Justin Grant

Thank you all! Ian- I have that book, and did not equate the Kamon, maybe I was taking the straight lines of the "diamond" as being exact. Or maybe I am not looking at the right page/kamon. From what I see, THE SAITO used a "wave" kamon, so maybe the family that used this is a Saito, just a smaller or different line. However, I did read that Saito and Oda had an arranged marriage to keep some peace, so maybe a derivative. Thanks

Thank you, I am well aware of how a Kamon can be created or merged. If it was significant enough to apply to such a costly item, I am hopeful someone can identify it. I have spent the last few months looking it over and can't seem to nail it down. I have exhausted my research limits. Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks, I have been thru most of them, and have been looking for a while now. I have a Kamon book, and it is not listed. My juvenile thoughts were this- The making of guns had slowed to only the elite since the "central government" (Shogun) had to approve all "governmental" orders of guns. So, maybe this gun was ordered by some wealthy Samurai or Lord and this kamon would identify them. The barrel is signed by Wada Jidaiyu who was a Hino smith and the stock is Sakai, if that helps.

Hi All, I am trying to find the family or families that used this kamon. To my uneducated eyes, it has a Wada Clan Mokko design surrounding a Takeda Clan Kamon, but I simply don't know. It is on a Tanegashima. Thanks Justin

Thank you Morita San. I wonder if its an original. Thank you again for your hard work!

Here are some photos my wife took with the cell phone. Kids have the camera stashed lord knows where. It is on a surface mat that extends beyond the picture. The picture stops a 1/4" or so past the black line you see. I will get a more focused shot later if needed. Thanks for any help that you can provide. https://picasaweb.google.com/1040542998 ... directlink

Thanks Everyone! I am at work (yuck) but called home to ask the lovely wife if she would snap a few shots and I'll post them. I appreciate the help very much. I am not schooled on this type of stuff, so please take pity on me if I use the wrong words to describe the art. It very well may not be a woodblock; it looks like a water color painting, no hard edges, all soft and bleeds into the next. Black and while (many shades of grey). I will post the photos soon. Many thanks!

Thank you Morita-San. I don't know when he picked it up or where, he told my dad he picked up all of his asian collection while stationed in Japan from 45-48. There are about 25 Hakata Dolls, furniture, and tons of prints and paintings. Thanks again!

I received this from my father who in turn received it from his father. My grandfather was a ships captain in WWII and stationed in Japan. On his stay he collected many things and one being a black and white print if a mountain in the distance with some trees in the foreground. It has some writing on it and any help is appreciated! Justin

I'll dig it out. It was a tattered piece that was headed for the scrap bin, it is a true relic! :D

Hi Eric, I did not see the teeth on the small phone screen, just the overall look. Ian has already outlined this, but I wanted to make some comments. The hooks on the mask, while most real are 90 degree, I have a menpo that I got from Trevor that are rounded and don't have the washers. It is also devoid of ears, so my initial thought was that someone took a relic and added features to get what we have now. Point it, the tells were there for the most of us that have a basic understanding of what to look for. For the new collector, this Mengu was the real deal, and the maker knew who he or she was after. I don't think the intent was to try to pass this off to an educated collector. The red monkey face kabuto running the web is more for that crowd. Still has many tells, but it requires a higher degree of education to understand what to look for. Thanks for the good topic! Justin

Ill post some of my thoughts. Your mileage may very. The nose piece was added to an authentic menpo. The wrinkles on the menpo do not line up with the nose, something of this quality would have had this attention applied. The lacing on the throat guard is not what one would expect, it looks simple and unadorned. I also suspect that the guard may not even be original to the menpo. The gold was is in my opinion poorly applied to indicate age. I am sure I missed a bunch but this is my early assessment ny looking on my phone. Jg

Ouch!

Now that I am starting to study Teppo, the little things like the internal spring design jump out. Never noticed this difference before.

Ken- I had no issues getting the book, and my software did not alert me to any malware. Thank you for the link, much appreciated! Eric, WOW, thank you! If anyone knows of a list of smiths book, that too would be great! Thanks!

Thank you Piers I am a "new owner" of a Tanegashima and just looking for reference material. The item has yet to arrive and it will take some time to get here, so the reading was to keep me in check until the matchlock arrived. I'll keep an eye out, and as for the various inaccuracies, I had been warned about such, and I appreciate you letting me know.

If you have the english book, I am looking for it, would consider the Japanese book also. Justin@stardustracing.com Thank you

If I had any money, I bet for leather! Ian is the most knowledgeable person about these things, and if he says he has never seen, or read about one being leather, I would say very rare! If you have the means, I ask that you quickly send in for a professional repair to stabilize the leather exposed to the air.

Hi Jasper, As Ian said, it would be a one of a kind Zunari to be in nerigawa, can you provide clear closeup photos of the areas I circled in red, it might help in identifying the material. Again, if it is leather, it is critical that you do something with it ASAP to repair the chips, once the leather starts to swell, there is no going back... Same with the Dou. Good purchase, happy for you.

If the Kabuto is leather, the chips in the urushi spell disaster if not repaired ASAP. Once the leather gets some moisture in it, it will swell and flakes off the urushi.

I sold several armor items via ebay and was paid via PayPal from the buyer in the Soviet Union. I was told I needed to ship the items and supply ebay/paypal with the tracking number, to which I complied, PayPal then notified me I would have access to my money in 3 weeks. What a ripoff. I was out my money for almost a month and the buyer had the stuff in 5 days..

That would be great Brian! I am sure we have most of the experts on the subject of Tanegashima on this board.

I ordered my set the day word was out. Can't wait!

I take Japanese classes from a lovely young lady named Akiko. She saw my gusoku in the case and said she had never seen one in person and said such things are not taught about in Japan now days. She talked to her father (family still lives in Japan) and he was most interested and said he too knew very little about the history and the only armor he had seen was in a museum. On contrast, I have only ever seen American Indian items on TV or museums, and I know people collect the stuff. I know the basic story, but could not tell you about each tribe, and outside of a few famous leaders, that is all! I must admit, if you are not interested in the detail behind your history, you will know very little. So maybe these individuals selling off pieces of family history know very little about it and don't know. Still sad.... Now I must make a conscious effort to study the American Indians!

Eric- Greed.... The reason most part the armor is because they can charge more for it in auction, you have to have 5-6 active auctions going and are bidding against many different people on each auction. Sad....