This Week's Edo Period Corner

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, here it is in all its glory. Tora no Shippo. Lacquer on wood.

 

Is it just me that likes it? LOL

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Is it just me that likes it? LOL

 

Naaay, just the other one is more "traditional".

 

At "close quarters" looks much better then from distance. A nice one.

[Bugyotsuji]

Is it just me that likes it? LOL

 

Naaay, just the other one is more "traditional".

 

At "close quarters" looks much better then from distance. A nice one.

 

:D I agree....

[Bungo]

Bugsy,

you got competitors.........

 

http://www.japantoday.com/category/pict ... a-firearms

 

milt

[Bugyotsuji]

Bugsy,

you got competitors.........

 

http://www.japantoday.com/category/pict ... a-firearms

 

milt

 

Haha! Nice find, Milt. This means WAR!!!

[IanB]

Piers, Glad to hear you managed to sneak the armour into the house. A tricky situation I have been involved in on odd occasions. Now, here is a trivial item that turned up on UK eBay a few weeks ago. There is an almost identical one illustrated in Stone's 'Glossary ...' where it is described as a bokken. What surprised me is that the drawer, which is paper thin, is carved from a single piece of wood and is curved to fit the saya. Stone was of the impression this kind of thing was for carrying brushes. The interior of mine is so clean it is either new and unused or it carried coins or some such.

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

Piers, Glad to hear you managed to sneak the armour into the house. A tricky situation I have been involved in on odd occasions. Now, here is a trivial item that turned up on UK eBay a few weeks ago. There is an almost identical one illustrated in Stone's 'Glossary ...' where it is described as a bokken. What surprised me is that the drawer, which is paper thin, is carved from a single piece of wood and is curved to fit the saya. Stone was of the impression this kind of thing was for carrying brushes. The interior of mine is so clean it is either new and unused or it carried coins or some such.

Ian Bottomley

 

Never seen one like that before. I have heard on and off over the years that samurai sometimes/often? carried money, or blobs of silver/gold (mame-ita-gin) within the saya of their swords. I have heard rumors/rumours of special compartments, (such as in the oil collection reservoir at the bottom?) but what you show here is quite large.

 

Perhaps the threat and appearance of a blade was enough to keep potential robbers at bay. A good place to carry vital documents?

 

Brushes? Hmmm... will need to ask around for opinions, Ian.

[IanB]

Piers, I did once have a regular wakizashi with a long drawer, made of horn, built into the inside of the saya alongside the blade. After pulling out the sword, there was a small notch inside the koi guchi that enabled you to get a finger nail in to pull out the drawer that was about 12" long. It was about the right size to hold ichibu (?) - the small silver coins. It must have been a merchant's sword and a very convenient way of carrying your cash because the drawer was virtually undetectable unless you really searched for it.

 

I have just found an almost identical one to the one I have just posted, illustrated in the book on 'Edo no Tanto Koshirae', page 63. Apart from having different false-menuki, it is exactly the same - even to the spiral shapes in the lacquer on the scabbard. Must have come out of the same workshop. It is illustrated with three other, more realistict, dummy swords and a scatter of silver and gold coins so I guess that is what it really is.

Ian

[Bugyotsuji]

Fascinating stuff, Ian. How do you come across such things? Does working in a museum sharpen your eyes so that you can recognize the really unusual?

 

PS Spent the evening brushing areas of red rust from the chain mail on the Kote and applying olive oil with Q tips to help blacken the little links. Got the wife repairing and sewing the backing material for a few hours to the point where these Ko-te are now just about serviceable. The buffalo horn toggles are badly perished, however, so some inventiveness will be needed either to help them function again or to replace such function in some unnoticeable way. The wife is onboard in a big way now and admits that they look something special! (Despite injuring herself on one of the poisoned spikes... hehehe)

[IanB]

Piers, If the toggles (kohaze) have been eaten by the weevils, or whatever it is that infects armour and eats the horn, you can fit new ones without disturbing the cords. I am assuming of course that the cords are reasonably strong and intact. (One of my armours came without a single horn toggle left but with the silk cords they had been on completely intact.) What I did was make new toggles and drill the usual two holes through them. I then cut the bit of horn away between the holes to give a slot. This allowed me to thread the loop of cord through the slot, fastening it in place with a horn peg glued in place through a hole drilled from side to side and of course through the loop of cord. When it was all dry, I sanded off the excess peg and re-polished the sides of the toggle so the peg was all but invisible. Worked a treat and you can only tell what had been done if you look very carefully.

 

Ian B

[Bugyotsuji]

Gosh, Ian, been there done that, it would seem. I am full of admiration. Things like this fill me with trepidation and set my little heart a-hammering. Reassuring that you have been ahead and come back, alive, with the experience to impart. Thanks a lot for that!

[IanB]

Piers, You ask if having worked in a museum has sharpened my eyes. The answer is no but it has made me realise that collecting is not just a matter of chasing the bright and shiny. There is obviously a place for setting your sights high and only acquiring the finest quality but the equipment used by the rank and file is every bit as valid (alothough to read some comments you might not think so ). For every daimyo strutting his stuff in his lavish Haruta armour and wearing his immaculate tachi with its 13th C blade, there were thousands in issued gear. In many respects this low rank stuff is almost as scarce as the best, having been scrapped as not worthy of being studied. I own a 3/4 German black and white armour made in Nuremberg about 1560. It is absolutely genuine, with no replaced plates. Can you find any real information on these armours - no. The books wax lyrical on the armours made for the upper ranks and say nothing about the commonest equipment - that made for the soldiers who did the real fighting.

The same is true of Japanese arms and armour. Last Friday a guy came to see me with three swords left by his grandfather. One was a perfectly respectable wakizashi in nice enough mounts and with a touristy lacquered dragon on the saya. The other two were what everyone in the UK keeps calling 'Satsuma Rebellion' mounts but which I maintain are okkashi to. One was made from a broken katana blade and was still about 22" long, but had an absurdly short tang. The other looked the same but was in fact a real wakizashi blade signed Kanehiro. On the reverse it stated 'Kanemitsu two people made this'. Now to me that was more interesting than the first wakizashi. It was a real piece of history. Later another sword was brought to show me (another grandpa job). It was a katana by Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro. A very rare thing and highly desirable in many eyes since very few katana were made by him, but to me not half as interesting as the little wakizashi balde. I will no descend from my high-horse and climb back into my cupboard

Ian Bottomley

[Baka Gaijin]

Hi Ian,

 

Could you elaborate on your opinions regarding "Rebellion" Mounts please, this is fascinating stuff indeed.

 

Best regards

 

Malcolm

[IanB]

Malcolm, Certainly. For years there has been the belief in the UK that a certain type of 'cobbled together' sword mount was for use in the Satsuma Rebellion (or Southwest War) of 1877 in which Saigo Takamori and his samurai followers fought the Meiji government. A good number of these swords are wakizashi size and most have blades that are clearly 'past their best', often tired or made from cut-down katana. Having said that one of the best blades I have ever owned came in such a mount; a slightly suriage Tadayoshi wakizashi that is either shodai or Tadayoshi III. However, it is the mounts that are so characteristic. They are characterised by having a tsuka, often a short length of an old saya, bound with cotton(?) tape in a style similar to katemaki but with a twist put into the tape in that section that is normally just wound around flat. It is virtually the same as that described as being used by 'high ranking samurai of the Shonai Han' on the JSSUS website. I have noticed that some of these hilts had the tape dyed green, but most are now a dull brown. The fuchi is usually just a simple strip of sheet iron, brazed into a ring without a base. The kashira is again of thin sheet iron beaten into a cap over which the braid passes. Finally the menuki are most commonly iron washers, hammered up to a dished shape. Scabbards can be anything but generally fit the blade well enough. Tsuba are generally plain, in all shapes.

Now why do I believe they are nothing to do with the Satsuma Rebellion. Firstly, most rebels were samurai and would have had their own swords. The opposition was the Meiji army who had been well equipped. That they were not knocked together for the tourist market is suggested by their obvious utility appearance and the fact that there are so many all the same. If you are making up junk swords for the tourist trade you would at least make them look desirable. Finally, and I think most convincing are the illustrations in Zobyo Monogatari, originally printed in the early Edo period with illustartions of ashigaru. One picture in particular shows two spearmen with their loaned equipment, okkashi gusoku and okkashi to ('lent' armour and 'lent' swords). You will note that one guy, with a trophy head, has a pair of looted swords tied to his spear. Note these are bound in the normal fashion. But note how the artist has depicted the tsuka maki of the okkashi to (the same in all the illustrations). I am sure that what they are are old munition swords put onto the market when the old castle arsenals were being cleared out. At this point I was going to add the picture with nice close-ups of the sword hilts. But!!! The gremlins that inhabit my study have hidden my copy of the book . I will have a look tomorrow for it and add the pics later.

 

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

Just a quick note on Romanization of Japanese, Ian. In your eye-opening description of an area that has always been murky for me, you use the work 'okkashi'. Kasu is to lend, so informal would be Kashi-gusoku, and honorific should probably best be rendered with a single 'k', ie Okashi (gusoku).

 

I have a friend who collects Satsuma equipment, so one of these days I would like to ask his opinion on your theory. If you do post pictures, it would be very helpful.

[John A Stuart]

Hi, I had always considered this koshirae to be typical of the Satsuma rebellion period. The fittings are simple iron with no embellishment, what would be expected for a weapon used while slogging through rain and mud etc.. It has a good koto blade that belies the simple tousogu. Have I fallen for the party line? Sorry for the poor pic. John

I forgot to mention that the tsuka is wrapped katate maki, which I thought characteristic as well. john

[Baka Gaijin]

Thank You Ian,

 

You accurately described the first Wakizashi I ever bought, way back in 1966. The Same had the large nodes on Katana Omote side and was full wrap with paper packing strips at top and bottom. The Cotton itomaki was about 3/4 of an inch wide, doubled over on itself, as if cotton sheets had been ripped down their length to produce the strips.

 

Christmas Steps in Bristol, £4 10 shillings, I could have had its longer Brother for £6.00, or the two for £10.00, but my saved Pocket Money would not stretch to such grand heights.

 

Just to extend the theme slightly, I've heard various UK dealers over the years refer to Blue and Green itomaki as being typical of "Hama Mono", one colour supposedly being Yokohama and the other being Nagasaki. Is there any truth in this?

 

Best regards

 

Malcolm

[IanB]

Piers, Thank you for the note on the single 'k'. I have always been unsure on the romanisation but the ashigaru equipment is referred to using the term by Sasama in 'Nihon no Katchu Bugu Jiten'. John, Yes I would agree your sword is probably Satsuma but believe me far far better than the species I am describing. Malcolm, The Tadayoshi I wrote about was bought as a Christmas present in exactly the same circumstances. It was a choice between that and a tanto with lovely mounts of quail in millet. I rejected it because it had no scabbard.

All attempts to find my book have failed. I know it is in a slip-case I made for it. I am wondering now if it is in the Royal Armouries. They liked to copy images from it for various publicity material. However, I have found the remnants of a hilt from one of these swords, sans iron fittings.

Ian B.

[pcfarrar]

Hi Ian,

 

Do you think this wakizashi of mine would qualify as an okkashi to?

 

The blade is a lovely o-suriage wak with loads of activity and a billowing choji hamon. The kashira is iron and very rusty/worn with what appears to be a mon (maybe Oda).

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

The brother of IanB's rebellion tsuka.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Ian, it could be that a dialect form was being quoted. Okkashi sounds like a local dialect.

 

Have a look at the left of this page:

http://www.kabutographics.com/play/guso ... ku2.html#O

[Bungo]

so sorry most of you didn't get to see the rock climber in action at Edo castle. The ever vigilant moderators ( don't you guys ever go to the bathroom or something ? )yanked it.

 

Here is a small painting that's Edo period and belong to a corner.

Seller identified the painter as Toyohiko ( fake ? copy ? doesn't really matter ).

My request is for translation of the poem supposedly by Basho.

This requires the specialist...................Nobody san, please ?

 

milt

[Nobody]

The poem of Basho seems to be written as follows, though basically I cannot read Sosho. :?

Hentaigana are partly used in the writing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentaigana

 

On the painting, the characters “ã¤ã‚ã‚‚ã® (brave warrior)†are not explicitly written. Maybe it is intended to be expressed by the figure of a samurai below.

 

å¤ãã•ã‚„ – Natsukusa ya

(ã¤ã‚ã‚‚ã®)ã¨ã‚‚å¯ â€“ (Tsuwamono) domo ga

ゆå…乃 – Yume no

ã‚㨠- ato

 

The summer grasses – for many brave warriors, the aftermath of dreams. (© Donald Keene)

[Bungo]

Koichi san,

 

 

milt

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, we opened the Momo Taro Autumn Festival today

http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/sanyonews/20 ... 14029.html

 

It was the first time in the 'new' black lacquer Iyo-zane armor/armour and quite a few people came to say nice things about it. (Pity about the person inside, though...) I had managed to extend strings, etc, so that everything fitted and looked fairly OK. The spikes on the Kote were pretty popular as no-one had seen anything like it. At first I was quite tense with the Sode constantly sliding forward, and worried that something would break or split, but after an hour or so, it all started to feel quite comfortable around me. Confidence is born!

 

The Tanto came back from the September exhibition with a new tsunagi for the koshirae, a new shirasaya for the blade and a smart white cover bag. Our NBTHK sensei also happens to be a shirogane-shi habaki maker; he had fixed the damage to the gold surface which had rippled where some previous idiot owner must have shut the Tanto carelessly. He also did some independent research about which Katana-kaji would have helped with the blade and made an interesting discovery which I will explain on the other thread.

[Bugyotsuji]

You are all thinking that the corner has gone silent, so this is just to say that I have been carrying my camera recently with me to a couple of local outdoor antiques fairs with some nice background scenery, and plan to post them here very soon. Following on from the Fukuyama Castle Gardens Antiques Fair posted earlier on this thread, you will be able to see the Saidaiji Fair held at the temple site of the Hadaka Matsuri, and a shot or two of the bigger one held in Ako Castle. Watch this space.

[Bugyotsuji]

Unfortunately despite starting off with great fanfare, few people visit this antiques fair any more and I am afraid it will die a death very soon. Sign of the economic times? Saidaiji.

[Bugyotsuji]

Ako Castle was dismantled in punishment for the 47 Ronin's revenge attack on Kira in Edo. Some nice sections of wall still remain with a couple of reconstructed watchtowers around the main gate. There is a shrine dedicated to Oishi Kuranosuke (Oishi Yoshio) within the walls, and the antiques fair is held around the back, alongside the shrine.

 

Always quite popular, depending on the day there may be 40-50 stalls, and people come from allover, including Himeji and Kobe to the East. Quite a few stalls with Nihonto bits and pieces, though no guarantee as to quality! You must know your oats.

[Brian]

Hope you told all the Ako stallholders to make sure they bring ALL their Nihonto stuff for the November trip

Looks good. That stall at Saidaiji with the swords (koshirae?) also looks interesting. Maybe they will start doing the Ako market. Love these antiques markets. At least you can haggle and have fun. The shops are the best place to buy, but not as much of an experience.

Hmm..then again the Rand dropped another 10% against the Yen last nite. Down about 30% since I booked my trip. is begging in the streets of Tokyo illegal? :lol:

 

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Hope you told all the Ako stallholders to make sure they bring ALL their Nihonto stuff for the November trip

Looks good. That stall at Saidaiji with the swords (koshirae?) also looks interesting. Maybe they will start doing the Ako market. Love these antiques markets. At least you can haggle and have fun. The shops are the best place to buy, but not as much of an experience.

Hmm..then again the Rand dropped another 10% against the Yen last nite. Down about 30% since I booked my trip. is begging in the streets of Tokyo illegal? :lol:

 

Brian

 

Ouch, tell me about it. My salary is soon gone each month, so I have been pulling pounds from the UK, but it's scary how much the GBP has fallen against the Yen... this really affects me. Yesterday I didn't actually buy anything apart from a skein of indigo yarn for 100 yen. The old coin dealer was offering a Hime-koban gold coin for a mere 40,000, but I didn't even feel like reaching for my wallet/billfold. There were some nice Tsuba too, but again I thought, :| and that was it...