O zutsu

[Tengu1957]

26.6 kilos 3.8 cm bore 100 monme

96.5 cm long. I have not taken it apart yet. 

A very dense and heavy gun , feels much heavier than it is. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Looks in fine condition. An excellent find!

 

One shot is unfair. Need more angles on it, more photographs please. 🙇‍♂️

 

PS A very similar one is arriving here today, just by coincidence.

[Tengu1957]

[Tengu1957]

[Tengu1957]

[Bugyotsuji]

OK, now we're talking, or at least beginning to.    What's not to like so far?

 

PS A tap with a rubber mallet should knock those mekugi and the ji-ita back into place.

Oh, and the hole in the pan handle has been filled in by someone with a steel rivet. There should be an open hole there. (Probably the same person who made the pan replacement hinge pin.)

 

PPS Can't quite see it but the Jinshin registration number looks like 京? (for Kyoto?)

[Tengu1957]

Yes , you wouldn't believe how it was shipped. I'm very lucky it's in one piece. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Our box must have been dropped by someone. Look familiar?

 

[Tengu1957]

The shipper just put it in a plastic gun case and then in a cardboard box the gun case came in. Did not mark fragile. It was heavy and you know everyone was throwing it during the shipping process. I paid him to take it to a professional shipper so I guess he preferred to pocket the money. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Amazingly good condition. The gods must have looked after it in transit. 👼

[Brian]

Man! That is a Grail item for me. Well done. I am seriously in lust.
Donations welcome...or a mention in your will

[Tengu1957]

The one in front is 36.4 kilos. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Some serious hardware there. You must love these babies, Gary!

[Tengu1957]

Three years ago I missed out on one that was 2.5 meters long and weighed about 100 kilos. It had been on display at a train station in Germany before the war and was taken back to the US after the war. I was really upset because it sold for a relative low cost. 

[Anthony de Vos]

Exellent find Gary! Lovely gun. It will be interesting to see If There is a mei. The story about the 2,5 m was really bad luck. I wouldn’t sleep for a month If it happened to me 😁

 

Anthony

[Bugyotsuji]

I wonder where it went?

 

Just had a another closer look on the PC screen at the top of your barrel and it sure looks like a rather poorly struck 京都 Kyoto registration at the great roundup of 1872.

[Viper6924]

When I hear of the horror stories regarding the shipping for both of you, I get cold sweats.
Piers; was that a picture from the 100’ you got from Europe?

Gary; the seller was a proper nut, so I’m happy on so many levels that you managed to ”relieve” the gun from him.

Now you must spend a weekend opening up all these lovely matchlocks and show the world who and where they were made

I think this is the first time that I see a 1872 registration from Kyoto.

 

Jan

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Gary Grose, Monsters Incorporated.

 

Jan, yes and yes. I agree that a Kyoto registration must be relatively rare. Kyoto was not really a centre for the Bushi, well not in recent history anyway, so it is not in my mind a place that I would instinctively go to look for swords or guns. Perhaps I am wrong? Are they hidden away here and there?

[Tengu1957]

Three years ago I missed out on one that was 2.5 meters long and weighed about 100 kilos. It had been on display at a train station in Germany before the war and was taken back to the US after the war. I was really upset because it sold for a relative low cost. 

[Tengu1957]

I am very curious about the path these big guns took to the US. I believe most of them came over around the turn of the century rather than as war souveniers. They are heavy and easy to damage so I believe they had to be packed correctly. For me personally I have never talked to a very who brought one back. I had two Uncle's now deceased who were part of the occupation forces and married Japanese women. Their stories about how swords were taken and disposed of never mentioned any matchlocks. I think tourists around the turn of the century brought most of the big guns back as curiosities. 

[Fuuten]

Not to derail the thread but is that a tetsubin on the furnace? Would love a shot of that as well.

[Tengu1957]

[b.hennick]

Thanks for sharing the tetsubin. I have seen some that were works of art. There work could compare favourably to very good tsuba makers.

[Bugyotsuji]

Wow, some stunning examples, worthy of another thread!

[Tengu1957]

[Anthony de Vos]

Hi!

 

I think the star in your collection of ozutsu is no.4 from the front. A Yonezawa matchlock with that calibre is so rare that it doesn’t exist, it’s an Urban myth😁

 

Anthony

[Bugyotsuji]

Yes, do you have the bore measurement for that?

 

And what is the Mei on the one closest to the camera?

[Tengu1957]

The Yonezawa is 3.85 cm so 100 monme 

The one closest to the camera and the Yonezawa have never been taken apart since I've had them. Partly because it's kind of a two man job and partly because I'm not good at taking them apart. The one closest to the camera is also 100 monme came from a friend. It's supposed to be made for a minor Daimyo , he did not remember who the maker or Smith was. The kanji on the barrel was translated as "reaching out". The Yonezawa was acquired by the person who sold it to me at a show for US civil war collectors. The owner sold it fast because he was in trouble for having a non civil war item on his table ! The guy in the next town over from me probably has better guns than I do so we should have a Matchlock get together. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks.

Looking forward to pics of your matchlock get-together! 

[Tengu1957]

Yes , sorry .