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Edo Period Corner Part II


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Today I was at an antiques market and finally found a padlock for my Edo Period Ikkokubune sailing ship safe.

 

It is a wooden safe with metal reinforcements all over the front. The front locks shut, as too most of the internal drawers, with different sizes of keys. The safe, I bought perhaps fifteen years ago, but as it had been jemmied open and was missing all of its keys, I had to have the front rebuilt and a set specially handmade by a locksmith with 'special' skills. And that was fine, and I was happy, except for a final padlock on the outside. There were two vertical tubes which needed a locking pin padlock of a certain length and thickness and for the life of me I could not find one that fitted. For this reason I have been using an iron needle all these years for the final 'lock', with a simple ring-pull on top.

 

So today I finally tried slotting the new arrival through, and locked this old cylinder padlock tight. Perfect fit! Problem sorted. 8-)

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Yeah, very cool indeed.  Lovely challenge.  Like Stephen I thought it might have been the safe itself, a lovely, lovely locking item (I meant looking, but an intended "punny" slip!).  Thanks for sharing Piers.

 

BaZZa.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Suitable post for the New Year, perhaps? :)

 

Made the effort to get up early, dressed warmly, and set off for the open-air antiques market, a hit 'n miss one-off event about 30 klicks from here.

 

There at one of the stands was a set of three Edo Period iron candle holders, of the type I have always wanted but could never afford. Two of them were the extendable type for 'higher' lighting. Now there are many modern ones out there, often suitably rusted to look old, which I posted about earlier on in this thread, (October 2014) but these ones were genuine from any angle. The flaky rust, the spiders' webs, the thinness of the metal, the bent and cracked edges all spoke of years in a Kura somewhere. One had the blacksmith's name chiselled underneath.

 

The price was going to be silly money so I did not even ask. I doffed my woolly hat to the stallholder (he also 'runs' the market, behind the scenes) and wished him "Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu". He replied in kind, and then immediately asked if I was interested in his light stands. Must have noticed my glance. "You can have them for X JPY". "No way", I replied. "Sell them to someone else for what they are really worth. If they are still here at the end I will take them home with me."

"No," he replied, "this price is for you." Again I repeated myself in case he had not understood. "They will still be here" he said, "for you." Another customer stood there with his mouth open. I walked around for a bit, shivering in the cold, wondering what my wife would say if I came home with three large iron 膳燭 zenshoku candle stands. Was I being stupid, again? Unable to see any holes in the logic, I wandered sheepishly back to his stall. "I'll take them now!" I said.

"Do you mind if I don't wrap them?" he asked. I smiled, and carried them to the back of the car. Spent a happy afternoon giving them the Ian Bottomley Leeds preservation treatment.

Happy New Year! :thumbsup:

post-416-0-66541400-1514892784_thumb.jpeg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Today I was up early and off to a sort of flea market about an hour from here. Light dusting of snow overnight and the mercury hovering at freezing. Disappointing turnout with very few dealers around. I often wonder how much warmth they can get from a small paraffin/kerosene stove in an open field.

 

One dealer had three swords just lying there on a red mat, the first a dated and signed Kiyomitsu tanto in lacquer and brass koshirae. The blade looked tired to say the least. Next to that was a late Muromachi Seki blade with reasonable hamon. Finally there was a mid-Edo Hizen Tadayoshi, with nice blade and really unusual koshirae, ie much use of iron and silver. The tsuba was iron too with Ran flowers in gold, silver and copper. Registration paperwork in order. Still do not feel really confident in lashing out big bills on something in the middle of a lawn in the middle of nowhere, though.

 

 

 

As I was walking past a pile of books, one hardback caught my eye. It was published in 1976, 100 Andon lamps and candleholders of all shapes and sizes with b&w photographs! Originally 2,500 yen back then, the dealer today wanted 1,500 for it. People were all nodding and saying rare book, wise choice! Could I resist?

 

Which came first, the lamps or the information? I feel as if I have approached this subject base over apex.

post-416-0-25194100-1517054314_thumb.jpeg

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Suitable post for the New Year, perhaps? :)

 

Made the effort to get up early, dressed warmly, and set off for the open-air antiques market, a hit 'n miss one-off event about 30 klicks from here.

 

There at one of the stands was a set of three Edo Period iron candle holders, of the type I have always wanted but could never afford. Two of them were the extendable type for 'higher' lighting. Now there are many modern ones out there, often suitably rusted to look old, which I posted about earlier on in this thread, (October 2014) but these ones were genuine from any angle. The flaky rust, the spiders' webs, the thinness of the metal, the bent and cracked edges all spoke of years in a Kura somewhere. One had the blacksmith's name chiselled underneath.

 

The price was going to be silly money so I did not even ask. I doffed my woolly hat to the stallholder (he also 'runs' the market, behind the scenes) and wished him "Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu". He replied in kind, and then immediately asked if I was interested in his light stands. Must have noticed my glance. "You can have them for X JPY". "No way", I replied. "Sell them to someone else for what they are really worth. If they are still here at the end I will take them home with me."

"No," he replied, "this price is for you." Again I repeated myself in case he had not understood. "They will still be here" he said, "for you." Another customer stood there with his mouth open. I walked around for a bit, shivering in the cold, wondering what my wife would say if I came home with three large iron 膳燭 zenshoku candle stands. Was I being stupid, again? Unable to see any holes in the logic, I wandered sheepishly back to his stall. "I'll take them now!" I said.

"Do you mind if I don't wrap them?" he asked. I smiled, and carried them to the back of the car. Spent a happy afternoon giving them the Ian Bottomley Leeds preservation treatment.

Happy New Year! :thumbsup:

 

Missed this original post, Piers. Great items and even better story - congrats!

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that is wonderful... I acquired an andon and it had the oil bowl with a ceramic "thing" and I had no idea how it worked.  now I understand

 

In one of the links you posted, it mentioned Rapeseed.  Canola oil to you Canadians!!   I might need to test if it burns as well as the oil for purchase.

 

To make my life easier and safer,  I bought a "LED FLAME" lamp that is working wonderfully behind the Andon Screen

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Talk about safety!

In Japan (and possibly China, although the rhyme may not work) the four feared things were jokingly said to be: 地震・雷・火事・おやじ (earthquake, lightning, fire and the old man), but the fourth may have an older original version of 大山風, or 大風 which can be read ooyaji, an old expression for typhoon.

 

Be that as it may, if you say it aloud the kanji can be whatever you like, "Jishin, Kaminari, Kaji, Oyaji".

 

Because of the fear of fire, especially set off by earthquakes, in a paper and wood house, most of these lamps were designed to be carried, from room to room if necessary, and strictly to be extinguished if you did not take the light with you.

 

To use a candle or oil lamp in Japan meant to carry a serious adult responsibility, perhaps like carrying a gun in the USA. For this reason, although I now have a small collection of these things, I do not really dare light them, not like in the west. Here though, you can buy battery-powered 'flickering' plastic safety candles, but they look wierd! Yours sounds good though, Gordon, behind the screen!

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  • 4 months later...

If the photos upload happily, then here is an object for perusal. Definitely Edo Period, but not directly sword related.

Level of difficulty 2/5? (No hints unless people start to struggle.)

Edit. No replies so far, so perhaps the level of difficulty could be 3/5...?

post-416-0-58365600-1527906362_thumb.jpeg

post-416-0-79998700-1527906387_thumb.jpeg

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