Kikuchi Revisited.

[Dewa501]

Having visited this sight for quite some time now I have been compelled to join in when I saw the threds about Kikuchi yari. I have been collecting Japanese spears for twenty years or so, and am lucky enough to own two full length Kikuchi yari. The first has a blade of eight inches and a nakago of twelve inches, not in good polish, but a clear sugaha hamon visible, the spear is signed Hishu no ju Kunitoki and dated to Kemmu, it is contained in a box with its history brushed on the inside if the lid (see Roald Knutsen's second book on pole arms)

The second and larger spear has a blade of fourteen inches and a nakago of eleven inches, the blade is not signed and is out of polish so no great details, but is certainly contemporary with the other.

Both spears have a huge thickness across the mune at the machi end, the larger spear has two mekugi-ana, no file marks remain on ether.

Many questions need answers, the Kikuchi Han's history and records were destroyed in a castle fire, but we have managed to do some research though the good offices of a professor of history at Saga university. Thank you all for your most interesting inputs and thank you for the remarkable photograph.

I will try to upload a photo, but I'm not to good at this sort of thing !!

Chris F.

[Brian]

Welcome to the forum Chris, and great to have a yari collector here, a subject that is vastly underrated. I would love to hear some of the info you have managed to research, and especially the pics. If you can't upload them (check the Forum Guidelines and How-To's section) then please feel free to email them to one of the moderators and we'll upload them for you.

Look forward to hearing more.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Dewa501]

Kikuchi Revisited photograph (maybe)

[Brian]

Chris,

 

I need to bump this one to the top again. Having read the kikuichi page in Knutsen's book last night, that is an incredible find! So you are saying that the one mentioned in the book is yours?

I will try and scan the page if no-one does it before I get home. What an amazing history that yari has.

I think these are amazingly rare and interesting polearms. Please do tell us more if you have managed to dig up any other info on them. I would also love to know if there have been any for sale lanywhere lately.

I would love to see more pics of it, and perhaps the writing on the box. And thanks again for sharing.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Bugyotsuji]

Surely this thread hasn't stopped here? It was just getting interesting!

[Dewa501]

Hi all. Brian, thank you for your interest and enthusiasm, yes, I am the owner of the yari in Kntusen's book, and looking at my notes I see that I have owned it since 1995, It came from a Gun show in the US where it laid on a dealers table for three days or so before my pall spotted it, no one showed any interest in it at all, these yari are very few and far between and it seems that is the case in Japan too, so far we have only come up with a handful, 4/5 in museums, (I'm sure there a more)

Most of the research done at the time (98%) did go strait in the book, and its been an ongoing struggle to dredge up more info from Japan ever since. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Mr. Morita's photograph, I've been looking for something like this for years, it is surprising to find no trace of the Kikuchi yari in most of Japan's books on spears old or new. No one, as far as I know has seen one mounted on a pole, obviously, much the same as any other yari, but it was great to see one in the photo, its all grist to the research mill, however Roald Knutsen has found one depiction of a Kikuchi yari in an old triptych, from about the right time which appears to have a candy stripe pole maybe nine feet long, a very nasty weapon in the hands of a trained man.

I think that's about all, but I must say that one has a strange feeling looking at it and thinking that it mat have been at Hakone on that day ! I will try more pics. Chris F.

[Dewa501]

Hi all. Picture of Kikuchi yari and all of the bits. Sorry that its so lousy, It seemed OK on the computer.......... I guess you guys can do something with it. Chris F.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Thanks for sharing, Chris.

[Thierry BERNARD]

Kikuchi yari for sale

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Samurai-Sword-RARE-KIKUCHI-YARI-Spear_W0QQitemZ130225652908

[Brian]

Yep..DanielLee just pm'ed me that link too. You guys are fast :D

Wow..first I have seen up for sale. Anyone wanna buy a kidney? That is a nice one, and certainly in the realm of scarce.

 

Brian

[IanB]

All, There is bit about these in Nihon Katchu Bugu Jiten by Sasama. The early ones are mounted in a relatively short shaft, one of which is hirumaki like an early naginata. A later one is on a longer shaft with a top mount and ishizuki.

Ian

[Stever]

Kikuchi yari for sale

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Samurai-Sword-RARE-KIKUCHI-YARI-Spear_W0QQitemZ130225652908

 

This is on eBay, therefore it must be worthless.

 

/steve

[Thierry BERNARD]

This is on eBay, therefore it must be worthless.

 

sorry to be so direct Stever but such judgement without argu is worthless :?

[Brian]

I think (I hope?) that Steve is just making a sarcastic joke at those who say nothing good ever arrives on eBay.

I'll be interested to see where this one goes.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Stephen]

didn't we have something like this a few months back and it was called a fake, guess now we know what it is. I've found it very interesting and thanks to all for bring it to light, hope i can dig up the past thread, it was almost all tang and short blade anyone remember the pix or was it on ebay?

[bluboxer]

Yes Stephen,I remember seeing one of these on e-bay very recently,had not seen one before and did not think well of it.Don't even know what it sold for.

Alan

[Dewa501]

I also saw this Yari last weekend, an interesting coincidence, maybe we have opened a few cupboards around about, looks interesting, Nakago looked a tad newish to me ? and the Nakago jiri is different to all the ones Iv seen, but so what, anybody know how long these Kikuchi Yari were made for ? would it be possible to come across one dated for example to 1650/1700.

Saya gaki reads Kikuchi Senbon Yari, interesting. Chris F.

[estcrh]

I was looking at this tanto in the for sale section http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9260 and since Kikuchi yari were mentioned I thought I would post these pictures of one that was discussed on another forum. http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showth ... p?t=103713 Since there are so few pictured of these I thought I would post these for anyone who was interested. http://s831.photobucket.com/albums/zz23 ... hi%20Yari/

 

 

[ububob]

My ignorance of pole arms is abyssmal so this thread has relieved some of that ignorance.

[estcrh]

Pictures of another kikuchi yari.

 

 

 

[DaveT]

I have this Yoroidoshi from a UK Token member. I would welcome any comments as if this may be a cut-down Kikuchi? its a cut down something for sure.
It's pretty meaty. 9-inch blade, 9mm thick. No idea of age.
I'm a katchu man, so please forgive me as I know nothing about nihonto before shooting me down.....

 

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Hard to tell... Suriage seems quite crude...

[Thekirsh]

Dave, here are a couple of photos of my cut down Kikuchi yari for comparison, signed Enju Kuniyasu ,

Also see this previous thread

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/21014-tanto-help/

 

Simon K

 

[Jean]

No Dave, I don’t think it is a shortened kikuchi yari.

[DaveT]

the bohi and the taper on the mune seem to demonstrate that this is not kikuchi then?

So I guess this is a salvage job from a longer blade that made its way to become a yoroidoshi.

On the subject of yoroidoshi I had a wake-up call one day sitting at a seminar. It dawned on me that post sekigahara armour was no longer needed in its heavy ita-mono form of tetsu plates. Armour became soft in the form of tatami. small plates and chain mail. Tatami could also be worn under clothing, it added weight to the wearer.

If you think about the dynamics of judo and jiu-jitsu is all about a purchase and throw to the ground, a simple group dynamic could see a guy on his feet one second and in prone the next being held while another cuts his throat or bleeds him out with multiple stabbing. A new knife was required that could punch through the mail, hence the amount of edo period yoroidoshi we see. Especially to the conversion of yari. At first, I thought they were put into tanto fittings as a gimmick, but a converted yari makes an excellent tatami puncher. 

Just my opinion of course. All speculation. 

[Jean]

Dave,

 

In fact, after Sekigahara, Japan was more or less pacified during the 10/20 following years and tanto forging became very rare in Shinto times, the companion sword to the daito became the wakizashi, daisho became de rigueur replacing the couple: Tachi/kodachi or Tachi/tanto.

 

It is probably why some small yari were recycled as Yoroi doshi. The golden age of yoroi doshi was sue Muromachi.

[Surfson]

I have an early kikuchi yari with papers, I think attributed to kanabo, but not sure.  My understanding is that there were not many made to begin with and many or most were converted to tanto over the years.  I will try to take some photos of it and post them.  

[Jean]

https://www.aoijapan.com/kikuchi-yari-mumei

[Ron STL]

Not sure if I'm coming in late on this old original posting about the boxed (hakogaki) kikuchi yari, but is that yari residing in the UK or perhaps came out of the UK? The one I'm remembering was last in the UK and once featured in an article in the British Token Society Program newsletter. If so, I'd like to hear of it's whereabouts. The yari I'm remembering came out of St. Louis back in the 1970's and was offered at a Chicago show. That yari was a gift to someone of importance from a visiting Japanese individual during our 1904 World Fair. I wanted it so bad but couldn't afford the price at that time. Perhaps this is a different yari...really curious to find out about it. Ron STL

[Ian]

Hi Ron

 

It's still with the collector in the UK.

 

Best wishes

 

Ian