Bugyotsuji

Sometimes wish human relations could be simpler…

Oh, one of the rusted and stuck bisen I had asked him to have a look at was on a signed Bizen barrel that someone had given me a while back. As a kind of joke I asked if he had a spare stock for a Bizen gun. "As a matter of fact, I do, but it is in terrible condition, and most of the lockwork is missing!" he said, and went off to fetch it from the back of his garage. Well, it's filthy, but close, and about the right length, but doesn't quite fit. I may be able to ream out the walls of the stock a little and get the barrel to settle in properly. What do you reckon? Two-thirds of a Tanegashima must surely be better than one third!?!? And with a missing serpentine, perhaps there will be no need to legally register this Frankenstock...

Good news and bad news. Which should I announce first? To go with the bad. When I bought the Inatomi-Ryu military gun at auction, there was some trouble with another bidder. Can't go into detail here, but he thought that I was driving him up beyond what he was willing to pay, so as a point of pride he started to outbid me. After the auction he absolutely insisted on letting me have the gun at my highest bid, at a loss to himself, but the air between us was not good. Anyway I took it home, added a proper ramrod, gave it some TLC, and eventually managed to clear the blocked vent, as above. Ta-daaaa! On Sunday he suddenly said, "If you're not too bothered over that gun, can we have it as a spare for the matchlock group?" This is an offer I cannot refuse, and I know he will give me what I paid. So, I have to hand it over. He virtually runs the group and I cannot really say no. But I know inside that he will sell it to one of our members. On the other hand, he is the leader of the group, and this will finally clear the air between us. Seen it before! So a short but sweet goodbye to my first Inatomi school gun. The other piece of bad news is that the trusty shirasaya-shi is overloaded with other orders, for Jinja ho-no-to, etc., so my tanto is stuck in a backlog. The good news is that the Sakai long gun is back with the bisen loosened and missing part replaced! (He also opened another two stuck bisen for me, but the final one of those three he gave up on.)

Normally the do is placed in upside-down, and the kusazuri hung inside, but this may be in order for the armor to fit inside the box, and not necessarily to protect the watakami shoulder pieces while travelling. (We also see examples of the kusazuri/gessan tied up in individual bunches with string.) If this was my armor, I would not use the armor box for the house move. (Within Japan?)

Volker. Try Maru ni chigai kashiwa. 丸に違い柏　家紋

篤明 seems to be listed under both readings of Atsuaki and Tokuaki. Kyoto. 田中信造, with 'go' of 一寿斎, d. aged 50 in Meiji 22.

I do occasionally see a small bag or bunch of spare parts for Tanegashima, maybe once a year on average. Since these guns are not all of a standard size, Dale, and their construction and proportions vary by region, you can easily end up with a result looking slightly out of balance. An overlarge serpentine, for example. I know others are looking for parts too. I would look to have parts made up, but I am guessing you think that could be expensive.(?) Tomorrow I hope to be collecting one with a newly-made pan cover, but I know the guy and he won’t rip me off. I’ve given him spare parts in the past, so there’s an element of give-and-take. Hoping someone can help you out. And. Please let us know how you get on! Good luck.

https://nqs.takaebi.sa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19442 Your Fuchi could be the same Meiji Kinkō artist 篤明 as in the link above.

The top one might be kata-or tan- udenuki no Ana, 片 or 短腕抜きの穴 perhaps, but the lower tsuba to me is more like sun/moon or tentai 天体　透sukashi. I would be interested to hear other possibilities! (Nice finds!)

Here are some more Usa Jū Nobukuni to sift through, from the Nihontō Meikan. (cont.)

(The old papers suggested Tensho, as Steve says.) Good luck and happy hunting. With such a regional, even local blade, I agree that there was probably no benefit to anyone by adding a gimei to it, as you say.

Minh, it's just his opinion, and he is 'treating it as...', which is a temporary position just to be on the safe side. Green papers were often correct, but often wrong, so their track record is not so good compared to more modern paperwork. Anyway, it is safer to assume a measure of doubt with anything, but keep collecting information in the meantime!

Hi Jon, and apologies to Peter on his thread, for the quick answer, imagine the strength of the desire to update at that time. They were under pressure from all sides, and hearing rumours or seeing armed groups with new-fangled firearms, willing to try anything, which accounts for every combination that started to appear. These were crossover times. Any kind of bridge that will get you to the other bank! Of course the earlier imports were smoothbore, as the matchlocks were, and barrels with rifling, true rifles only came along later. You'll find imports with butts that were cut shorter to suit the Japanese physique, and copies made from scratch (or melted down matchlocks) in Japan that were shorter overall, and various types of ignition modifications to smoothbores. Sawada in his book that Peter has, illustrates several evolutions of early pill-lock. Jan has a Bizen matchlock that had been converted to a pill lock, but the added parts were removable, so it could still be safely used as a matchlock if or when necessary. For me it is simpler to confine myself to the Golden Age of the smoothbore matchlock, 300 years from 1540 to 1840. Beyond that the mind goes crazy trying to map out all of the military developments happening as the country faced political turmoil from within and without. Perhaps someone will one day provide such a post-Tanegashima evolutionary map of late Edo and early Meiji. (I have seen two wonderful cased examples of inlaid Tanegashima matchlocks made during Meiji, each probably the swan song of an elderly gunsmith pouring out all of his inherited talent from a by-gone age.) There is a good display of much of this stuff in the new 'Token World' Museum in Nagoya if you have a chance to visit. There are floors dedicated to Nihonto and Katchu, but the firearms floor alone has about 300 guns on display, with examples of just about everything. Last year I must have posted photos here somewhere from my own visit.)

Thank you for the detailed reply, Jon. Wow, that's quite an impressive collection you have! Have you ever been to a competition in Portugal? Quick question. The target holes look consistent. Do you have a separate-sized ball for each gun, which you have to keep track of, or have you managed to source barrels that all take the same size? Or is yours just one of these? I'm pretty sure that the cotton match cords used here in Japan do not use any added substance, relying solely on the natural oils in the plant. I do have a section of genuine old cord for static exhibition of artefacts though, which seems to be made of very thin woven threads of cedar bark, possibly. The latest batch of cord that we have nearly run through is slightly too narrow for my pistol and long gun, so I have placed some tape inside the serpentine pinch flaps as I do not want to bend them.The previous cord was woven differently, but just the right size. For the hand cannons, we have sections of a fatter cord. Thanks for the kind offer. Don't worry about me, though, as it will be someone's responsibility here to order a batch. If I find out who makes it, I'll let you know.

Nice timing! Great, thanks. Definitely some strong similarities there, Jean!