Peter Bleed

We need a Show report. How was it? Peter

Certainly not Japanese. Chinese????

Interesting sword that reflects a moment in Japanese and sword history. How is it mounted? Peter

My interest in hinawa-ju is recent, but I AM interested - and as a result have discovered this discussion AND also the great stuff over on Facebook. There is a lot of energy and insight there. BUT I find FACEBOOK a real pain. It is hard to use and favors brief comments. I'd like to see the conversations merged. Is there a reason the world needs two? What can we/I do to help. BRIAN, please advise! Peter

Robert, I am pleased to see this signature - and I thank Brian for bringing it to my attention. I don't see why you'd call this a gimei. Indeed, I would bet - were it to be submitted to a trustworthy shinsa team (assuming you could find one of them AND that the swords 'looks' okay), THEY would/should say "Mid-Edo, School of the Kunikane." There were at least 13 generations and the line fell on hard times from numbers 4 thru 11. But there were guys there the whole time with the name and the familial right and responsibility to make swords with this signature. NO ONE would think this a sword made my generation, 1, 2, or 3, But I would bet that it IS a Kunikane. Please tell us about the sword, MASAME??? Now, if you find this sword "suspicious", - and wanted to suggest what you would RATHER have, I'd be very happy to do some swapping with you. What do you like? Peter

Piers and Jan, Thank you very much for your help and your insights. I only wish we could more comfortable sit around this and other similar arms. I would pick your brains since I have lots to learn!. Peter

Piers, Well, gee. I patiently tap my toe. I saw in this arm a rather flat design, with a pierced trigger and a pan that looked a bit forward so I wondered about a Sendai connection. It is also impressive to me how little overlap there is between swordsmith and gun smith names. Those Japanese! Peter

Dear Friends, Please allow me to show images of a gun in my collection - and in so doing beg the expert help of this community. The overall appearance of this gun makes me wonder if it might be a "Sendai zutsu". But, the the barrel which is very rusty seems to have a mei to" Eshu Kunitomo Minamoto Shige somebody else" Please advise! Peter Sorry, My images are too big - and I am a slow learner!

Collector friends, This article is worth a read! https://www.academia.edu/s/096d6faf59 Peter

Dear Jason, You are being laudably responsible in becoming a Japanese sword collector. Good on you!. Please let me try to help you by asking you to think about plywood, - that is 1) a material made of a bunch of thin layers of wood. It can vary 2) based on the kinds of wood that were used, and 3) the ways they were attached. And 4) you have to remember that plywood always has two sides – the stripes and the flat. ( it is tempting to call those masame and itame, but it is a bit different) Beyond all that, you also have to realize that 5) plywood has been used in lots of different ways, by craftsman 6) in many different areas and styles. So what do you do when you find a great Eames chair that a used furniture dealer is selling as a “Plywood Seat”? Do you argue with her? Do you question your understandings and tastes? Or do you say, “I like it, but can you do any better?” The gokaden was a way of classifiying Japanese sword making procedures before 1250 or so. To begin with those procedures were routine and supported by rather narrow tool kits and local resources. Basically, they were like slightly different ways of making plywood. Then, by about 1400 or so, mixing and reorganization and increased demand had begun. And so, smiths in different AREAS developed differences. They used established techniques, but developed distinctive ways of making effective weapons – call them regional styles. Soldiers in those regions got used to those weapons, And so you get things like “Hokuriku style” That usage is like talking about a “Kentucky Rifle.” Then you have to understand that in Japan, you learn a skill by entering into a close relationship with a social superior. These situations can be called SCHOOLS because the boss teaches you how to operate and he exposes you to a narrow and specific set of 1) skills and 2) tools. This means what you learn is narrow and specific. It is about how to behave NOT how to innovate. After the late 1500s there was great persistence in several of these schools. They were all making plywood, but by that time the medium and the techniques had changed a great deal… Let me also speak to Kunikane. He claimed to be a descendent of Yamato smiths, but I can’t understand how that could have been. And furthermore I do NOT think there is a gene for blacksmithing. I think he was a GOOD smith who figured out how to do masame. He also seems to have been a good local citizen. He earned the support of rich guys in his hometown. And he started an enduring “school” that lasted like 14 generations in Sendai. The second Iyesada was a student of Kunikane, but the swords he made, and those by his son and grandson don’t look TO ME like the swords that Kunikane produced. Peter

I won't be at all positive about this item. It is ugly and crude. The only - ahhh - positive issue I can raise is about it terrible condition. I wonder if it might not be a bit older than others have suggested. How, I ask, could a Showa-era piece get so uniformly and deeply covered with surface rust? Peter

Good job, Uwe. I was challenged! P

My first reaction was that this could be a much thinned ayasugi blade. I'd still bet on Gassan. Does anybody else see trace of a signature? Peter

My "thought" is that this is a nice Echizen no Kami Nobuyoshi with what looks like a very early registration. Very collectable P Well, let me amend that to simply collectable.

What a wonderful thread! Very informative and positive. NMB at its best! I just made a post to the Ethnographic weapons forum and got directed to Wikipedia! Thank you all! Peter

Indeed, this was an interesting read, altho my 'cynic sensor' kind of buzzed a couple of times. I suppose that kitting out you son with a trip to a mainline department store could have happened.I suspect, tho, that the Army had ways of helping young officers. It is also worth re-reading page 138 in John Yumoto's classic where he says "On the other hand, Japanese officers could buy sound samurai swords forged 150 to 300 ago for 150 to 300 yen ($40 to $75)." Peter

Dear Friends, Please let me beg the insights and wisdom of this august community! I am curious about what collectors consider to be the importance – and value implications – of modified Japanese teppo. I am personally interested in how “old” guns were modified and updated in the late 19th century. There was a fair amount of this going on in Japan altho it is not clear to me who was doing this, when it was done, or what the goals were. I would love to understand all that, but let me start with a question about crass economics. What do collectors think the conversions do to teppo values? Does conversion destroy, lower, or re-direct collector value? Are converted guns at all interesting to collectors in Japan? Are they allowed into Japan? Are converted guns being "de-converted"? Peter

Steve hit the nail on the head - - IMHO P

Piers, Please show us an image. Peter

Marcos, This is a very interesting paper. Thank you! Many people are challenged by the idea that Japanese swords and fittings are - not mere craft - but "art". (I certainly am!) This paper helped me understand why and how sword values were managed. You may even be right! In any case, and as I said, Thank you! Peter

Indeed, Piers is correct, Bazz. The bottom one is a Dixie Gun Works Repro that I bought some years back in case I got a chance to do some shooting. So far this is still "unfired..." The fittings of this "Made In Japan" gun convince me that somebody over they is making good(enough) stuff. I'm pretty interested in the ways that "old" weapons were "modernized" at the end of the 19th century which is why I acquired the reworked guns. Thanks for the comments P

I am still picking at this teppo that needs a hibasami - eventho the overwhelming evidence suggests that not very many others in this fine community are finding this question at all interesting. I have examined the locks on my other teppo (which is totally a 'lag deposit' of odds and ends) and I am not sure how hibasami were made. I have also assumed that they were basically cast and cleaned. But were they actually forged of malleable brass? Here's a snap pf the guns. P