Randy McCall

Members might be interested in the viewpoint researched and put forward in a Master's thesis by Daniele Lauro, titled: "Displaying Authority: Guns, Political Legitimacy and Martial Pageantry in Tokugawa Japan, 1600-1868" (82 pages, .pdf file) In this she proposes that the establishment of the Shogunate, the restrictions on weapons and daimyo to prevent revolt, and the closure of the county, removed the need for large-scale firearm development and manufacture for military purposes. She shows that many high ranking members of clans and bakufu had access to firearms all through this 250 year era of peace, but without an internal or external threat their use changed from military to ceremonial, used in display to maintain the authority of the bakufu. It was only with outside threats, from about 1850 on, that development and manufacture of firearms for defense of the country intensified. Displaying Authority_s.pdf Note: As a registered academic thesis, this paper is publicly available and not covered by copyright.

I saw this sold at auction recently, and thought our members might be interested in seeing this Edo period hanging scroll of horse-born battle flags of military commanders (w/ labels). Winning bid was 103,000 yen / $911 USD. While listed as Edo period, no precise date is discernible.

Ian, now that I know this I'll keep an eye open for items on this topic. They do come up from time-to-time, many written as hidensho instruction from various ryuha of gunnery / firearm formation tactics / 兵法

Author? Unfortunately not. The date is 1799 - Kansei 10 寛政+

In my Facebook group for collectors of antique Japanese manuscripts, I track the auctioning of various items of interest. This morning a handscroll on matchlock design and (apparently) rifling, dated 1799, sold for $85 USD. I thought I'd share the pictures of the item here for those who might find it interesting. The entire scroll is shown, starting with an overview picture, then pictures showing sections of the scroll as it would be read Japanese style (right to left).

I'll add your name to the list for the next time I do a distribution.

As always, many thanks Markus!

Many members will know of my interest in antique Japanese manuscripts and books; some will know of the small Facebook group I run for collectors of the same. Recently I've been researching collected bibliographies of antique Japanese books on a variety of topics. For example, I've been able to find items which lists important works published during the Edo Period for both coin collecting and medical texts if anyone wants a copy of the these collected bibliographies, let me know). However, in the resources I've checked for nihonto and associated arts, only a scattering of old texts are named. I'm wondering if someone in the field has compiled a similar list for Edo nihonto texts? Or perhaps armour?

Hello everyone The file has been uploaded to the sharing service and the access information etc. PMed to you.

There's no date in the book itself, but by identifying the author we should be able to narrow down the time period it was made over. The seller I acquired it through -- very reputable -- stated it was Edo period in origin. My research has shown the style of cover and quality of paper in the book could be found anywhere from around 1820-1900, with differing degrees of availability. The paper is very fine and thin, and the page folding and binding is accordion-style, one of the oldest styles of Japanese binding, but also one which was produced by craftsmen throughout the Edo and Meiji periods. One your book: I'm sure Brian and the NMB members would be thrilled to have access to another original work. Meantime, I've put your name on my distribution list for when I upload the file in the next few days.

John, Kunitaro As the file is quite large at almost 300 megs, I have to use a file-sharing service to relay it. The service only allows the file to be available for a week at a time. Give me a few days to see if we have anyone else interested, then I'll re-upload the file and send you the password information etc.

Just a quick update. With thanks to several NMB members who've offered advice, have given referrals, offered to act as personal references, or offered direct assistance, there are now several avenues being pursued in an attempt to identify the original author of this manuscript. Any information received will be shared here. In the discussion thread, Darcy mentioned that if a group of members took a few pages each, most of the oshigata could be identified in short order. If any members are interested in taking part in such a group project, please contact me either here or via PM. Also, a note of clarification: the oshigata .pdf file displays only those pages of the notebook which contained actual rubbings or text. This was done for sake of brevity and a concern for finished file size. The notebook is actually divided (more or less) into sections, with many blanks pages between the groupings of oshigata, obviously leaving pages for new rubbings to be added in the "categories". From my estimate, the notebook is roughly 100 leaves (200 pages), of which -- very roughly -- something over half have rubbings.

Done David.

Done John

Done, James

Done Paul

Done Paul Done Paul

Jean, at this point the question may come down to (with thanks to K Morita for the translation http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/user/137-k-morita/) who is "Old Man Nakamura", the stated owner of the notebook?

I can't speak directly to the fact, Brian, but it was a suggested as a possibility (due to the manner of organization of the notebook) by an initial reviewer.

Done Grev... and thanks to those who are looking this over. Researching these items are far beyond my meager knowledge and information resources.

Done Stephen

Gordon, your account settings won't let me PM you. Kindly change your settings and I'll get you the download and other information.

Download information and file passwords etc. have now been sent via PM to all those who have so far requested to participate, with the exception of those whose accounts are set not to accept private messages. If I've missed anyone, please contact me. Members can continue to request access to the file, which will be available for download for the next week. I hope people will find many interesting and intriguing items among the many oshigata the notebook contains. As mentioned earlier (and in my PMs), I'm asking that those participating post any interesting research from the notebook they're willing to share (such research always belongs to the researcher), along with any discoveries, items of note or interest, comments, questions or points of discussion. For the moment we'll use this thread for that purpose. If we get a lot of response, perhaps we'll look at creating a separate thread. Members should feel free to use screenshots of interesting items for these posts. Enjoy!

Wayne, Derek and Diego, your accounts don't allow me to send you PMs. Kindly change your settings and I'll get you the download and other information.

A number of people have chosen to send PMs or even emails. Be assured I've received all of them.