Edo Period Corner Part II

[John A Stuart]

The 羅紗 Rasha is from Portuguese Raxa but refers to the felt, cloth of Rome. 緋 is the colour. John

[IanB]

As I understand it rasha, although originally a Portuguese word, is the woollen cloth that formed the staple import of the English factory and later the Dutch. Reading the diaries of both Saris and Cocks reveals that their attempts to sell these woollen cloths to the Japanese was a dismal failure, being somewhat undermined by the fact that the English merchants insisted on wearing silk clothing. Saris, on his first landing in Japan, on Hirado, gave Matsura Hoin a lavish gift of textiles, including a very large piece of black woollen cloth and items like calico from India. Hidden in his list of 'a peece of' this and a 'peece of ' that, was a 'a peece, double locked' which had be baffled until I realised it was a double barrelled gun. After realising that Hoin was not the KIng of Japan, he gave Tokugawa Ieyasu a similar selection of textiles and curiously a long bow made by the ship's carpenter whilst at sea which was valued at nothing. The Japanese found a limited use for these fabrics, making items like jinbaori, harnesses and so forth. Its use for a fire cape makes sense because it does not catch fire as such, just blackening and smouldering. I have one of these female fire hoods, in black and red, decorated with origami cranes. Their purpose was to give some protection to the face and the hair of the wearer as they escaped the building in the event of a fire.

[estcrh]

Morning all,

 

Here's a little something for Eric and Piers to drool over :lol:

 

I saw at Tokyo National Museum last week:

Malcolm, nice find, I think the word "shozoku" means "uniform" and could be applied to any type of fire outfit, I was looking for a word to describe these.

[estcrh]

火事装束 Fire Costume 緋羅紗地注連縄模様 Scarlet felt boundary rope design. The look of this seems more like a priestess would wear to a Fire Festival like Dosojin (Jan 15) or are we to take it as a generic fire watching attire. John

John, I have seen period prints showing Japanese fire scenes as being a hell like inferno with people desperately trying to save their lives and belongings, like everything samurai I believe these elaborate fire costumes were used to identify samurai from non samurai during the hectic escape from the fire scenes.

 

 

　火事が大名屋敷に近づき危険が迫ると、大名の奥方たちは、この絵のような火事装束をして難を逃れたものであった。上屋敷が延焼しそうになると奥女中などの家臣に守られ、下屋敷へ逃げるのがこの頃の風習であったようだ。大名の奥方の火事装束は絵でもわかるように赤いラシヤで作られた羽織と頭巾からなり、嫁入先の家紋を染めぬいて嫁入り道具の大切なものの一つで、現在、その実物が残されており実に華麗なもので、この時代の火事の備えが女性にまで及んでいたことを物語るものである。

 

 

　地震によって起こる火災

 

　右は、安政２年の大地震による江戸市中の大火の様子を描いた、多色刷り木版による絵図です。崩壊する建物、市中を焼き尽くす炎の勢い、取る物もとりあえず逃げ惑う人々などの様子が描かれ、関東大震災・阪神淡路大震災とともに地震時の火災の恐ろしさを今に伝えています。

 

　　安政２年(１８５５)焼失市中発動図

　　　　　　飯塚馨家寄託文書

 

 

[John A Stuart]

I see; it does look to have a standard unform look to it by those prints. What made me think of priestesses kit, is that I have seen that headwear worn by priests/esses. John

[Bugyotsuji]

The blurb for the top pic explains that these red uniforms were kept in the Daimyo Yashiki to be worn by the women for escape during fires. They would be escorted, carrying their wedding dowry goods, and the Mon on the Zukin indicated the house/family. The second pic shows the 1855 Ansei earthquake and ensuing fire.

[kusunokimasahige]

Would Japanese firefighters have made these fabrics wet before tackling a fire ? Or did they just think that since wool singes, they could use it ?

 

KM

[estcrh]

Would Japanese firefighters have made these fabrics wet before tackling a fire ? Or did they just think that since wool singes, they could use it ?

 

KM

This might answer the question,

[kusunokimasahige]

Thank you !!

 

KM

[estcrh]

Does anyone have any information on the indoor archery sets for samurai women pictured here, they are portable and usually come in a box.

[Bugyotsuji]

For ladies? Eric, yes, we had a pretty good discussion of these about three or four years ago in, possibly the Edo Period Corner part I, (for which which I promised to complete an index...)

 

Running a search should dig it out. Have you just bought that set?

[IanB]

I have one of these sets. The nice thing about it is the fact that the sockets for the bow sections are silver on the outside and shakudo on the inner face. I have never had the bottle to string the bow. As I understand it the target was a piece of silk stretched on a frame and the arrows were inked to leave a dot where they struck.

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

The discussion runs from half-way down page 8 to 12 at least, here: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/nmb/ ... &start=105

 

Ian's set also features!

 

PS Only just realized that the little side compartment on mine could have been for a target and/or the marker liquid/powder.

[estcrh]

The discussion runs from half-way down page 8 to 12 at least, here: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/nmb/ ... &start=105

 

Ian's set also features!

Piers and Ian, I remember that discussion but as far as I can find it did not produce a name for the game being played or a name for that particular type of modular bow. Piers, I do have a set but not the one pictured, mine has a separate compartment with a chalk like substance which from reading the mentioned thread was for marking the blunt tip of the games arrows, I will post a picture. If you look closely at the left side of the print I posted you can see a round ring suspended by ropes which appears to be the target.

 

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=ladies&start=150

[Bugyotsuji]

Eric, those two pictures above seem to be the same scene but the wrong way round. Are you able to change them over?

 

I think we found three names, two (Kyoto 'Yo-kyuba' & Edo 'Yaba') for the later outside version, and one earlier name 'Koyumi' for the indoors game.

 

In one of Moriyama San's links (the first) there is a very good explanation of this history and the original name for this game seems to be 小弓 small bows, Koyumi. The lengths of the bow, the arrows and distance to the target were generally fixed. They knelt and rested the left arm on the left knee. Later in Heian times, it came to be called 楊弓 Yo-kyu.

Yo-kyu because the material from which the bows and arrows were made was Yo-ryu 楊柳.

矢と言えば相棒は弓、枕草子は百九十九段（文学大系では二百十五段）で「あそびわざは小弓。碁。さまあしけれど、鞠（まり）もおかし。」と遊戯のトップに小弓を挙げている。

　この小弓を岩波書店の古語辞典で調べてみると「遊戯用の小弓、またその弓を使ってする遊戯。左膝（ひざ）を立て、その上に左肘（ひじ）を支えて引く。」とある。

　ついでに楊弓（ようきゅう）を引いてみると「平安時代の小弓が定式化した弓術。座ったまま、約八十四糎（二尺八寸）の弓で約二十六糎（九寸）の矢を約十三．六米（七間半）先の的に射る。室町時代の公家に行われ、近世、賭物として庶民に流行し、後期には、矢取り女を客寄せに使った楊弓場（ようきゅうば）が多くできた。」とある。　もしかして馬場（うまば）という所はこの楊弓場（ようきゅうば）の走りではあるまいか。

　その理由の第一は弓を射るには精神統一をはかるため静粛を必要とするのに何故か②「人おおくさわぐ」とそれを邪魔するような行動をとっていること。

　その賑やかな雰囲気を清少納言は「小弓射るに、片方の人、しはふきをし、まぎらはしてさわぐに念じて音高く射て当てたるこそ、したり顔なるけしきなれ」と百八十三段に詳しく書き残している。

　第二に本物の弓であるならば座って射ることなど不可能であるが、④「右近中将みな着きたまえる」とみんな着座していること。　なお③の原文は「手つがいにて真弓（まゆみ）射るなり」となっているから二人づつが組み合って成績を競い合うマッチプレイだったようである。

　また、真弓（檀）はニシキギ科の落葉樹で小弓を作る材料だから真弓と小弓の間に矛盾はないとみていいだろう。

　江戸時代になるとこの楊弓場（ようきゅうば）が色々な書物に登場してくる。

[estcrh]

Eric, those two pictures above seem to be the same scene but the wrong way round. Are you able to change them over?

 

Done, and added another, now it is a complete scene. Here is the set I have.

[estcrh]

Here is some information I found, yokyu may describe the game played with the indoor archery set and the small bow being used may be called a koyumi.

 

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kuroken3147/MY ... B5%DD&sk=1

[Bugyotsuji]

Eric, what a beautiful set. Congratulations. You really have found a nice one.

 

One thing I had forgotten is just how small these actually are. This evening I went upstairs and opened mine and was reminded that it is much smaller than it appears in the pictures.

 

You have certainly found some beautiful illustrations. In the written description in Nobody San's link, it mentions a woman to go and fetch the arrows. For archery not to be boring you really do have to have lots of arrows, plus a useful someone to go and bring them all back again! :lol:

 

Oh, and I think Koyumi and Yumi refer to the bow yes, but in a larger sense to archery, to the game itself. Kyu-do is the Way of the Bow, for example, where Kyu 弓 is another reading of the same word 弓 Yumi.

[Bugyotsuji]

Just reverting for a minute to ramrods, again! A swordsmith gave me a collection of wood cutoffs about a week ago, telling me they were examples of Japanese red oak, the very best kind, called Ichii Akagashi, Ichii-gashi, or Yew Red Oak. One of these was in a rod form, so I cut it to fit the short cavalry pistol, tapered it, polished it, flattened the head, and opened a hole in the other end for the cleaning cloth. As I polished it with finer and finer sandpapers, that familiar deep 3D effect that you saw earlier in the wooden butt of the long target pistol began to appear in the ramrod. Mokume! Toramoku! (This is not apparent in the following photos as final polishing took place later; it was only then that the hidden beauty revealed itself.)

 

Anyway the result for me is that I now recognize why Ichii-gashi oak was so popular for spear handles, gun stocks, ramrods etc. It must have given artisans the most satisfactory all-round results through the centuries.

 

Notice the redness of the wood alongside the Hinoki which I had bought at the Home Center and used for an earlier ramrod.

With the hinoki I had attempted to make it look old, but with the akagashi I haven't needed to do anything apart from shaping and polishing. No wax, no oil, no singeing, no charring, nothing. Perfect as is.

[Viper6924]

Getting on the ramrod-train Here´s the dif between two of my ramrods. I just love the red finish on the top one. Match the stock to a tee.

 

Keep up the good ramrod job, Piers!!!

 

/Jan

[Bugyotsuji]

Hi Jan, thanks for showing those! You have restored my sanity a little! :lol: Can you tell if the bottom one is one piece of wood, or is the head joined on? It's a nice example for study. I am guessing it has been added. The join is a problem as it is a potential weak spot when ramming a jammed ball, for example, so it has to be made unbreakable in some way, even under sideways force.

 

On Sunday I showed my 'good' ramrod to our Taicho, who has just got out of hospital. He looked it up and down and seemed surprised. Then he reached over and picked up a pistol that he owns, of such wonderful quality that it must have been owned by the Daimyo here. (Another story in itself) He pulled out the small ramrod and silently handed it over. The wood was of a very dark patina. The gradual taper was achingly consistent throughout, ending in a wide face for tamping. The other end was enclosed for about 4 or 5 cm in a chased silver cap, with a bespoke circular hole in it. Inside the hole you could see the wood, indicating it had been reduced to allow the silver grip to fit flush.

 

He laughed and said he had once had a ramrod made up for another gun by a professional artisan but it had cost him so much that he had vowed to make his own from then on!

[Bugyotsuji]

As an adjunct to the ramrod discussion, some of the old ones have a hole near the tip of the reverse (inner/thinner) end. Some are solid.

 

The hole indicates that the ramrod also functioned in reverse as a cleaning or scouring stick, with your cleaning cloth or whatever being fed through the hole.

 

These holes can be round, or in some cases a rectangular slit-like window. Whether they should really be one or the other, ie round or oblong, is an on-going debate and I have had some amusing times trying to find out whether there was ever a standard acceptable shape for it and what the reason for that might be.

 

How are yours, Jan? (Certainly it is easier to make a round hole than cut a well-balanced box window.)

[Brian]

Not sure about Japanese ones, but outside of Japan, they are almost universally slotted. I have very seldom seen any round holes.

Probably due to the fact that a patch should be threaded though it, and then wrapped a few times around to facilitate cleaning. A slot makes this much easier.

 

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks for the sensible input, Brian.

 

The funny story is that almost all the ones I saw were rectangular. For this reason all the experimental ones I made were slotted.

 

Round at a friend's house last week (a sword expert, but not yet compeletely up to speed with guns... surely getting there though) and saw that all of his ramrods had round holes. For this reason I made the latest one with a round hole, partly in respect to him and partly because you can later change a round hole to a square one once you have the time and the confidence.

 

On Sunday I was round at the Taicho's house and showed him the red ramrod. "Don't you know that the holes are supposed to be slotted?" he asked me in an accusatory voice. I laughed, as the sword expert who said the only old ones he had ever seen were round, was also sitting there. I then pulled out in proof my long piece-de-resistance, "Ta-taaaa!" and then to my horror saw it was blank, and remembered that I had hesitated to cut any hole in it in case I botched it, and had been waiting for the right moment to take the plunge. Not a leg to stand on therefore, as all my slotted ramrods were at home.

 

At that moment he pulled out the very special beautifully fashioned short one from the Daimyo pistol we discussed above, and to his horror he saw that it has a round hole!!! :lol:

[Bugyotsuji]

PS Last night I cut a slotted hole in the best ramrod and despite a wobbly start managed to finish up with a passable result. Phew!!!

 

Pics of holes later, maybe.

[Justin Grant]

I am embarrassed to say that when I made my replacement rod, I used a piece of oak dowel rod and stained it to match.

 

Can I see pictures or specification for what one should look like for a 3 monme rifle?

[Bugyotsuji]

Justin, it sounds as though what you did was just fine. A wooden ramrod will look roughly the same for any Tanegashima, but the differences will be governed by barrel length, the diameter of the ramrod holder and the caliber/bore. Yours will be quite long and thin I should imagine. Guns look funny with nothing there, so cosmetically almost any material will do; oak has to be good. I was interested to discover what the most highly recommended wood would be and why.

 

Over the years I have had occasion to make several of them, and you can see a collection on page 10 of this thread. You may find that the ideal ramrod slots into its pocket, hits the far end, and given a quarter twist will lock into place, with the flared end coming to rest just about level with the edge of the muzzle. The flare can be gradual the whole length, or it can be more sudden to gain a larger tamping face.

[Viper6924]

Well, Piers I´m not really sure if the black tip is joined on or if it´s the original rod. Looking at the grain I would say it looks like the original rod lacquered black, but I could be wrong. The crack indicates that it´s a screw-on.

The "red" rod has an odd looking almost hexagonal shaped hole. I hope You can see it in the picture.

 

Mmm, who knew that the wonderful world of Japanese ramrads could be this interesting :D

 

/Jan

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks for the close-ups, Jan. I see what you mean about a screw. The red one may have had a square hole which became mis-shapen from use of string or some kind of jag or worm fitment. (Which way is the end? Is that a spiral on the left?)

[Viper6924]

The hole is placed at the end of the rod. This rod is tapered. Which means they must have used the top end for loading the bullet and the bottom end for cleaning out the pipe. I must double check the spiral groove when I get home.

 

/Jan