"flying god?"

[peter]

Hello all

 

i picked this up a while back for the novelty of the carving rather than the blade to be honest , i wonder if anyone on the board has come across similar carved sword housings/shirasaya/koshorie

 

not sure what to call it, it came with a sale tag saying '' Wakizashi in the form of Kamakazi (divine wind) very unusual and rare'' the blade itself looks Shinto to me with nearly all the ha machi and mune machi gone, it is 18 inches nagasa with some kizu but hada and hamon visible.

 

 

any ideas on this would be appreciated

 

 

Peter

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8ki0jgsnufpidga/PImV18OIfk

[peter]

Sorry Jean, Brian,

it took me so long getting l;ink sorted i posted in wrong thread please move to appropriate thread

Peter

[John A Stuart]

I moved it here as it seems the koshirae is the main focus. Sure is an interesting bit of treen. Can't remember seeing its like, but, is well carved, maybe some time a wasting for some unemployed bushi? John

[Tanto54]

Dear Peter, this is probably ashinaga (Mr. "long legs"). Do an image search of ashinaga and netsuke and you will see many similar carvings. Ashinaga is often shown working with tenaga (Mr. "long arms") in cooperation (e.g., Mr. long-arms riding on Mr. long-legs' back while wading into a deep river to catch fish by hand). They usually have grass or mugwort skirts like the one in your carving. Raijin, Kaminari or Fujin (the gods of thunder or wind) often have tiger striped skirts or shorts instead.

[Ford Hallam]

I'd suggest, given the rather ropey quality of the blade and the obvious folk art character of the wood carving, that this is an Ainu artifact.