Edo Period Corner Part II

[Bazza]

Ummmmm...  Do you need some kind of license to have this??  And how hard is it to get for something that falls into your hands, so to speak??

 

This one looks very nice, bronze I guess with that lovely, old patina, unless it is a very old 'fake'.

 

BaZZa.

[Bugyotsuji]

Although I am sure I've seen these with a registration paper, I was assured that these are classified as a cannon, and thus not legally needed. On the other hand a cannon that I bought recently does have a registration certificate, although they are not necessary. Yes, it is 砲金 hokin, gun bronze. Our gunnery teacher said it is a genuine one.

 

Not sure that I understand this, though BaZZa: "And how hard is it to get for something that falls into your hands, so to speak??" Or should I say that I AM sure that I do not understand this? 

[Bugyotsuji]

OK BaZZa, I'll bite. Just have to guess what you mean! "How does one 'stumble across' such things?" 

 

The answer to that is... it's blowing in the wind.

 

My impression of late is that collections are not reaching the general market place, but a) my impression could be mistaken, or b) dealers might be hoarding stock in anticipation of better times ahead, or they are finding things but selling them on quietly and immediately to collector clients. But as one dealer told me many years ago, you have to keep going out and about to find things, even if you don't find anything one time around.

 

There are many things I should be doing, but I have a ream of excuses for not doing them. On the other hand I do maintain a small round of regular antiques fairs, markets etc., that I look forward to once or twice a month, but if I draw a blank I'm not too bothered. Stretch the old legs, have a morning coffee, get some fresh air, listen to snatches of dealer talk, check out the goods, hope for a gem, etc., what's not to like? 

[Bugyotsuji]

Quick report.

 

The city opened their newly-refurbished martial arts hall today in the sports park, and after the opening ceremonies they announced three displays. The guy doing the yumi was wonderful. I cannot put it into words, but his movements, slow, measured and balanced, took my breath away. He fired two arrows into a giant bail of rice straw, almost splitting the first with the second, a la Robin Hood. Even the way he pulled the arrows out was drawn out in a sequence of perfect steps.

 

Mr Kanzaki performed his full-armo(u)r tameshi-giri for us, a short version, always worth watching. The maki-goza mat pole had a silver fan stuck in the top, and he sliced the thing expertly down across the middle.

 

Finally it was our turn. Two members had failed to turn up because of the weather, so we were down to four shooters, one Tai-Cho, and about 10 helpers. One by one we loaded our pistols and fired them, and all went beautifully. The rows of dignitaries clapped politely. 

 

Then the big guns were announced. We all took our time loading these babies, and I poured a large bamboo flask of 50 grams, 7-800 grains(?) of black powder down the muzzle. In full armour, kneeling on a hard wooden floor, second in the line, I knew I could hold out while the first guy went through his preparations and... clicked.

 

Start again! My knee was hurting and my whole body had started trembling, but with all those eyes fixed on you, the only thing to do was keep a brave face. 

 

Finally had had refilled the pan, adjusted the burning match cord, and was going through the firing sequence once more. Ready, "aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhh"......... click..

 

By now I was in serious pain, the two guys on my left could see me shaking, but so were they, they said. Had to keep my head up. I was beginning to wonder if I could stand up, in full armour and carrying a huge lump of pig iron (it felt like),having foolishly volunteered to fire the thing standing up. I had not figured on this long a wait, and did I dare shift knees? 

 

Finally it came, an earth-shattering roar as the wooden floor of the dojo lifted up. 三度目の正直. Third time lucky. My turn, thank God! I staggered to my feet, stepped forward, called over the match-cord guy, knelt down, bound my left hand tightly and set the match. As I fired I sensed it was a good bang, and from the audience I heard a sigh of approval. Later they told me I had blown a perfect ring right across the hall! Yay! The cherry on the cake for me.

 

Behind me I heard the last two guns going off with thunderous reports, Mr K the sword sensei firing the 100 Monme last. All's well that ends well.

 

With all those cameras there, I wonder if that smoke ring (which I didn't see myself) will be on the evening news tonight? 

[Brian]

Well narrated Piers. Could feel every ache and nervous breath. Congrats, sounds like it went well.

[Bugyotsuji]

Looking for some coverage I found this tweet feed.

岡山武道館さんはTwitterを使っています: 「お知らせいたします☆彡 令和５年１月23日（月） ☆「岡山武道館主道場改修工事竣工式」 ☆「岡山武道館開館五十年記念 　　武道団体演武会」を開催いたします どなたでもご覧になれますので どうぞお越しください。 別途、詳細をご確認下さい。 ＃岡山武道館 https://t.co/wprddRLgEq」 / Twitter

Yours truly…

[Bugyotsuji]

Regarding my post number.... er, no numbers? er........... the post of 18 January and those follow-up comments, here are some shots of the Sukesada wakizashi. Freshly taken today.

Tenbun 3, an August day. 天文三八月日 Bishu Osafune Sukesada Saku 備州長船祐定作.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

The blade

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Finally

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

We had our local NBTHK sword appreciation meet this evening. The ladies handed out Tsuwamono (toughened warriors) chocolates.

For V Day

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Two small updates. 

 

1. The blade above had a strange *flaw in it which I was advised to get sorted. The opinions were unanimous. I think (?) that this means in the artisan world that the blade is worth spending the hard cash on, a kind of vote of confidence, and that the job can be accomplished. This may take some time, and I did not ask the size or speed of the bullet I will have to end up biting, but I have given the green light, and down the hole, uh... into the process it has gone.

 

*In the first nakago shot above, you can just see part of the ridge of the mune is missing. Possibly an old umegane came loose?

 

2. The Choshu gun mechanism was worn and broken, the barrel was blocked off internally and the bisen breech screw was rusted solid. Desite these, it was already legally registered, which is a relief. (Often, when the barrel is deactivated then paperwork is not needed, but it is always safer to have the registration card.) So I sent it off, it came back yesterday, and now it has become another 'rescued' cultural asset, back to working order and a new life, to be passed to future generations. 

"Why spend money on it? You'll never make it back!" I hear from 'helpful' acquaintances.

I do get the drift of that scornful question, sure, but I feel some inner urge to sort and repair, as long as the work is done in an educated, aesthetic and culturally sympathetic way. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Tanegashima update.

 

With the return of the now unblocked Choshu gun I felt the need for some spring cleaning. Two other long guns have also came to stay over the last year or two, but I had never really got around to checking out their barrels internally.

 

Today I warned the wife that the kitchen would be busy for a while, so she good-naturedly went shopping. Having gone through the rigmarole of cleaning and swabbing out the Choshu hosozutsu long gun, I looked at the large pan of boiling water and decided to make it a hat-trick, so I readied the barrels of the Kishu hosozutsu, and the Nara/Iyo gunyo-zutsu.

 

The Choshu gun was rough and pitted and filthy inside; a brass wire brush pulled out globs and globs of rust sludge. The same for the Nanto(Nara) military gun. Both are relatively clean now and have been oiled and rust-proofed.

 

The big surprise was the Kishu gun. It had been in quite poor condition when I first bought it, needing quite a bit of remedial work, but the shock was the internal bore. The ramrod brush zipped down and through, with no work to do. I held it up to the light and it was clean as a whistle, shining like a mirror, obviously spotlessly kept by its owner a century and a half ago.

 

Apart from the satisfaction of cleaning these guns at last, an internal feeling that my wife would probably not understand, a feeling that has stayed with me all afternoon, I had the renewed realization that although nothing is ever perfect, sometimes there are enough positives to an object to offset the negatives. The Kishu gun, for example has a bunch of negative aspects, most of which I have tried to address, but this internal shine has definitely tipped back the scales!

[Bugyotsuji]

Following on from that thought for a moment here...

 

When I first came across a Tanegashima with an internal shine like this, a Bizen long gun of the Tabuse-Ryu, I thought it was a one-off, an aberration. Having handled and cleaned so many of these over the years, I had formed a kind of racial profiling. Japanese musketeers never cleaned their guns. (The odd exception only proves the rule, I thought!)

 

When I lived in Kyoto, it seemed that no-one oiled their bicycles. Was this high fashion, these rattling chains and screeching brakes, to warn pedestrians without having to use a non-existent bell? Or was it I who was the product of what(?) culture, wanting to oil my machinery for perfectly quiet running?

 

But then I came across another gun with an internal mirror shine, a 10-Monme Kishu Shizutsu made in Sakai. Another aberration? And yesterday, a third example, this Kishu hosozutsu. Hmmm... my 概念 'gainen' concept is starting to break down.

 

Perhaps it would now be better to summarize old guns discovered in Japanese walls/rafters into two categories at least, those possibly rarer ones kept and packed away in pristine state by the original owner, and those discarded for whatever reason, e.g. changing times making them old-fashioned, of no further use, perhaps the deciding factor being an intractable blockage, etc.

 

Once I wrote a short paper for the UK Token Society on the similarities between Tanegashima and Nihonto; maybe a shiny barrel lining should now be added to the list. I once dismantled a gun, held up the barrel, and showed the shining bore to a local NBTHK member who was interested in my guns table, and he immediately started to describe the patterns that he could clearly see in the steel! Whoah! Not just a lump of iron, then. Inside out, true, but here was something else in a gun for a sword afficionado to enjoy!

 

PS In all my dealings with the matchlock group here I have never seen anyone looking up a barrel to check the internals. Perhaps they do it in the privacy of their own home? Dunno.  To me, coming from the west, it is second nature.

 

Photo shows Choshu barrel in middle, flanked by light Kishu gun closest to camera and heavy Nanto/Iyo army gun beyond. Final airing in the shade.

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

NOPE!!! Hold! Hold! Hold! 

 

I take it back. I was trying to get some 'down-the-barrel' shots when I saw more than I was expecting. To modify the above a little, only two of the three guns I have seen are truly 'pristine'. (One looked clean, but judging from the photos I think it may have been rebored, or reamed out.) The other two are probably late-Edo guns which saw little actual use.

 

So, still very much the exception, sadly, and here I am falling back into default mode in my thinking about the condition of newly-discovered hinawa-ju matchlocks.

 

Does anyone else have an example of a Tanegashima with a well-maintained, clean or 'as new' inner surface? 

[Brian]

Piers,
I don't think this applies to just Japanese guns. Take a look at any 150+ year old antique black powder gun. It is rare to find old Colt 1851's, or Tranters or any flintlocks with shiny bores. Those that are, are the exception to the rule. I think it was simply the fact that black powder is corrosive (or the residue thereof) and that it didn't take long for it to start attacking the bore. A person would really have had to clean the gun religiously after every shooting session, even one shot.
To me, it's not that strange that most are corroded. Which really does speak well for those that are still pristine. I would guess the percentage like that is very small.

[Bugyotsuji]

Good point Brian. That was going to be my next question, i.e. to ask any collectors here how this might compare with guns in the West. Makes sense, thanks!

 

(Having said that, everyone I knew used to clean their guns pretty carefully after a shooting session when I was young, whether it was the .303s at the CCF range, or shotguns of various sizes out in the woods.)

[Dave R]

 My take on this is that most shooters do take care of a gun when it is in use, but once it is laid aside, especially if now obsolete, than it takes its chances. A bit like not buying new tyres for the car you are going to sell or scrap, even if it really needs them.

[Bazza]

A vague memory popping in here from my long ago target shooting days - after shooting .303 at the range with military ammo, scrupulous cleaning was an absolute necessity because of (I believe) mercury in the primer formulation.  It was also done to remove copper residue from the bore, though that of course isn't corrosive in itself.  I do remember old hands pouring boiling water down the bore, same as for black powder guns.

 

BaZZa.

[Brian]

Yip. Old corrosive primers corrode a barrel remarkably fast. The BP cleaning method has always been boiling water and then a cleaning and drying/oiling. I'm sure everyone remembers Young's 303.

[Bugyotsuji]

Talking of barrel swabbing. The saga continues. A friend said in the car yesterday that he had a gun for me to see. I could tell already from the tone of his voice that he wanted me to buy it. He farms these things out. "Uh, oh, another rescue coming up", I thought.

 

Sure enough, he had already thought the whole scenario through in his mind. The old familiar wordage:

"All you have to do is fix this, that and the other thing, and this gun will be worth a fortune!"

 

It's not true now, and it never was, but I am a sucker for a challenge, and as I said above, I do like to think I am helping rescue a little piece of history. The barrel is crusty with rust, the bisen is corroded shut, the lock is not working, and parts of the pan surround are missing. Plus, it's a Tazuke-Ryu gun, requiring a special style of pan lid. "It won't cost too much to order the repairs, and just skip that fancy lid bit. A simple, ordinary pan lid is fine!" he said, but I know I can't. It's gotta be true to Tazuke-Ryu. It's my karma, my heavy baby now.

 

As I stood up, my wallet lighter, he handed me a bright pink gun bag. "A present," he said. "Besides, you don't want your wife to see it when you get home!"

 

Just when I was thinking the dust had settled down... gotta start again. No peace for the wicked.

 

(It's a nice slim stock though, a great shape, very similar to one of Jan's.   )

[Brian]

I'd be a sucker for that too. Can't wait for the pics. I almost like projects more than ready-to-go items. Very satisfying to rescue something.

 

[Brian]

It was by Parker Hale, so more of a UK and Commonwealth thing. I am sure the US had something else.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:23 PM, Brian said:

I'd be a sucker for that too. Can't wait for the pics. I almost like projects more than ready-to-go items. Very satisfying to rescue something.

 

For Brian. Comparing it just now to the Tazuke-Ryū long guns in Sawada’s book 日本の古銃, I think this one may be a better (more typical) example, once it’s cleaned up and mechanically sorted. I’ve already booked it in… 

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Points to consider. (Exceptions to many of these occurred as the school branched off during the Edo (Tokugawa) Period.

 

1. Straight diagonal cut butt is No.1 indication of Tazuke-Ryu. (Also Sakai-Ryu is similar but a less-defined lower heel)

 

2. The brass shiba-hiki butt guard is a typical Tazuke shape, but none of Sawada San's eight examples has it.

 

3. The sights are both sujiwari (split valley) type, which he says are basic indicators.

 

4. The trigger shape is Kamo no kuchibashi (wild duck beak), also known as Bozu-gane, which can be seen on one of his Tazuke examples.

 

5. External leaf spring is most common, he says, but only one of his shows this.

 

6. The head of the Tazuke Bisen large breech plug/screw is round, meaning it can always lock shut even when the internal screw loosens. (A square head will shut, but maybe at the wrong angle to sit back into the butt recess.)

 

7. The pan cover/lid is 'box' shape, i.e. it is covered with a wall on the side to protect against rain. My panlid/cover is missing, so I will ask the repairer to attempt one for me. This enclosed cover is also seen on Tabuse and Sakai school guns.

 

8. Ji-ita. The long side plate has a rounded end, he says, but only one of his examples does. Recently I was told "Round-ended ji-ita plates on Tazuke guns were allowed for Tokugawa supporters, in the Fudai Daimyo clans. Members of Tozama Daimyo families had ji-ita that were square-ended." ...(?)needs further research.

 

9. The stock has a lower cut-away midway under either side for better left-hand grip.

 

10. The serpentine Kaiguchi pinch flaps should have no piercing in them (according to 'Yonezawa' Jan). Mine is not pierced, but all of Sawada's examples are.

 

Sawada San adds that perfect examples of Tazuke-Ryu type are seen in the larger Ozutsu, 10, 20, & 30 monme'. He illustrates a very nice solid 10 Monme. (I have a black 15 Monme example.)

Smaller caliber guns on the other hand allowed many changes away from the old Tazuke 'tradition' during the Edo Period, he states. 

 

Incidentally Sawada San has used close-ups of parts of a Tabuse-Ryu gun to illustrate certain aspects of Tazuke-Ryu guns! Naughty！Sssshhh.... 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, the Tazuke-Ryu long gun above has gone off to the hospital. 

 

I took it there early today in the pouring rain, and to help him out I brought some photos and two other actual examples of closed pancovers for him to study. He looked happy to accept the challenge. He warned me that it will take time, but I assured him that time was not a problem.

[Bugyotsuji]

Two updates.

One is the Tempo 3 Sukesada Wakizashi. I asked the Osafuné artisan on Saturday how it’s going and he nearly bit my head off. Essentially he’s busy with exhibition projects, and it’s on his back burner. At least he must have recalled it to his front lobe for a second…  (Actually he is a friend, but under serious pressure.)

 

The Tazuké long gun above is ready. I lent him two guns as reference for the kind of special Tazuké pan cover I needed, and he’s created one, a first-time job for him. Yay! 
My gun rack was looking sad so I had filled it with broom handles, *‘four candles’  etc.

Soooo….. Three musketeers will be coming home on Saturday!!! Can’t wait! 

 

*Anyone get this?

 

*The Two Ronnies - Four Candles 480p - YouTube

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Quick update.

Tanegashima

All restored now and back in rack!  Very happy with job(s) done.

 

Blades

1. The Uchine (yari?) blade is off for a polish. I saw the guy today but he did not say anything so I did not ask how it might be going. No pressure.

2. Sukesada wakizashi repair, no updates. Dare not ask.

3. Lost a registration card, and the process to get one reissued is tortuous. Start anyway by contacting the Board of Education of the registration issuing authority. 

First question, "Did you register this blade in your name within 20 days of purchase? If not, you have already broken the law, and you'll need to go to the police station and file an official notice of lost property. If we have your name as owner on our records, though, you can start the process of applying for reissue." 

4. Even more complicated story has bubbled up, but for another time, I think. Man, things can get scrambled here. Moral of this story: double-check everything (everything) at purchase and then follow the letter of the law.

 

Boxes

This has taken two years, but I have finally found someone who can fix the broken lock of my lacquered Tokugawa/Matsudaira cabinet. Well, he says he's up for the challenge. He's rebuilding his motorbike engine (head grinding, new rings etc.) so it may take a while as I know which job he enjoys most on the weekends.

 

Oh, today during the lunch break I bought an old fishing spear head. Four prongs, two of which are barbed. The small nakago has a mekugi hole in it! There is a single brand stamp but I can't quite make it out. A friend looked at it snootily, laughed and said "Agricultural metalwork. These are not kitae 'forged', you know." A separate world from Nihonto. 

"No hamon, then?" I enquired, laughing. 

"No, but the prongs will have been hardened by yaki-ire and quenching."

Secretly thought I am pleased with it. The tapered nakago shape and mekugi-ana tip the balance for me. Another plaything around the house. 

[Bugyotsuji]

ヤス Yasu, stabbing spear, held in the hand for spear fishing.

モリ(銛) Mori, a spear that is thrown or propelled away from the hand.

Total length 17.5 cm

Width 5.5 cm

(The size of a smallish hand)

 

 

[Brian]

Nice item Piers! I bet it has some age to it too. Needs a short shirasaya.

[rematron]

Piers, congrats on getting your tanegashima back and beautiful again. 
 

Also, I like your yasu AKA monster fork.  I like old tools like that.  It may not be nihonto but it had an equally important role in day to day life and culture. It was a precious and important tool for someone.