Will the real Ainu koshirae please stand up

[Peter Bleed]

Dear Friends,

I started this cold fall morning with a message from an NMB friend alerting me about an "ainu koshirae" being offered on eBay (thank you, Mike!). I had to wait out the eBay work stoppage (has somebody talked Steve in from the ledge?), but as soon as the world's flea market reopened, I eagerly looked at the item I had been told about.

A couple of items on eBay may serve to help us recognize Ainu swords. Now I know we do not “discuss” items still being offered at auction. But I think sharing insights about items on display is a legitimate activity for collectors. It happened at shows and shops all the time. Talking about objects, sharing our insights about them, is how we learn. The question I would ask is “are these Ainu swords?”

This is the first item

http://www.ebay.com/itm/D3250-stSw-Japa ... 20ec370903

As you can see the seller clearly labels this as Ainu. It is a nice koshirae – and certainly reasonably priced. We also have to recognize that “Ainu swords” are a couple of different types. Some were locally produced by the Ainu for their own use and with their own stylistic embellishment and imported “Japanese” elements. Then there were “trade swords” that Edo period officials gave to Ainu leaders as status symbols. These tend to be tricked out “Japanese” swords with coarse fittings. The sword mentioned above may be one of those, but frankly it looks to me simply like a nice – if rustic and sturdy – wakizashi. I do not believe that every rustic nipponto was made for the Ainu.

Let’s look at another item currently being offered to the world market.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291240468413?ss ... 1423.l2649

This is another koshirae that I have not bid on (yet). But I think we can again ask if it is “Ainu”. It is carved wood that appears to have been made for a delicate blade. The carving is not of great quality and features cross hatching. That is to say it is like other Ainu work. And some Ainu pieces were lacquered. Who beside the Ainu would have carried a “sword” like this?

Neither of these koshirae shows classic Ainu motif – bracket shaped line and fish-scale hatchering eg. But they both can be compared to the weapons used by the folks who lived on the northern frontier of Edo period Japan.

Peter

[Brian]

Dear Friends,

...Now I know we do not “discuss” items still being offered at auction. But I think sharing insights about items on display is a legitimate activity for collectors. It happened at shows and shops all the time. Talking about objects, sharing our insights about them, is how we learn.

Peter,

Just to clarify. We have no such rule here. Discussion of live items is allowed, as long as not to discuss pricing, and we try not to influence the auction. Basically, a case-by-case basis using common sense.

Pity that the first item probably had the blade destroyed as it was unregistered. Saw that a lot in Japan.

 

Brian

[Thierry BERNARD]

IMHO none of these two koshirae are ainu!

 

here some real ainu koshirae

 

http://www.penn.museum/collections/object/129395

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=ainu

http://www.djibnet.com/photo/ainu/

[b.hennick]

Here is a link to photos of my Ainu koshirae:

Follow the link to see the rest.

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/1070486545 ... juXTq4PCcA

[Peter Bleed]

Friends,

Thank you for the responses. Indeed, Tierry, I do not think either of the koshirae I mentioned is "Ainu." I would still like to know who might have carried the red/black carved koshirae, tho. Maybe it is 20th century tourist art.

And Barry, I recall seeing your koshirae at one or another of the Chicago shows. These certainly are a "type" of "Japanese" sword. I cannot believe that these were "samurai" swords BUT I do NOT think they were made by or for the Ainu. They are short swords that have carved antler fittings, tightly wound "rattan" binding, and crude blades. I have NEVER seen this style of fittings presented as Ainu in museum exhibitions or scholarly publications. I think someboby else in Japan carried these swords. I wonder if they might be swords of the commercial hunters called "matagi."

If somebody has information on them, I would love to see it.

Peter

[Bazza]

Here is a link to photos of my Ainu koshirae:[attachment=0]AinuKoshirae.jpg[/attachment]

Follow the link to see the rest.

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/1070486545 ... juXTq4PCcA

Barry and All,

If this sword has no or a wooden blade then it might belong to that class of swords described as a "Doctor's sword".

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

[Guido]

If this sword has no or a wooden blade then it might belong to that class of swords described as a "Doctor's sword".

Described, maybe, but there never was such a thing. Robert Fleischel, a French sagemono dealer and scholar located in Tōkyō, did a lot of research into bokutō at the National Library and other places, but found no evidence that they ever were worn by physicians. Doctors were either commoners who were not allowed to wear swords, or samurai who, as the research proved, wore real swords.

 

Just one of those many urban legends ...

[b.hennick]

The sword has a "blade" of sorts.

Are the mounts that we call Doctor's swords really chato?