This Week's Edo Period Corner

[John A Stuart]

The sickle shaped objects, not a clue. Jean's idea of the awl like thing for fishing nets, possible, but, I don't think so. Nets have been made a very long time using a knitting shuttle and knitting gauge and I don't think it is really a very primitive type. I think it is for knitting sacks closed as in rice or millet etc. I may be wrong though as it is rather large. John

[Bugyotsuji]

LOL @ Jean. John, you are very close to what was suggested to me...

 

Any further ideas about either before I offer what was suggested?

[Bugyotsuji]

The two scythes/sickles seem to be Kanzashi for fixing a lady's hair.

 

The bone needle was described as a needle for sewing Kome-dawara, not modern rice sacks exactly, but those cylindrical handwoven rice straw Tawara (Ip-pyo) bales. Is this what you were describing, John?

 

[John A Stuart]

These guys. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Thems the chaps!

 

Today's puzzle. Last night I found my bath looking like this; can you guess why? A big hand for the right reply. Koichi san probably knows the answer, so could I ask him to hold back for a while?

 

Hint. The question contains a clue.

2nd hint. This is not off topic.

[John A Stuart]

Hi Piers, Well, in certain countries it is Cinqo di Mayo, but, in Japan yesterday is famous for making soup of boy with iris seasoning. :lol: I'll wait for others to answer. John

[Bugyotsuji]

John, I should have asked you to stand over with Koichi san!

 

Yesterday there was the annual Kobudo-sai at Achi Jinja. We had our bad stuff removed by the Kan-nushi san, and representatives of the different Martial Arts bowed to the main shrines and put on their various displays. Tameshi-giri, Iai, Bo-jutsu, etc. We split into two groups, one in Do-gi and the other in full armour/armor for our display. We were presented with various objects during the day... and at the end I won a huge bottle of Holy Sake.

[John A Stuart]

Piers, You are so lucky to be able to enjoy these matsuri as an active participant. Whether one believes in the customs or not, I am sure the cleansing ritual provides some rejuvenation of spirit and camaraderie. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Piers, You are so lucky to be able to enjoy these matsuri as an active participant. Whether one believes in the customs or not, I am sure the cleansing ritual provides some rejuvenation of spirit and camaraderie. John

 

In the beginning I used to feel uncomfortable watching my own children bowing at a shrine. I needed to be able understand how to explain to them what might be common between my Western religious background and my wife's Japanese background. I needed to sort myself out first. Through meditation I came to understand that an intelligent power pervades everything. If there is a local god inside the shrine, then he or she will be infused with this greater universal spirit. If there isn't then nothing changes. I bow my head to the larger power behind everything and in such manner find that I lose my fear of how things might look. If I keep my consciousness on that, then I can bow to Mecca, or to Jesus, and there is no sin. Even bowing at a shrine is an opportunity for me to remember what is important. When I got married in a Shinto shrine the Kannushi said to me 'God is everywhere, so these promises you make should be kept." Difficult to argue with that!

 

And then, yes, I am free to enjoy things in the spirit you mention above, John!

[Bugyotsuji]

On a simple level, there are two plants there, Hana-Shobu and Yomogi.

 

The Yomogi is great for cuts. I fell off my bike on Monday and cut both hands and my left elbow and knee. Squish up some Yomogi with a mortar and pestle and slap it on. Heaven. Magic stuff. Next morning with minimal bandaging, I dressed in full armor/armour and performed the display without a whimper. The word Moxabustion comes from J Mogusa, another word for Yomogi, a kind of Mugwort.

 

Shobu, a kind of Iris as John said above, with long spiky leaves, symbolizes Victory. These bunches of Shobu and Yomogi are handed out to the visitors to the shrine on Children's (Boy's) Day. Not sure what the symbolic meaning of Yomogi is.

 

Anyway, the wife asked what O-miyage I had from the day and when I presented her with the bouquet, she put it straight into the bath to make it healthy, and smell nice, I guess.

[kusunokimasahige]

Darn wish i was living in Japan.....

 

KM

[Bugyotsuji]

Is everyone familiar with 'Nigiri-deppo' or 'Kaihou'? There was a transitional period between the traditional Hinawa-ju Tanegashima matchlock and the influx of 'modern' Western firearms when all kinds of experiments were being performed in Japan. Many 'Goku-mitsu-ju' were for personal protection or dastardly attack in the turbulent political switchover. The all-weather Nigiri-deppo was a pistol barrel with a parallel lever that you could squeeze to fire a little Raika ball like a Jintan into the chamber. The safety pin held the lever slightly open; pulling the pin meant that you could now squeeze and fire.

 

Well, I have seen several examples of these, in pictures and in real life, but today I saw a genuine one for the first time. There was a boxed one discovered in the Matsudaira family in Takamatsu dated Tempo 11, and there is one in a museum in Tokyo, I have heard. This was another.

 

Apparently they are so rare that 10 or so were made a few years ago to see how they work, and these are generally what people now have in their collections. One of the ways to discover which is genuine is the little hole for the primer ball: it should be 'stepped' or reduced by half inside. Many of the copies do not have this feature. :|

[Brian]

The all-weather Nigiri-deppo was a pistol barrel with a parallel lever that you could squeeze to fire a little Raika ball like a Jintan into the chamber

 

Piers,

Sounds fascinating, but I think I need some explanation of some of those terms. Can't quite get the idea from the text. Any pics anywhere of these?

 

Brian

[IanB]

Piers, Yes I am familiar with them. They were an interim development that followed the invention of the percussion system by the Rev. Alexander Forsyth. His guns used loose detonating powder held in a magazine that deposited a tiny amount on a nipple to be struck by the hammer. His locks worked well but were complex and expensive. A cheaper alternative was to use the detonating substance formed into small pills or pellets that could be either manually positioned on the nipple, or enclosed between strips or patches of paper like those for a toy cap gun. All manner of systems were patented using different ways of enabling the detonating compound to be handled without blowing your fingers off. Ultimately all these ideas were replaced by the copper cap that was safe to handle, weather-proof and so on.

When the Americans landed, the Japanese, not having access to copper caps, took up the idea of the pills and made the relatively simple karashi ju, or mustard-seed guns that you describe (the pills reminding the Japanese of the seeds). One of the pioneers was Katai Kyosuke who not only made the pellets but also devised a self-priming carbine to use with them. I managed to acquire one of these guns for the Royal Armouries. It was essentially like a conventional matchlock but was fitted with a sliding ring for a shoulder sling, a captive ramrod and an iron lock having a hammer rather than a regular serpentine. On top of the pan was a hinged sprung flap through which passed a plunger that was hit by the hammer. The lock also had a thumb-piece that allowed you to cock the hammer by pressing it down. In front of the pan was a long brass square-sectioned tubular magazine whose forward part could be pressed inwards against a spring. The gun was operated by cocking the hammer then pressing the end of the brass magazine. As it moved rearward it lifted the flap over the pan and deposited a percussion pill into the pan. On releasing the magazine slider, the flap over the pan dropped back, trapping the pill under the plunger which when hit by the hammer fired the gun. The gun was beautifully made but I never got into the magazine to see how it was loaded and how it worked.

Ian Bottomley

[IanB]

Brian, The karashi ju were simple, usually bronze barrels without a stock. On top was a depression in the base of which was the touch hole. Hinged to the breech end of the barrel was a forward pointing lever having a small projection that fitted into the depression. The idea was that you loaded the barrel in the normal way and placed a detonating pill in the depression (there was usually a little pivoted flap that covered the pill until you were ready to fire). To shoot the gun you simply squeezed the lever against the barrel, the projection crushing the pill and exploding it. They must have been rather dodgy to use since there was nothing to stop the flame burning your hand.

Ian Bottomley

[kusunokimasahige]

Sorry........

 

 

I misread certain words in one of Ian's postings on guns.......several of them....

 

KM

 

Interesting story by the way! so this developed after the match lock guns with the box system to keep rain away were discontinued?

 

I sort of remember reading in one of dr. Stephen Turnbull's books that only when Meiji started, more modern guns were imported, and that the Dutch had already traded some to the Choshu samurai and Japanese officials who secretly bought them were ordered to commit Seppuku after which the weapons were impounded by the Shogunate... (dont remember which of his many books i read that in though...)

 

Here is a nice background article on Nagasaki smuggling of modern weapons amongst other things:

 

http://www.uwosh.edu/home_pages/faculty ... meiji.html

[Bugyotsuji]

Nice article, Henk-Jan. Thanks. many years ago I wrote some papers on Joseph Heco (Hamada Hikozo) who is mentioned as Glover's assistant.

 

Ian, as always, comes through with a good solid follow-up and I get to fill in more holes in my knowledge. Mustard/Poppy seeds, of course! (The words Karashi, mustard or Keshi, poppy are written with the same Kanji as on the box below) I was wondering what the connection with mustard/poppy was in the generic name I mentioned earlier, Kaihou, Mustard or Poppy gun. (Shades of Pepperbox! Especially the seven holed Nigiri-deppo.) The question about burning your hand struck me too. Perhaps they wore leather gloves!

 

The long gun you describe Ian, is still found in Japan, but in very small numbers. I saw and played with one about four or five years ago. They are called Bo-so Raika Ju, and there were several variations. Yours sounds like one of the most evolved examples.

 

Luckily I had my camera in the car yesterday and I ran out to get it.

[Bugyotsuji]

Going back into the recesses of my memory, but a Kyushu farmer once told me that they say Karashi for the wild poppies that grow in people's gardens. The character Karashi, Keshi, 芥 can also be read 'Akuta' which means annoying weeds, and is used to describe a plant that is very strictly prohibited and that you are doing your very best to eliminate.

 

PS Nothing to do with the price of fish, but on the subject of plant similarities, :lol: people here in J describe the revolving chamber in a revolver as 'Renkon', which is a lotus root in cross-section. It is interesting that a popular food in Kyushu is 'Karashi Renkon' or lotus root slices stuffed with yellow mustard.

[Nobody]

The all-weather Nigiri-deppo was a pistol barrel with a parallel lever that you could squeeze to fire a little Raika ball like a Jintan into the chamber

 

Piers,

Sounds fascinating, but I think I need some explanation of some of those terms. Can't quite get the idea from the text. Any pics anywhere of these?

 

Brian

Some fine pictures;

http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0710_7034syousai.htm

[IanB]

Piers, The use of the term renkon seems quite reasonable if used for the seedpod of the lotus. A loaded cylinder of a revolver looks exactly like that. The use of guns that employed detonating pills must have been fairly short lived since they were quickly replaced by Japanese copies of box-lock pistols based on European / American models. Again the Royal Armouries has a couple, both with the box and barrel cast in brass as a unit and fitted with swivle ramrods. Once percussion caps became available you then get essentially the same box-lock mechanism used for guns disguised as tanto. However, there is one of these in the RA that used detonating pills. I never had chance to strip it down, but within the hilt was a longitudinal spring loaded plunger that terminated in a ring sticking out of the kashira. This you pulled to cock it and it was released by a button pretending to be the end of the mekugi. There was a hole in the hilt, just above the fuchi in which I assume you dropped a detonating pellet. Elegant it wasn't and the ring sticking out of the end rather spoiled the 'concealed gun' idea, but it must have worked. On the subject of imported guns, the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford has / had a nice iron framed Winchester with the frame chiselled with a hare and waves - no doubt given to some daimyo as a present. Bill Galeno of California used to have a relatively ordinary looking teppo but fitted with a snider breech mechanism. It wasn't a conversion so I assume it was made for some traditionalist when self-contained cartridges became available.

Ian B

[Bugyotsuji]

That's a nice site you have found there, Kenji san, based in Saitama I see. Thanks.

 

Ian, this summer I will definitely visit the Royal Armouries on my way up to Scotland!!! (Bought your 1988 book on armour the other day, BTW, and looking forward to sitting down and reading right through it. One question I had. Did all samurai put their swords through their mawashi like that before putting on the 'Do', allowing the Tsuka to appear through the Kusazuri/Gessan odoshi, or only for example the Ashigaru illustrated in the series of pics?)

 

PS Brian, any nice mail recently?

[IanB]

Piers, Good question. It does make sense insofar as the katana scabbard is not in contact with the do with the consequent potential damage to the lacquer. Of course the higher ranks wore tachi anyway so they didn't have that problem. If you are calling in at the Royal Armouries, let me know in advance and we can meet up for lunch.

Ian

[Bugyotsuji]

Some of our members push tanto through their Do-jime-no-o, and I have toyed with the idea, but as you say, the thought of the saya banging on the Do or crunching under the tightening of the Do-shime is a bit daunting. Most of us have our swords hanging in the Tachi style.

 

Now the lunch idea sounds very good, as long as I can see the collection before or after!!! I used to take my students for three week language courses at Leeds Metropolitan University, Beckett Park Campus, and often wandered around town, but why never to the Armouries? Nuts What I can remember is the mega huge Yorkshire puds with the roast beef roast spuds and gravy inside... and some very nice cold cider...

[IanB]

Piers You will have bread and jam like the rest of us.

Ian

[Bugyotsuji]

Piers You will have bread and jam like the rest of us.

Ian

 

Oops...

[IanB]

All, It is about time to introduce you to something different and get things moving in this area. The object in question is a bit of a mystery. I bought it from an antique dealer about 20 years ago and he didn't know what it was and neither do I. However, its a fabulous object and I would appreciate opinions. It consists of a lacquered panel, about 45 inches long, the major part being about 6 inches wide. At the top it is shaped as a formal knot with long strings, done in gold lacquer on a sparse nashiji, that hang down to the base. Marks indicate that the upper hole has been used to hang it. Below the knot is a roundle decorated with flowers of the four seasons in lacquer and gold foil. The three chrysanthemum flowers are obviously a kamon, and may be from one of the many Watanabe families. Below the flowers are ears and leaves of rice. At the base is a delightfully rendered cat in slight relief playing with and tangling the hanging strings. All this is obviously symbolic and festival - like. Now comes the interesting bit. Above the cat are two hooks in silvered brass, one having a curious double hook arrangement. Above them are pairs of holes that outline an area of 7.5" x 5" that have clearly held something to the board.

My guess is that it is the backing for a clock, the hooks being to hang the weights on when it is being moved, but I stand to be corrected.

Ian Bottomley

[Baka Gaijin]

Good Evening all,

 

Hi Ian, I wonder if the holes are contemporary with the object, which is quite skilfully executed.

 

The holes are pierced crudely, cutting the bottom hanging spray of foliage, and I agree that a clock movement might have been secured to it.

 

The hooks may have been left to secure a wire or chain weight and pendulum on something like a Vienna Regulator movement, if the double hook was rotated 90 degrees to the right, the pendulum arm could be pushed into it whilst the clock movement was being wound.

 

I think the playful cat is a clue and suggest Shinto festival and the hooks, which look "right" may have supported something like a shimenawa or similar straw offering to the Kamisama related to the season and pursuit.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Malcolm

[Bugyotsuji]

Ian, are both hooks designed that way, or is one of them missing the extra prong?

 

My feeble brain is suggesting some kind of barometer. Seasonal references?

[IanB]

Piers, Yes, the hooks are complete and designed that way - one single, one double. At the back, the ends of the hooks are hidden by domed, silvered brass covers. What didn't come out in the pics is the fact that the front surface is indented slightly by the corners of whatever was attached - the indentations being thin lines showing it was in the form of a sheet metal box. The whole style says Meiji period to me so all manner of things, including a barometer, could have been attached. I'm sure it is domestic and the hooks are clearly meant to carry something reasonably heavy.

Ian

[RobertM]

Hi,

 

Wonder if anyone could help with the translation of this scroll. is anyone able to tell the significance of the hat?

 

thanks in advance

 

Rob M