Kama, Jingama, Kusari-gama, Kama-yari etc.

[Brian]

Wow..that's a stunner. Great work on having it restored. I think you have an unusual and desirable item there Piers.

It must have been expensive to produce, and probably a special order. Your restorer did a good job. Really glad to see the result.

 

Brian

[cabowen]

That had to have been a real $%##7% for the togi-shi....Very interesting- thanks for sharing....

[Bugyotsuji]

Yes, this one was worth the gamble. Glad to share it. Many thanks for the feedback.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Quite an amazing tale, Piers. And an excellent decision to recover this weapon from rusty obscurity.

 

Aloha!

Ken

[Bugyotsuji]

Aloha Ken. It was more of a whim than a considered decision, but thanks anyway.

 

Brian said he would be interested in the result, as was I. The whole experience, including recording and posting here was fairly enjoyable and fun. (Apart from the time this very late Christmas present took till fruition, oh, and making the payments!)

[Bugyotsuji]

Small update on this.

 

Recently I was told in the Osafune artisan/collector community that this is definitely a Kusari-gama, and not a Jingama, because it has a hole in the blade, and the overall quality makes it infinitely higher on the pecking scale. "Please lend it for exhibitions as there are few like this around", was one request.

 

Two or three people have advised getting the shirasaya lacquered, so I have two or three candidates for that, ranging from amateur to professional. (And no, I will not be attempting it myself!)

[IanB]

Piers,  There was a really top grade kama in the Watanabe Museum in Tottori. Dr. Watanabe had collected a mass of stuff belonging to the Ikeda family and he claimed this kama had belonged to one of the Ikeda Daimyo. All I really remember about it was that the blade was fully polished and of flattened lozenge section with I think a hilt / handle and saya in nashiji lacquer. All very posh.

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks Ian, an interesting lead to follow.

[Bugyotsuji]

Messing around with the books today and stumbled over the 武蔵 Musashi 文化 Bunka smith 毛呂金吾(金吉?)源信吉 'Moro Kingo/Kongo(Kanekichi?) Minamoto Nobuyoshi', who worked with Suishinshi Masahide around 1804-1818. At least one 合作 Gassaku of theirs is known; I wonder what? How could I have overlooked this before, and why did none of my sword associates suggest this Meikan entry?

This has suddenly linked together all the little positive indications so far. A bolt from the blue! Could it be possible that I have at long last found the actual smith who made this Kusarigama in the photos above?!?!?!? It was all so vague and nebulous. Now the research can maybe begin!

 

*NB Some websites have different readings of his Mei, eg one site has/had Moko instead of Moro, and 'Kanekichi' could be a mis-reading of a cut kanji for Kingo/Kongo/Kanego.

[Bugyotsuji]

His name sounds so much like MoroHongo 毛呂本郷 (the district below Moroyama 毛呂山) in Musashino! Betting this smith hailed from there, and... could there be wordplay on 金工 Kinko too? Was he from an artisan family, his father a Kinko, I find myself thinking.

[PhoenixDude]

That kusarigama is sick dude. Nice find!

[Shugyosha]

Hi Piers,

 

I'm a bit late to this one but I remember that Darcy had a very nice example of a kama blade for sale a few years ago. I don't recall whether it was signed but I think it did have an attribution at least. You might want to drop him a line in case he can help with your research - unfortunately it's not up on his website now.

 

Kind regards,

John

[Bugyotsuji]

Many thanks, John.

[dominnimod]

Kurisagama by swordsmith on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SS-56-KUSARI-GAMA-/222501279936

[Brian]

Nicely made, but I would have expected a mei if anything more than utilitarian.

[Bugyotsuji]

How do we know it is by a swordsmith, Jose?

 

This morning I took one spear and one helmet to a certain place of trading, and in the evening returned having spent the welcome cash on a Jingama and another helmet...

 

So, now I have a Kusarigama and a Jingama, and it's back to zero in da pocket!

 

(Just need to figure out what the flowery Mei script says. It seems the previous owner never checked the nakago, but I had a peek and spotted some Kanji in there.)

 

Watch this space, if it's good news!   Silence means, 'sorry folks!'   

[dominnimod]

How do we know it is by a swordsmith, Jose?

 

This morning I took one spear and one helmet to a certain place of trading, and in the evening returned having spent the welcome cash on a Jingama and another helmet...

 

So, now I have a Kusarigama and a Jingama, and it's back to zero in da pocket!

 

(Just need to figure out what the flowery Mei script says. It seems the previous owner never checked the nakago, but I had a peek and spotted some Kanji in there.)

 

Watch this space, if it's good news!   Silence means, 'sorry folks!'   

I supossed it was made by a swordsmith by the nakago shape and the file marks in it. Nakagos of those made by blacksmiths should look like the nakagos from any Japanese tool. I guess?

[Bugyotsuji]

Ah, thanks Jose. (I thought maybe it was written on the eBay page somewhere.) The work on that one looks quite rough, both blade and tang/filing, and the rust looks red and alive. I wonder...

[dominnimod]

Ah, thanks Jose. (I thought maybe it was written on the eBay page somewhere.) The work on that one looks quite rough, both blade and tang/filing, and the rust looks red and alive. I wonder...

Yes, i aggre with that, the tang looks fairly modern, the chain is very cheap, definitively not edo. Maybe made with the ninja boom in the 80's?

[Bugyotsuji]

Quick update on today's sickle. It has been giving me a tingle all day, from the moment I set eyes on it. There was a bit of a bidding war, but I think people could see I was going to ride this one wherever it took me. Follow the inspiration!

 

Hit the books this evening, and after nearly three hours of cross-checking it looks like 津田越前の守助廣　延宝二二年二月日 (can't find the spoiler option), which is much earlier Shinto than I was expecting.

 

The final key will be to make sure it is not gimei, ie to see if the hataraki and Mei are typical of his work, in others' opinions. He started using flowery rounded script at the beginning of Enpo. I have checked against Fujishiro and the signature looks good for the date, so it's either fine as is, or a very good forgery. But since the Japanese don't treat Kama seriously, why would someone bother to fake such a Mei? Sounds like I am trying to convince myself? Just trying to keep all options open! Who, me, prejudiced?

[Bugyotsuji]

Photos should be appearing here within the next 24 hours.    (G'night folks!)

[Brian]

Looking forward to the pics. It certainly sounds like a score.

[Bugyotsuji]

Overall 164cm. Blade edge 11cm, (14cm front to back). Red lacquer saya, and iron ishizuki. Pole and fittings all slim elliptical in cross-section.

[Bugyotsuji]

The saya is kept on with a mekugi through the hole in the back of the blade. There is a further proper mekugi through the haft and nakago.

[Bugyotsuji]

The blade itself polished below the shinogi line is in need of some TLC but it has several areas of interest in it.

[Bugyotsuji]

Finally the Mei. Not for the faint hearted, and not easy to get the shots.

[Brian]

Damn, that is nice Piers!

Congrats. Clearly well made and nicely mounted. Unusual too. I would consider a polish if I were you...would be stunning in full polish and probably not break the bank?

[Bugyotsuji]

LOL, Brian. The polisher who did the other one could well be allergic now! Good thought though...

[Bugyotsuji]

One source says this prolific smith made 1,700 swords in his working life; the big Meikan quotes rumours of 1,670. The latter number (as a date) coincides roughly with the early Edo period (Enpo) when he was active, but he only lived to 45 years of age. Even starting at 15 he would have had to have made more than 50 blades a year... ie one a week for 30 years; how could this be?

 

At the age of 38 he switched styles of Mei, starting a rounded form that someone had taught him. That was in Enpo 3. This kama is dated Enpo 4, so at 39 yrs old, and within a year of initiating his famous squiggly script. Six years before his death. From overwork? Talking of squiggles, there is one at the top of each side of the nakago. Pre-pre-Raphaelite, avant garde-ish...

 

Known as the Yokozuna of the West, he ranked with Kotetsu in fame. Toramba clashing waves hamon were said to have been invented by him. Can we see any examples in this little blade, I wonder?

[Bugyotsuji]

Regarding the distinction between Kama sickles as weapons or otherwise, the Knutsens have an interesting description from p. 62 in their "Japanese Spears, Polearms and the Use in Old Japan". (See next page for attached photos.)

 

Now I am wondering if the latest 'Jingama' above might not be more properly a 'Kamayari'... but the Japanese do love to come up with new variations and cross-breeds.