Ox Bone Shirasaya...but Is It Japanese?

[CurtisR]

Happy weekend, all!

 

Well here's a mystery (to me at least..) a Wakizashi with a terrible blade, probably early 1900's - machined mekugi-ana, and encased in the pictured shirasaya. I did some research and find both Japanese examples of this type of work (with some of the exact patterns) in oxen bone, but ALSO some claiming to be Chinese in origin (and in this example, wearing chinese styled robes and head-gear). THEN....the brass collars (2) holding sections of bone together, but with raised Tokugawa mon.

 

The scrimshaw work isn't "bad" but doesn't really have life to it. I did the hot needle test, and it's not plastic. There is very tight grain, and so it's not composite.

 

My kantai guess is that it's a tourist-trade piece from between 1890's and the 1950's...the blade *might* have a hamon but the nakago is very crude and - to use the old pun - the shirasaya is like putting lipstick (saya and mon rings) on a pig (the blade)".

 

Would just like to know from the wise and experienced minds here if I've gotten in right? There may be some value in the fittings (although cracked) but none in the blade.....IMHO.

Fire away, and thanks in advance ~~

 

Curtis R

[jason_mazzy]

meiji tourist or chinese. don't like the fittings.

[Grey Doffin]

Very low end tourist trap, about as bad as it gets.  Bone saya.

Grey

[CurtisR]

Thanks Grey ~ that was my reaction as well. Glad it isn't mine!! Just thought I'd confirm - It is one uuuuugly beast . I'm starting to trust my instincts a bit more now....

 

Best Regards,

 

Curtis R.

[IanB]

Curtis, As said above - the very lowest level of tourist item. They do however raise a question about where the bone came from. By chance I am involved in an article about leather in Japan and what is becoming very clear is that much of it came from abroad. The Japanese attitude of avoiding the eating of meat meant that few cattle and horses were bred there. It seems that between 1604 and 1635 some 250,000 deerskins were imported every year and probably even more than that at the height of the fighting in the 16th century. Large amounts were needed to make rawhide for armours. I have even found a rawhide gessan plate from that era that has been cut down and reused from a longer piece. I knew they recycled iron, but who knew they recycled rawhide? These wretched bone swords, that number in hundreds of thousands, are made from sections of quite substantial bones that are almost certainly from cattle. Was there a trade in cattle bones in Meiji Japan or were these objects, or at least the scabbards and hilts, actually made in China and shipped to Japan to have those dreadful 'blades' fitted. My guess is that they were totally Chinese and simply bought in by Japanese curio dealers for sale to tourists.

Ian Bottomley

[leo]

Think, you are right, Ian, these were made by Chinese craftsmen and imported into Japan either complete or as segments. Also the aoi mon on the brass fittings are typical and should make them look official. Interesting that the "Chinese Fake" has such a long tradition!

 

The blades were made from iron sheet without exception.

 

There is another type of high end ivory koshirae made by netsuke or okimono carvers during the 19th and 20th century also for export. Usually these were made out of segments from one tusk containing a simple iron blade with an extreme sori. These are no nihonto either, but pieces of art and should not be confused with the cheap bone swords.

 

The top of the line were the shibayama style ivory koshirae with intricate inlays of multicolored pieces of mother of pearl, red coral and such.

 

Best, Martin

[cabowen]

Very low end tourist trap, about as bad as it gets.  Bone saya.

Grey

 

Elitist!

 

[Peter Bleed]

Curtis,

It turns out that you started a rather interesting thread. When i began reading it I had no such hopes.  I assummed we'd agree that this 'sword' is trash - - and move on. But Ian Bottomley - as he often does - found an intersting and overlooked point of dimension.

To reframe the issue, Ian points out that LOTS of low end bone-mounted blades were being coming out of Japan in what seems to have been Meiji time. These things rather  "look" Japanese, altho they very rarely have tradtional Japanese blades (albeit they do have habakis and are shinogi-zukuri etc.). Following those facts, Ian asks 2 questions 1) where'd all those bovine bones come from? and 2) who was making those wretched swords?

These questions may be beneath the interests of "serious" NMB members, but I think they are interesting and relevant to Japanese swords and sword collecting.

I also have an opinion.. .   .

1. Where'd the cattle bones come from?

In fact, oxen would have been fairly common in premodern Japan because - even if they were not eaten (altho of course they were) they were the major agricultural draft animal. Every village would have had a couple. I think Japan could have generated a lot of beef bones. It is also worth pointing out that the Namban trade featured lots of animal tissue. A common commodity brought to Deshima from Annam or the Philippines was "shark skin for sword handles". Hide, pelts, and exotics were also brought down from what is today Hokkaido

2. Who was making these bone-mount things?

Ian suggests that these blade may have originated in China. I'm am challenged by that suggestion. As i said, they "look" Japanese without actually looking very good. If newly unemployed  sword artisans made them, I think they would be better.  They also seem not to be at all common in China or in collections formed there. I think they're Japanese. So who might have been able/interested in this kind of manufactured stuff? Let me suggest the "Buraku-nin" or "Eta" who formed an emergent political and economic community in Meiji Japan. I have NO evidence that they made these things, but a major source of export income to Japan during the early Meiji era was. ,  .    . bone tooth brushes. Brushing teeth was a big health and hygiene fad at that time and the US loved'em. This trade and this market were commanded by Eta and they got lots of government support. They certainly knew how to work bone and they knew how to carefully protect their monopoly.

Thank you Curt and Ian!

Peter

[Stephen]

ever hear of human bone being used?

[Henry Wilson]

Stephen makes an interesting point. How do you know it is made of ox bone? Could it not be whale bone? Whaling has been going in Japan for about 1,000 years from what I have read.

[Peter Bleed]

Well, they "could" be lots of things, but having excavated lots of bones (including whale and human) I'm pretty sure that these are Bos.

Peter

[IanB]

Peter,  You may be right about the buraku nin, they certainly had their ups and downs. They were in demand and had a period of prosperity during the Sengoku era as considerable amounts of nerigawa was needed for armour, but went down again during the Edo period. They were also in demand in the early Meiji as Japan re-modelled its army - needing boots, saddles, harness and so on. One factor that might be a clue about these things is that the shape suggests they are made from leg bones but why are the sections so short - some 3 or 4 inches long? Maybe not cattle or horse but pig.      

Ian Bottomley 

[Peter Bleed]

Ian,

My Bos call probably a bit rash. This is certainly mammal Sus or cervid might be fair. I'm sure there are peolple who could identify the species. I'll do some digging.

Peter

[Davis]

I bought this 7cm x 3cm section of bone at an antique fair.  I asked a Chinese couple (antique dealers) browsing at the same stall whether it could be Chinese.  The answer was no.  The picture is not very good, the detail is much better viewed in hand.  My opinion is that this is Japanese.

Mick

[Ed]

As Martin stated above, there were some very fine examples made from ivory.  Recently there was one of these on YJP, it finished at 533000Y.

 

While you can't save photos off YJP anymore, here is the link to it, if anyone cares to see what a slightly "better" one looks like.

 

http://page24.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/q60776491?u=%3bimanam97

[Brian]

No such thing as can't if you have enough time  

Yes..clearly in a different league. When you see this kind of workmanship, you know it wasn't mass produced. Nice!

 

Brian

[Davis]

Not so commonly found are those made from stag antler.  This one is from a collection formed pre WW1.  Quite heavy too.

Mick

[Davis]

I don't know what happened there, I'll try again.

[CurtisR]

Well I'm very happy that my post led to some learning (for me at least)...when I first saw the "wakizashi" I had the distinct feeling that 'someone got ripped off'...and sure enough! I've learned a tremendous amount from those here and -well - to put it bluntly the things stunk . The purchaser asked me about it only after he'd bought it (AKA "oooo - look at the shiny thing! It must be worth a ton of money!"). I am hoping that when he gets the verification that I sent him by text, he'll "slow his roll" next time and at least ask before giving $.

NOT that I claim to know much, really, but I'm improving. I intend to send one photo of Brian's beauty to show him the difference.

And yes, it's VERY interesting just how long the fake market has been in action...probably targeting sailors, day-tourists and the like who then passed them down as treasured heirlooms .

 

Regardless, just as in netsuke, there is a huge difference in honest, skilled work vs. junk.

 

Many thanks :beer:

Curtis R.

[SalaMarcos]

Curtis, As said above - the very lowest level of tourist item. They do however raise a question about where the bone came from. By chance I am involved in an article about leather in Japan and what is becoming very clear is that much of it came from abroad. The Japanese attitude of avoiding the eating of meat meant that few cattle and horses were bred there. It seems that between 1604 and 1635 some 250,000 deerskins were imported every year and probably even more than that at the height of the fighting in the 16th century. Large amounts were needed to make rawhide for armours. I have even found a rawhide gessan plate from that era that has been cut down and reused from a longer piece. I knew they recycled iron, but who knew they recycled rawhide? These wretched bone swords, that number in hundreds of thousands, are made from sections of quite substantial bones that are almost certainly from cattle. Was there a trade in cattle bones in Meiji Japan or were these objects, or at least the scabbards and hilts, actually made in China and shipped to Japan to have those dreadful 'blades' fitted. My guess is that they were totally Chinese and simply bought in by Japanese curio dealers for sale to tourists.

Ian Bottomley

 

Some months passed, do you allready finished this article? I found very interesting this kind of things about bone-ivory tantô-wakizashi-katana.

By the way, this kind of souvenir could be named as shiiremono? or do you think this name is only for metal works?

[ROKUJURO]

I bought this 7cm x 3cm section of bone at an antique fair.  I asked a Chinese couple (antique dealers) browsing at the same stall whether it could be Chinese.  The answer was no.  The picture is not very good, the detail is much better viewed in hand.  My opinion is that this is Japanese.

Mick

Mick,

 

that is probably depicting a Mongolian, although the long bow is not typical. At least it does not look Japanese to me..

[Davis]

Jean

It's got me thinking!

Mick

[Davis]

Jean

Follow Henk-Jan's link, Gorgeous Items At Bonhams - Lot 101 shows a tsuba with a similiar depiction to the one on my bone segment.

Mick 

[ROKUJURO]

Mick,

I have the impression that the warrior on the TSUBA is not at all similar. He looks more like a HEIAN JIDAI SAMURAI to me. But I am no expert in this field. 

[Davis]

Hi Jean

 

I've gone back and had another look and given it some more thought.  The archer on the tsuba and piece of bone are both striking the same pose.  Elements of dress are similar and the same weapons are carried.  The archer on the bone is shown hunting in a forest during a thunderstorm.  The archer on the tsuba is shown beneath falling cherry blossom.  I still think the "bone" archer is Japanese but I could be wrong -  I often am.

 

Ian Bottomley has tremendous knowledge and experience of all types of arms and armour, perhaps he would be so kind as to give his opinion.

 

Mick

[kyushukairu]

Out of interest, has anyone ever come across a decent nihonto within bone koshirae? 
I discovered this signed tachi in tourist fittings, though I'm curious as to why an antique blade would have been mounted in cheap fittings.
Perhaps they mounted flawed blades, or the value was so low of nihonto that it was economical to export them like this?
Does anyone has any insights to explain this?
 
 

[Brian]

Yes, sometimes good blades are found in these carved mounts. But then, those mounts are SUPERB in their quality. These aren't.

Best case scenario is that when the Meiji exports became popular, they used an older blade that isn't too bad. When the blade shows remounting and multiple mekugi ana, there is more hope. Usually the blades are made for the mounts, and they are terrible. This blade looks a bit earlier than the mounts. But the mounts are not great. Get the blade evaluated.

[kyushukairu]

The blade is early muromachi, signed Bishu Osafune Morimistu (備州長船守光), though I'm not concerned with it in particular.  It's widely acknowledged that bone koshirae are low-grade tourist tat, but occasionally one finds a traditionally made blade inside. My question, rather, is why nihonto were placed in these mounts.
For example, perhaps this was the initial practice, but then it was discovered that foreigners bought them in virtue of their mounts, and so cheap steel blades were mounted instead. This is mere speculation, of course, though I'm interested if any one knows of any documents which shed light on this practice. 

[Brian]

As I mentioned, this was done during late Meiji period, when the tourist and export Western market opened up, and the Japanese were turning out whatever gaudy "Western taste" stuff they could put together for these people to snap up and take back home.

[Prewar70]

Technically speaking, would this be a katana?