This Week's Edo Period Corner

[cabowen]

This simple example reminds me a lot of one I own....I had a guy contact me by email with one, asking me to translate the mei. After I sent him the translation, he offered it to me for next to nothing. I always wanted one and this seemed to be it. When he sent it over to Japan, I unwrapped it and was surprised to see how plain and simple it was. It was in excellent condition- so much to that I was certain it had to be of late Edo manufacture. What also struck me was the excellent craftsmanship-it seemed to be of much higher quality than most I had seen. When the shinsa'in saw it, they all got big smiles and circled around it. They called me over and told me it was something special and that I should be sure to take good care of it...I told them it seemed to be a rather late example but they all shook their heads and pointed to the mei in their meikan, telling me it was made by a known maker of the 17th century and of excellent quality. By the color of the steel and quality of the mei, I figured it was a good one but had no idea. Beginner's luck I guess....

[Bugyotsuji]

Mmmm... great story Chris. Hoping that you still have it and photos will be in the pipeline!

[cabowen]

Thanks....I have it in my gun safe....Next time I am in there I will take it out and take some photos....

[Bazza]

Mmmm... great story Chris. Hoping that you still have it and photos will be in the pipeline!

Photos, yes please!! To be candid, I have steered away from this thread because of its immensity (111 pages!!) and the paucity of my time, but tonight decided to have a peek. Having enjoyed the discussion on matchlock guns I'm sternly reminding myself that I promised long ago (? string of excuses) to put up pictures of my three Kunitomo guns - two by the same artisan Katsumasa. So, Chris, there is a meikan for gunmakers???

 

There is a long story with me and teppo. It begins with avoiding them like the plague because they were primitive things compared to swords!! Then in the Nanka Token Kai newsletter under John Grimmitt (or was it Hawley's day?? Either way a very long time ago) there appeared a series of articles on teppo by Keith Mueller, a collector in Phoenix, Arizona. These articles opened my eyes (it goes on all the time...) that there were indeed high quality Japanese matchlocks other than Udonju. Serendipity not long after that brought a lovely gun under my gaze and I acquired it. Around the same time I missed a kakaezutsu to my eternal regret, but it is still around somewhere. On its massive barrel was a large copper 'sheet on-lay' of a man riding a sea dragon. I still have some poor photos somewhere. There is another one in another State I have seen.

 

What I enjoyed in the last two pages was the discussion on simplicity. These three guns of mine are not elaborately decorated. They are quite simple, yet elegant, and of superb workmanship. I have not at all been attracted to guns with lots of decoration. I guess the same feeling is with those who collect iron sukashi tsuba rather than Edo virtuoso kinko. But I begin to ramble... Thanks for the great discussion and I'll drop by more regularly.

 

Best regards,

Barry Thomas

aka BaZZa.

[cabowen]

So, Chris, there is a meikan for gunmakers???

 

It appeared so.....

[Bugyotsuji]

Recently I had to re-register two guns after returning from Japan Week in Portugal. Now it seemed to me that the old gentlemen who were noting down the special features of each gun, also consulted their books. I could be wrong, and the books were simply primers for registration, or there for the swords that day. I have since asked some knowledgable friends and they assured me that such a volume does not exist.

 

My secret plan is to phone or visit the Cultural Section in the Prefectural Education Committee and try to double-check this. I have heard rumours/rumors that despite their serious faces they actually know less about old firearms than we give them credit.

 

On the other hand, there is/was a two volume private printing in a cardboard cover which records all the known Tanegashima Mei (at the time of printing 10 odd years ago). I do not recall that the registration officials had this volume.

This is a) long out of print b) almost impossible to get as no-one wants to part with theirs, c) in need of more addenda as many more J matchlocks have come to light since then and therefore d) in desperate need of an updated reprint. There were rumors/rumours of an imminent reprint and I have been eagerly awaiting such for several years.

 

Content. There is no information or comment regarding the recorded Mei therein. No dates or ages.　It's a straight list, in Japanese only. One of the volumes lists by area, and includes maps of the gunsmithing areas. The other is an a-i-u-e-o national alphabetical listing of smiths. (Kunitomo alone covers 70 pages.) Some of the smiths' Mei, but not many、 include a date and perhaps a smith's chiselled word on the method of manufacture, which can be useful on occasion if you can cross-reference two corresponding names. Very much the exception though.

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

Well now, ... there my friend is a wonderful project for you, ... and one for which any of us who collect Tanegashima would be most appreciative, ..... All in favour say AYE ! :D

... Anonymous Ron

[Bugyotsuji]

Dear Piers,

Well now, ... there my friend is a wonderful project for you, ... and one for which any of us who collect Tanegashima would be most appreciative, ..... All in favour say AYE ! :D

... Anonymous Ron

 

Ron, thanks for the suggestion. I will be contacting you personally but I am shagged out after an 18-hr day yesterday, then staying up all night to watch the Candian Grand Prix, and then work today. I thought a quick generic answer here might kill two birds with one round.

 

Even with an English version available I can imagine a lot of disappointed faces. "What, is that all? Thanks for nothing, I am sure."

[Bugyotsuji]

Having just written the above, I ran across a more recent handmade book this afternoon that I am going to buy. It's a private publication by a chap called Urabe who lives in Shikoku. Again, long lists of Mei in Japanese.

 

Interestingly, I was also told that the book the Shinsa/registration people use for reference is my old favorite fallback: "Nihon no Furuju" by Sawada Sensei. All in Japanese but with quite a lot of background information, and if I were to translate a book in this lifetime, this would be the one to choose. Some names of representative smiths are given but the lists for each Kuni are short, so by no means exhaustive in this respect.

[IanB]

Piers, I think I have the paper-back by Sawada you mention. In reality it is just a list of inscriptions sorted under the barrel / gun maker's names he has come across. If it is the same one, there is no attempt at dating any of the smiths. Very disappointing. I also have another flimsy booklet on Sakai guns which shows maps of the gun-making quarter and a few details of manufacture but not much else. In reality, I suspect there is not much chance of accumulating any real info on gun makers at this late stage, unless local records exist which nobody has really bothered to look at. What there may be are details of the smiths who were rounded up and shipped to Nagahama. Knowing the Tokugawa, there may well be records of the names of the people moved and the stipends they were issued with to keep them from doing a runner. Even that would be limited since by that time there wasn't much being produce but it would be a start.

Ian B

[kusunokimasahige]

Piers, how did your display go ?

 

The story from Asahi which you posted reminded me of a Napoleonic display here in Europe at Waterloo where one of the line-infantrymen forgot to take his "pompstok" (the iron rod with which you stamp the powder inside the barrel with*pushrod?) out and fired it into the opposing French line.... Luckily no one got hit...

 

KM

[Bugyotsuji]

Ian, Sawada Sensei has published a lot of pamphlets and handbooks, but his big navy blue hardback is the best all-round book to get.

 

HenkJan, you mean the ramrod (in English) and in old Japanese the Karuka (or Sakujo). Glad he didn't hit anyone. Actually all kinds of accidents are possible. Have a look at the update on our homepage. Yesterday's shots are down in the bottom section. It is interesting to see how the husband and wife camera team has improved, and it is also interesting to see the fire characteristics of each gun. See if you can find me!

http://www.nihonntou.net/teppoutai4.htm

 

Some fancy photography here from a member of the public:

http://oocamera.exblog.jp/

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

A treasure trove of memories in that group of photos. Thank you for sharing

... Ron Watson

PS. Yep, ... I found you, ... pretty hard to disquise Scottish features in an Oriental group !

[kusunokimasahige]

 

Guy on the right in the top photo.....

 

Great photos !!!!

 

KM

 

And thank you !! I forgot the wording was ramrod !!

[Bugyotsuji]

The lady shoots movie clips on a small digicam, and then extract stills of the moment of ignition, apparently.

 

Dang, you got me Henk-Jan. Actually that one was Children's Day in Kurashiki back in May. It was the shot further down in the next section on the right that I was particularly proud of. Too small, though.

 

PS I will compose (or start off anyway) two booklists regarding J guns somewhere on the site, one for books in English, and one for those in Japanese.

 

Most people will already have the English illustrated hardback book(s) by Mr Sugawa (not to be confused with Sawada Sensei.)

 

In the meantime I went ahead late last night and ordered Mr Hideaki Uribe's softback home-printed list of Japanese gunsmiths which I discovered yersterday. How could I have missed its publication!?!?! Nuts. I chatted with the author over the phone yesterday and sent off the 2,800 JPY this morning. Will report in more detail once it arrives. I know it has lists, and it also has quite an impressive bibliography of just such local archives as Ian suggested in an earlier post here, such as the records of the Kunitomo/Nagahama smithies. Uribe has read all these apparently!

[Bugyotsuji]

To answer Bazza's question to Chris, "So, is there a Meikan for gunmakers?"

 

One of the volumes of Ogasawara & Yasuda's 2001 two-volume printing is called 「全国鉄砲鍛冶銘鑑」　so in a sense yes, there is a Meikan. The 2nd volume is titled 「全国鉄砲鍛冶銘地域別分類」 The limitations of this boxed text I have described above.

 

The 2008 treatise (since updated) by Hideaki Uribe 「日本の鉄砲鍛冶」is not called a Meikan, but I am hoping it will cover for some of the failings of the earlier book. I have written to the author this evening asking how they differ in his mind. Just had a message from him saying it should arrive in the post tomorrow...

[Bugyotsuji]

They put my blast on the front of one of the sections of this video clip, just up.

 

That is the newly-purchased Shizutsu gun firing for probably the first time in 170 years. The first two shots in line were misfires until I got the hang of the exact way to set the match happily. The matchcord was actually extinguished twice, partly because of the very high (96 degrees) humidity but also because the burning tip needs to fall squarely over the panhole. (Each serpentine has its own peculiarity which needs to be felt out and learnt.)

 

Some of us fire

1. a long gun,

2. a Tanzutsu/Bajozutsu pistol and

3. a Kakae O-zutsu.

 

 

(PS Not yet seen the clip as this home PC is stuffed and refuses to play YouTube.)

[Bugyotsuji]

Nothing to get too excited about, but the kind of thing that keeps me happy for an afternoon. I found it at an antiques fair on Wednesday, where the husband & wife stallholders did not seem to know what it was. Fairly rustic and in poor condition. With a little thought and application I think this can be restored to full working order and a new life.

[kusunokimasahige]

Nice powder case !!

 

KM

[Bugyotsuji]

It's very small, HJ, about the size of a snuff bottle. Inside, maybe room enough for ten shots' worth of priming powder.

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

Speaking of tiny priming flasks, ... I picked this one up a number of years ago at a Gun Show. It is constructed of horn and wood. What intrigued me was the shape of the mouth ( it looks much like the muzzles we see on some Tanegashima ). It really is the only reason I bought it and the only reason I feel it is probably Japanese. Your opinion or that or of others would be appreciated. It stands 2 3/4 inches high and because it is made of a translucent horn one can see the amount of priming powder inside. The flask is very well made. The closure is simply a cork I found of suitable size.

... Ron Watson

[Bugyotsuji]

Well Ron, it's a sweet little thing. If it is a priming flask, then it has been adapted away from the two standard patterns of the mainland and Satsuma. It hangs upside down, (?) and corks were never really used in Japan. Perhaps the cork was simply added later. I'd like to be able to pick it up and examine it all round, but from those pics it does have a strong feel of a Chinese snuff flask.

Horn was often used in J for priming flasks, though.

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

The cork I simply added to the flask myself ( not original to the flask ). You may well be right ( Chinese Snuff bottle ), ... but it still would hang upside down and I cannot recall seeing a snuff bottle with an attachment for hanging. I was hoping you might have seen something similar since you are in the right location. It was the Muzzle shaped opening that made me think Tanegashima. It will remain for now as curio of questionable use .

... Ron Watson

[Bugyotsuji]

I see what you mean about the pineapple muzzle shape... hmmm...

 

Priming flasks almost invariably follow a logic to their structure and mechanism which I will illustrate, if you don't get there first.

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

Illustrate, ... Illustrate, .... but get some sleep first !

Regards, ... Ron

[Bugyotsuji]

Look at Photos #10 and #12 on this page. 10 is the generic primer flask, and 12 is the Satsuma type.

http://www.mlsa.jp/%E4%BC%9A%E5%93%A1%E ... 5%E5%85%B7

 

They both hang from two strings which connect to the flask's 'shoulders' like an Inro from a Netsuke, and the mouth points up. They both have a tube out of which to pour the fine powder.

 

No 10, the Satsuma flask is similar to Western flasks in that it has a spring and sluice gate which you can depress to measure one exact charge of powder for the pan.

 

The normal flask is clever. The top 1/3 is held on by two pins which when removed allow for filling with powder. The strings are attached to the ends of the two pins. The whole thing hangs from your nipple or some suitable ring on your breatplate. You can lift it up with one hand, causing the two strings to go slack, and flip off the cap which was sitting in place there by gravity. Even if it is raining, the rain can go freely down through the two holes in the cap as they allow the string to pass through and out, but they do not connect to the central powder tube.

 

The clever bit is when you drop the powder flask. It falls freely and reaches the end of the strings and then stops, and the cap comes sliding down the strings to cover the mouth of the tube once more. All automatic just as your hands are occupied now with other actions.

 

Many antiques dealers at stalls or on the internet suggest a particular flask might be a genuine powder flask, but without this string and free-fall system (Satsuma excluded) the possibility is strong that it is something else entirely and the dealer wants to make a quick buck. Primer flasks are collectable and generally worth quite a bit more than their larger brother powder flasks.

http://image.search.yahoo.co.jp/search? ... 5%E3%82%8C

[Bugyotsuji]

Most on this page are genuine, (not all) but you will be able to tell the difference.

http://image.search.yahoo.co.jp/search? ... 5%E3%82%8C

 

Now you know which bits are missing from the old primer flask I found on Wednesday!

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

I still have reasonably good feelings about the container I depicted as being a Japanese Priming Flask, ...

1. The size is bang on for a Priming Flask.

2. Materials are correct, and workmanship excellent.

3. The opening has been carved to closely simulate a poppy ( similar to some Tanegashima muzzles ).

4. The attachment for the string/braid is at first appearance allowing the opening closure to hang downwards instead of the normal upwards configeration. HOWEVER, ... note it's width ( the silk braid ). If we attach a normal size main load powder flask to the other end of the silk braid, and use the Priming Flask as a Netsuke ( actually works quite well ), .... then the opening to the Priming Flask is not only RIGHT side up, .... but after pouring out the main musket charge into a measure and loading, .... a simple pull upwards on the Priming Flask brings it to the correct position for priming the pan.

I just do not know, ... but I cannot ( perhaps I am mistaken ) believe that the Japanese of the Edo Period were so regimental in their patterns that they did not allow themselves innovation.

Anyways I suppose we'll never know for certainty unless one can be identified in direct relationship to some other shooting accessory, be it in a collection or museum, or print.

One of those annomolies that keeps the brain cells from deteriorating ( lets hope ). Your opinion or that of Bazza, Thomas, or Ian or any other member who might have seen similar would be belcome.

... Ron Watson

[Bugyotsuji]

Ron, I can see you enjoy a challenge. I agree with most of your points above, and will keep an eye out at museum displays. What you showed above would certainly do the job. Any residual smell inside it? Have you turned it upside down and tapped it lightly onto the palm of your hand? Am I teaching my grandmother to suck eggs?

[watsonmil]

Dear Piers,

I aquired that object probably 15 - 20 years ago, ... and it has been cleaned. I most likely cleaned the inside as well, ... I cannot detect any odor nor loose particles. It is just one of those anomilies one runs into from time to time. I always asumed it was a Priming Powder Flask. I do remember it being dirty, ... and I do not like dirty artifacts. A little more caution would have been in order. I still think it is Oriental and a Priming Flask, ... but whether it is Japanese ??? Given the opening shape and having tried it the way I described as a Netsuke worked so well that I think for now I will keep it with the Japanese accruments as a PROBABLE / POSSIBLE. How the hell did you know I like a challenge . :lol: ! Oh and while I have your attention , ... given your quest for NAME THAT CASTLE says something about your also liking a challenge. Perhaps our Scottish Heritage ... ???

... Ron Watson

PS: The Cork and the Ito are my later additions.