This Week's Edo Period Corner

[Bugyotsuji]

And that was just the plate. And the object? Voila!

[Nobody]

I know what it is. I think I have seen it before.

[watsonmil]

Hello Piers,

A Japanese " pepper grinder ", .... hope all is well in Scotland.

.... Ron Watson

[Bugyotsuji]

That was a clever find, Koichi san!

 

Ron, not for pepper or even for salt! :? (It's about as long as your elbow to your fist.)

 

In London now, bonny Scotland next month.

[estcrh]

Gun powder grinder? I give up.

[Brian]

Yeah, I also can't come up with any intelligent guesses. Something very unusual or commonplace?

 

Brian

[Jean]

an automatic repeating club

[Bugyotsuji]

Jean is surprisingly close. It is something that many ladies today enjoy having applied to themselves.

[Toryu2020]

It's a vibrator!

-t

[Gregc]

A powder grinder, talcum or similar?

[Brian]

Some kind of massager?

 

Brian

[sencho]

Some kind of massager?

 

Brian

 

[xxlotus8xx]

A vibrator? Sheesh Tom!

It is obviously a tea leaf crusher/smasher.

[Bugyotsuji]

Damn, you guys got it! Yes, you wind the handle and some off-centre weights cause the broad end to wobble quite satisfactorily, providing a nice vibration/massage into your 'shoulders'.

[Brian]

Any closer view of the brass plaque?

I noticed in one very angled view that there didn't appear to be any openings at the bottom, so that excluded any form of grinder

 

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Brian, any closer than the three shots on the previous page? :D

 

The only grinding is 'bump 'n grind' LOL

[sanjuro]

Not to lower the tone of the topic, but I still rather like the vibrator idea. It has a certain charm. Massager/Vibrator...... the difference lies only in the area of the body to which the massage is applied. Maybe Japanese ladies (as opposed to their more liberated sisters), were not as chaste and proper as we sometimes assume. :D

[Toryu2020]

Keith -

I think of things the other way round, Buke perhaps were "chaste" but everybody else was going at it. Japanese sexual mores being much looser than here in the west.

 

@Ray take a look at the back of Ladies Home Journal, they call em "personal massagers" but the shape is unmistakable. Nothing in the rule book says she has to use the fat end...

-t

[Brian]

Brian, any closer than the three shots on the previous page? :D

Piers,

Aaaah. I missed the bottom of that page entirely

 

Brian

[sanjuro]

Thomas

 

I wonder if the buke ladies were 'chaste' because they were not being 'chased' ? When you think about it, would you pursue a lady who knew how to use a naginata, with jollies in mind?

If it didnt go well, the consequences could be rather disturbing.

[xxlotus8xx]

Keith -

I think of things the other way round, Buke perhaps were "chaste" but everybody else was going at it. Japanese sexual mores being much looser than here in the west.

 

@Ray take a look at the back of Ladies Home Journal, they call em "personal massagers" but the shape is unmistakable. Nothing in the rule book says she has to use the fat end...

-t

 

You read Ladies Home Journal? OK I'll stop. I'm prolly asking for a beatdown so back to proper NMB behavior..

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, it does have some resemblance to a Kokeshi doll, and we all know what they were sometimes used for... although I suspect such energies were generally sublimated.

[sanjuro]

Thank you Piers for ruining my misconception of the Kokeshi doll. Until now, I had absolutely no idea what they were sometimes used for. Prior to this I just thought of them as being kinda cute.

 

Sheesh! the older I get, the more disillusioned I become. :?

 

Yes I know......... It should have been obvious!!!

[loui]

Hello Gentlemen,

 

I just received my latest woodblock and I am pretty happy to have this one. I generally like woodblocks that are more violent and this one fits the bill, explosives, sword in the mouth, it fits the bill to a "T". Is there any chance someone could translate some of the kanji on this to give me a good idea of what the exact story is?

 

Help would be much appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Louis

[loui]

And one more picture, I'll remove some pictures after I get some info on the piece.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Louis

[Basho12]

I can't translate it, but the artist is Kuniyoshi. You can find out a little about the print itself here: http://antiquesandthearts.com/2010-04-27__14-47-15.html&page=2

 

I've had an interest in woodblock prints, too, for some time, but I'm a little more familiar with the Shin Hanga movement of the early 20th century.

[estcrh]

Louis I can not help you unfortunately but thats a great print, any idea when this was printed? I have been studying old prints for awhile, there is a lot of information about armor, clothing and weapons in the old prints, got any more you can show, thanks.

[Nobody]

............... Is there any chance someone could translate some of the kanji on this to give me a good idea of what the exact story is?

Google “Morozumi Masakiyo”.

 

Ex. http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_a ... ll_start=1

[estcrh]

Koichi, thats a great link..I found some more prints from the same artist including this one with a large group of men on a roof wearing chain armor and possibly uniforms ( police?) and carrying sodegarami, sasumata and tsukubō while trying to catch some criminals? http://www.mfa.org/zoom.asp?file=SC1730 ... %FBkaku%29

[Nobody]

Eric,

 

That is a scene from the following story.

Ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nans%C5%8D ... _Hakkenden