Bugyotsuji Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Posted January 11, 2012 Malcolm, many thanks for the interesting link. I for one look forward to seeing your shots.
Bugyotsuji Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Posted January 11, 2012 Regarding the Satsuma/Bizen-crossover Daimyo gun that I posted a while back, it has been repeated to me that despite the narrow caliber/bore, the 65 cm overall length of the pistol puts it into the category of Kago-zutsu. Since then I have spent many hours on the internet trying to find a link between Shimazu/Satsuma and the sacred Kashiwa leaves in the Ka-Mon underneath the butt. Two interesting facts have presented themselves, about which I will write when I have a little more time. One is that there is a temple in Kashiwa City in Saitama/Chiba where the roof tiles carry the Shimazu cross family Mon. The temple was given permission to use the Shimazu family Mon in the Middle Ages when one ancestor studied Buddhism there. Is the Kashiwa oak leaf arrangement around the Satsuma cross talismanic rather than heraldic? The second is that the 7th Lord Ikeda of Okayama, who died in 1842, was younger brother to the Lord Shimazu of Satsuma. They shared the same mother who was from the Ikeda of Tottori. It is said that upon hearing of the untimely death of his younger brother, Shimazu was deeply upset. Were they particularly close? This date of 1842 is suspiciously close to when Yokoyama Tatsuemon Sukenobu was at his most prolific.
Bugyotsuji Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Posted January 11, 2012 That's very similar, isn't it... and I discovered the remains of fibres/fibers between the two circular plates too. Maybe I will have to go and look for some hair! Thanks, Malcolm.
Baka Gaijin Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 Good afternoon Piers, Refer to page one of this thread, the group photograph of the castle musket troop and the figure wearing Jingasa to the extreme left of shot, the end of the hata looks as if its trimmed with hair similar to the Matoi. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554&start=0 Cheers
Lorenzo Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 I wonder who that person is... maybe Piers knows :lol:
Bugyotsuji Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Posted January 11, 2012 Good afternoon Piers, Refer to page one of this thread, the group photograph of the castle musket troop and the figure wearing Jingasa to the extreme left of shot, the end of the hata looks as if its trimmed with hair similar to the Matoi. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554&start=0 Cheers Haha, talk about coming full circle, Malcolm! (Lorenzo got it. She's my daughter.) And they are the people I am planning to show this to tomorrow or Friday!
IanB Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 Piers et all, Sorry for the delay in getting these images on line, but life throws up too many distractions. For some reason I cannot find the third one. I know it is in my armour room somewhere, possibly in a box, but which one? The tiger leaping onto bamboo is about 24" high from the base of the stand to the tiger's hind legs. As you can see the poor creature has lost his tail. The drum on a stand is nearer 18" high. When I find the fan one I will add it since it is most like a regular matoi finial - three sided with a kamon on each face. It has two discs like the others but no hair and may well have had cloth or paper streamers. From memory it is about the same size as the drum one. Ian
Bugyotsuji Posted January 11, 2012 Author Report Posted January 11, 2012 Thank you Ian. Those are very good. I am jealous of the hair, not least for my own head... Did the tiger lose his tail at your house, by the way, or before? I like the word 'streamers'. All I could come up with was festoons. Must be losing my English...
IanB Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 Piers, No, sadly it was missing when I got it. It had a rather poor attempt at repair using a bent twig covered in gold paint, but it looked so wrong so I removed it. I can do a new tail with no problems, but imitating the bright gold lacquer .... I am not sure how that might be done. Ian
estcrh Posted January 17, 2012 Report Posted January 17, 2012 Here is an item related to the ones just posted, its listed as a "Kayo-Zugara Kouma-Jirushi" http://www.yoroikabuto.com/cgi-bin/shop ... cgi?dno=86
Bugyotsuji Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Posted January 17, 2012 Eric, I like that. Shades of Imperial Rome! Did you see that movie 'Shogun'? There was a good scene with a hawk in it. (BTW, the stand is almost exacly the same as mine, down to the finger pull hole.) I went round to the sword shop a couple of days ago to enquire and there in the shop was one just like Ian's drum stand, # 1 above!!! (Complete with red ropes.) Common sense tells me 小 should be read Sho-uma-jirushi, as Ko-uma means a small/young foal, yet your link says Ko-uma. Not been able to find the correct reading of the character (within this word) in any disctionary elsewhere. Hmmm... I hope they are right.
Bugyotsuji Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Posted January 19, 2012 Further update on the pistol. The castle museum will be doing a 50-day display of armour and guns in the spring and they have asked for it to be included. Not so sure if it's a good thing, but it might even get a pic in the booklet, they say. :| I have made a gorgeous box for it, and a simple lacquered wooden display stand. Last year at the same time the castle featured some wonderful swords and a great display of tsuba, fuchi, kashira etc. in the side cases.
watsonmil Posted January 19, 2012 Report Posted January 19, 2012 Dear Piers, I once had ( most is now sold ) a very extensive collection of SOE/OSS/Resistance ( spy ) artifacts from WWII. A museum asked me for the loan of some very rare material. Since it became part of a 9 month exhibition, ... it was also published in a booklet format. The fact that the material was published gave my entire collection some notoriety which translated into much higher prices when I offered the collection for sale. Not only that, ... but a great number of people were able to see and study real history. A win win situation. I personally am pleased that the Castle Museum would ask you for the loan of your interesting pistol. You should be very proud ! ... Ron Watson
estcrh Posted January 19, 2012 Report Posted January 19, 2012 Piers, hopefully some pictures will be coming our way from the exhibit, for those of us who are stuck on the wrong continent.
IanB Posted January 19, 2012 Report Posted January 19, 2012 Eric, Thank you for the link. Now at last I can feel confident in fitting these items onto a pole and sticking them on the backs of some armours. Still haven't found No3, but it is there somewhere. I have another sashimono doo-dah in the form of a pole with a small trefoil finial that once sprouted a spray of bamboo and paper feathers. I have made one new feather (they were all missing) and I am begining to get the urge to complete the rest. Like my poor tiger's tail, the feathers will need a lot of gilding - might use Dutch metal what with the price of gold today. Ian
Bugyotsuji Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Posted January 19, 2012 The other day I was in a business closing-down salesroom (where they sell unsold items from places that have gone bust) and they had some small cans of clear lacquer with bags of gold powder attached. (Well, 'gold' in colour, but what really? What is Dutch metal?) Now normally I wouldn't spend 16 GBP on a small can of paint, but everything was 70% off... I haven't dared try it yet. Ron, thanks for the vote of confidence. There is that aspect, indeed. The chap who sold it to me is also involved in liaison for the exhibition, so he will be fully aware of this, I can guess. (I hope you still have some interesting bits of the WWII material that you mention.)
watsonmil Posted January 20, 2012 Report Posted January 20, 2012 Dear Piers, I still have a few pieces of SOE/OSS/Resistance material, ... mostly the type of stuff that is difficult to ship Internationally, ... eg. .45 Cal. Liberator Pistol, ... special sabotage detonators such as the British No. 10 Mk.1 Pencil delay ( exactly the type as used by Claus Von Stauffenberg in his bomb plot against Hitler ) ... Yes the German's used a British Time delay. See the movie "Valkyrie". A very rare 1939 production Minox V.E.F. Riga Spy Camera. I could go on and on but this is a Japanese collectors Forum. Oh, ... and I still have an Enigma for sale if anyone is interested ! ... Ron Watson
IanB Posted January 20, 2012 Report Posted January 20, 2012 Piers, Dutch metal is a cheap alternative to gold. It is a brass (84%Cu, 16%Zn) that can be beaten into leaves similar to gold leaf but a bit thicker. It does tarnish eventually, but keeps bright a very long time. Ian
estcrh Posted January 20, 2012 Report Posted January 20, 2012 Like my poor tiger's tail, the feathers will need a lot of gilding - might use Dutch metal what with the price of gold today.Ian Ian, I have used gold leaf before, you probably have also, its quite thin and easy to apply, would it be that expensive on a small scale?
Bugyotsuji Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 The area sword appreciation meeting was held in an old house up a slope next to the art museum overlooking Himeji Castle. The castle is as you know completely hidden under a huge tented scaffolding. If ever you are in the area, try and visit this house and garden. The name means something like 'tea house with a view'. 望景亭 This pretty house and garden was probably used by the Daimyo. The sliding doors at the ends of the corridors have painted scenes on them, reminiscent of Nijo-Jo. I was stunned to see the circular finger catches on the fusuma were all ceramic, held on with bamboo mekugi-like pegs. This was repeated for the catches on the small sliding cupboards too. 1
cabowen Posted January 22, 2012 Report Posted January 22, 2012 While not a formal tea house, I have been told that traditional tea houses are the most expensive structures per square foot in the world.....Quite ironic when you think about it.... There is a very similar structure next to the Sano Museum in Mishima, Shizuoka....
Bugyotsuji Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 Note the huge boulder for the lord to wash his hands after visiting the room beyond the painted door. 1
Bugyotsuji Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 Chris, you mean valuable as objects, expensive for the land, expensive for the intensive labor/labour to keep up? Strangely enough they charged us 4,000 yen for exclusive use of the rooms for the afternoon (7,000 yen for a whole day!) and during that time a notice kept the general public outside...
cabowen Posted January 22, 2012 Report Posted January 22, 2012 Cost of construction..... Here's a photo of the building at the Sano...they also rent it out for sword kantei kai, etc....
Bugyotsuji Posted January 22, 2012 Author Report Posted January 22, 2012 Ah, yes. Similar! Nice atmosphere though. That figures about expensive construction. Someone pointed out that every single upright support was made from the heart of one complete tree to prevent cracking/splitting. The itame lines all vertical and parallel from floor through ceiling.
cabowen Posted January 22, 2012 Report Posted January 22, 2012 Yes, they use the best materials, which means perfectly clear, even grain. Then the wood is seasoned perfectly for about forever to get the moisture level right. Then they use the best carpenters who make absolutely perfect joints. I use to eat sushi and drink sake at a place in Mishima that had a single, 20 foot long, 18" wide board that hung above the counter/bar, parallel to it, near the ceiling. It was perfectly clear and planed so that it nearly glistened...I remember the first time I went there, I looked up and saw this perfect piece of wood and commented to the owner that this was really something fantastic...He just smiled...Years later he told me that only a couple of customers had ever commented on that and that he knew the moment I said that we would become good friends..... Only in Japan would a simple board hanging in the air become a neon sign that says "quality here".... 1
Bugyotsuji Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Posted January 23, 2012 Well, however you cut that story, it's a good one and rings true. Two updates. One is on the 'gold' powder. Having read Ian's description of Dutch gold as brass, 84% copper & 16% zinc, the powder that I bought suddenly looked somehow more reddish to me as I opened the lid. It was only an experimental job to paint gold lines on the edges of the gun stand, but I mixed up far too much of both the acrylic lacquer and the powder and had to wander around the house looking for any gold-colored/coloured things that needed a patch-up, like the shikoro on my kabuto. Reddish gold, Welsh gold(?) is now the flavour of the month, but using it has taught me probably 90% of what I needed to know. The other is regarding the Daimyo pistol. The use of Kashiwa oak leaves around the Satsuma Kutsuwa cross has had me flummoxed, but gradually I am clawing back some hints with which to build a circumstantial case for a story. The question is whether I should let it out in globs here, or tie it all together and publish it in some form. If it is indeed a target pistol, as Ron says, then the case for the mark being talismanic as I suggested earlier in this thread is strengthened. Mon or Kamon tended to be placed where they could be seen, either all the way down the sides of the butt and stock, or on the top and/or upper sides of the barrel. This silver plate is hidden, though, underneath the gun where only the owner or the loading party would normally see it. What I wanted was a strong tie-in between these two seeming Mon. What I have found is that the Shimazu family owe(d) their very existence to a young man named Kashiwagi, 柏木(or Kashiwada 柏田 in some versions) an 'elite sniper' as he is described in Japanese blogs on the internet. His family crest was the three 柏 oak leaves.
Bugyotsuji Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Posted January 23, 2012 Yesterday in the car on the way to the sword meeting I showed the photos and asked for opinions. One member of the party said, "*Gen-katsugi? Why not? Perfectly reasonable." The story I would like it to be and can half see is that the young Shimazu Naritoshi 1811-1842, who became 7th Lord of Okayama/Bizen, ordered a gun to be made by Tatsuemon Sukenobu for his elder brother, Nariakira 1809-1858, 28th Lord of Satsuma. A good present? The whole country was under orders to re-arm, and the enemy was likely to approach from the south of Kyushu. The gun would be the very best of Bizen, but incorporating Satsuma sentiment. At 65.5 cm, a Kago-zutsu, but much slimmer, designed as a Shageki-ju. The mark underneath would recall the time the family was protected while retreating from Sekigahara when 22-yr-old 'dead-shot' Kashiwagi broke ranks and felled Ii Naomasa from his horse as, under direct orders from Tokugawa Ieyasu, he was leading the following combined Ii + Honda charge to destroy Satsuma. The fall of Ii Naomasa signalled a general pull-back and the remaining Satsuma forces were able to make their escape. The two brothers must have loved this story as children. Could such a silver plate have meant both protection for the family and a wish for accuracy in shooting? Since the Lord Ikeda Naritoshi died in 1842, it could be that the gun he ordered was only completed after his death... (?) but here we further enter the world of speculation. It is well used, so perhaps Nariakira used it in fond memory?
Bugyotsuji Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Posted January 23, 2012 It is recorded in the annals of Ii, that the bullet ricochet(t)ed off Naomasa's armour and pierced his arm as he was holding aloft his sword. He stayed on his black horse as long as he could but finally rolled off in agony. He never recovered from the wound. In 1769 a stone monument was erected to the hero Kashiwagi Motohisa to ease his soul at the Nanrinji Temple in south Kyushu. The inscription avoids using his earthly name, but suggests that when he heard of the death of Ii Naomasa 18 months later, he donned black garb and wandered the country, never to marry or have children and never more to return to his place of birth. *Gen-katsugi is a colloquialism meaning 'for luck'. I wear red underwear when racing on the circuit, for example. Gen wo katsugu, ie to garner good luck.
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