刀剣乱舞 Touken Ranbu blades

[Bugyotsuji]

At the local chapter meeting of the NBTHK tonight, among the blades for Kantei, we will be shown five blades actually featuring as characters in the game/anime Touken Ranbu. Four of these blades are jūyō tōken.

 

The meeting has been opened to also allow entry to five non-members, first come, first served.

 

Having seen the Nikkari Aoe in Shikoku last month, and beside it the cartoon character board, I decided to see what the other characters look like. They are available for viewing on-line, but what a long list! There must be thirty or so Tantō characters to start with, and 200+ blades overall.
https://touken-ranbu.fandom.com/wiki/Characters

 

One thing I noticed was that most of the figures are wearing elements of 三具 Sangu, light armour three-piece set. I phoned to ask the Sensei if he would mind if I brought along a few representative armour bits, such as the characters wear; he seemed pleased at the idea.

 

1. Koté armored gauntlet sleeves, 2. Sunéaté greave shin guards, and 3. Haidaté heavy apron, for the three Sangu.

Plus a pair of Sodé shoulder guards, two Hanbo chin masks with Taré throat guards, a single Nodowa throat guard, and a Hitai-até forehead protector.

 

Luckily I have three sets of Koté for variety, though I hope this does not overwhelm them.

 

PS Nothing of really high quality, but most of them have never seen or handled real armour before.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

You can see some of the blade photos in his Twitter feed from the last few days.

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=bizentakumi+twitter&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=ja-jp&client=safari

[Bugyotsuji]

How many will fit into two small tatami rooms?

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Light Katchū corner.

 

 

 

[Gakusee]

That looks great, Piers. That is an excellent selection to get people talking. You are only missing a decent kabuto to round it off! Of course, I understand it had to be “light” armour, but still…..

[Bugyotsuji]

Thanks Michael. Yes, I left the heavy stuff behind!  🪣 

 

I had asked the Sensei to give me a moment to talk, and suddenly in the general hubbub I heard him saying “Whenever you’re ready, Piers.” I spoke for about three minutes.
People bent down to examine things closely. There was a lot of interest, which rather surprised me, and after the clapping some good questions. “Why are those called Bishamon-goté?” for example.

 

PS My favourite blade was a gorgeous healthy Chōgi 長義 with a large kissaki.

[Gakusee]

Excellent! Were you allowed to take pics of the blades? Probably not but if you stole a moment or two , please share! 

[Nihonto Otaku]

It is awesome that you know Mr. Koike, Piers!  I have followed him on twitter for about a year. XD He always share nice photos of the blades from his club meetings.

[Jussi Ekholm]

I believe the Chōgi that was in the meeting was this one (I used my detective skills )

 

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGJzAAXUcAUkKgv?format=jpg&name=large

[Bugyotsuji]

Michael, see his Twitter feed in my second post from the top for far better photos than I could take. You may have to scroll back through his tweets as he regularly updates.
 

Actually we are generally allowed to take discrete photos depending on who owns the blades. Conditions sometimes apply.

[Gakusee]

Piers, yes, thanks. I check his Twitter from time to time (ever since you posted a link to him a couple of years ago), but I am not always certain which blade is which because he also runs a kantei and posts the kantei swords and then other swords and then explanation of  the kantei and then other swords and so on and so forth. For someone who does not speak Japanese, it is a bit confusing. For sure, I do enjoy the photography and where I can read the kanji, I do confirm what I think or where I am wrong but overall it is a bit confusing.

 

In any case, thank you for posting.

[Bugyotsuji]

 

Yes, I agree. Actually I find the Twitter formal slightly annoying; it must be hard to pack everything into such a small space, although he is minimalist. He has subsequently posted the answers to last night's blades, but even for someone who does read the Japanese it is a labour of love to sort backwards and forwards through it.

 

As to the Kantei meetings, I like to think I am fairly fluent in Japanese but when he is in full flow describing each blade I can only stand and nod my head in quiet rhythm with those around me, as if floating down some vast river. 

 

He held a kind of 'Amida-kuji' year-end raffle last night, giving away pieces from his collection. There were fuchi-kashira sets, menuki sets, and various tsuba. I got a nice tsuba.

 

P.S. Just remembered another question about the armour. "Are there any hits from battle, any battle damage on these?" This is something I had not thought about in advance and for a second I hesitated, but then luckily I remembered some suspicious dents on the little mabisashi visor of the hitai-ate which I duly pointed out!  There are of course countless little repairs to cloth and lacquer, but whether such damage was originally caused in the course of transport or battle is not always obvious.

[Bugyotsuji]

Also, apologies for any typos above. (I went back this morning and corrected a few.)

 

The Tsunagi which they have made for the Sanchomo, mathematically exact, down to the missing blade chip.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

鑑賞刀は、1.行光　重要 2.兼村(関　室町末期) 3.長光　正安三年　重要　4.広光　重要　5.宇多国房　6.水田国重　7.長谷部　8.津田越前守源助広　9.長義　重要刀剣でした。
The above are his answers from Twitter.

1. Yukimitsu, Jūyō.

2. Kanemura (Seki, End of Muromachi.

3. Nagamitsu, Shōan 3, Jūyō.

4. Hiromitsu, Jūyō.

5. Uda Kunifusa.

6. Mizuta Kunishige.

7. Hasebe.

8. Tsuda Echizen no Kami Minamoto Sukehiro.

9. Chōgi, Jūyō Tōken.

 

Any typos, please advise.

[Gakusee]

Thanks, Pierce. We appreciate your kind sharing with us. Are there close-up photos of the Yukimitsu and Nagamitsu somewhere? Found the Chogi.

[Bugyotsuji]

 

Michael, when I can find some time I'll have a look. 

 

(Although I think they follow the same Arabic numbers in his tweets...?)

[Gakusee]

 No problem, I shall just go through all of them, including the food and other stuff :))

[Bugyotsuji]

Those following Mr Koiké’s T feed will have noticed that he is gradually going through all the blades from the meeting once more, this time with extra photos and essential explanations.