swordsmith who is a member of the local NBTHK, and asked if a swordsmith would ever make such a thing on the side and if so, why? It's not as if Katana Kaji are just general blacksmiths for any old farm implements... . He replied that it was an interesting object that would not be so simple to make, extruding the loop like that. It could have been for the smith's personal use, or possibly as a tag for an order. Today we had a joint meeting in Osafune of the Hiroshima and Okayama sword societies, with some fine blades brought by our western visitors. There was Mr A again, the swordsmith, and he motioned me over. Obviously he had been thinking about the iron striker sets. "Did you know", he asked, "that from early times a small fire-starting kit in a bag was hung from the Kurigata of most Tanto? This custom continued right into Edo times, and extant examples have been found in old Kura." Well, I went away fascinated by the idea, and later found some examples on the net. Particularly Taira no Kiyomori and Tsunemori were shown wearing them in the "New Heike Story", a screen adaption of the novel by Yoshikawa Eiji, a movie said to be historically accurate in unusual detail. And that was way back in the mid 1100s. Was this not also one of the roots of Netsuke, I wondered? The Kurigata (literally Chestnut Shape)was already a fixture with a hole for passing the sageo cord through, and it stopped the sheath from sliding down and out of the obi. That most men hung something extra from it, positioned there on the top of the obi, ie a fire starting kit bag, started to suggest Netsuke origins to me, happening long before most theories in the literature. Pic 1 here: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/tunemotoou/9957021.html My translation of captions = The movie version of Yoshikawa Eiji's "New Heike Story" is thoroughly true to life, my favourite historical drama. If you visit the homepage of the assistant director, Miyajima Hachizo "Miyajima Hachizo Japan Film Yomoyama-banashi Chats" you will find all kinds of historical material and backstage stories. In this scene, Kiyomori and Tsunemori (around 1150 AD?) have flint sets fixed to the Kurigata on the Koshi-gatana (Tanto) at their waists. 2 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 21, 2017 Report Posted May 21, 2017 In my travels around antiques markets I occasionally find a further example of something that I remember being very excited to find the first time around. Two weeks ago I was rummaging through a dusty box of rusty old tools. Suddenly I spotted a little green-patina brass hammer for knocking in/out Mekugi pins. Keeping my face straight I held it out and asked how much. Cheap as chips! He did not seem to recognize what it was for. I think I paid over $100 for the first one I found about 10 years ago. These little hammers are not the ones we can buy nowadays with a screw-in pin, but a much simpler type with a flat handle and an oblong head. Might give it to my sword teacher in appreciation for his infinite patience with me over the years. If he accepts it then I will know he likes it. Years ago I gave him an old working box from a Japanese swordsmith's forge with "Yari" written on it, an unusual old Kanji form. "No thanks", he said, and I learned a lesson in humility. He must have not wanted to clutter up his new house with a dirty old box. Even my wife agreed that it had been a stupid present. I like boxes... 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 21, 2017 Report Posted May 21, 2017 New addition on the right. Solid brass, oh and this head was hexagonal in crossection, unlike the first one. In the shape of a 'Kakeya' sledgehammer, maybe like the one used for breaking into the Kira residence during the Uchi-iri of the 47 Ronin.. 4 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted May 22, 2017 Report Posted May 22, 2017 Oh, and a picture of the young lady? 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted October 24, 2017 Report Posted October 24, 2017 Quiz time. What are (were) these objects? About the size of a large Baumkuchen. No more hints for now... 1 Quote
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