IanB

Mick, I too remember when the Museum of Childhood displayed Japanese items. They were in fact moved there from the V&A to make room in the Oriental Gallery for a more prominent displays of Middle Eastern items to reflect the growing political influence of that part of the world. Basil Robinson was a Japanophile to his toenails and I remember visiting the V&A as a young lad only to find the gallery under re-display. My father explained to B.R. we had travelled down from Yorkshire to see the collection whereupon he pulled aside a screen and conducted us around personally - an absolute gentleman. As for the sale of objects. The disposal of pistols and the like from the Tower arose from the need to raise money to buy an important early English great helm. Remember the Tower had been the nation's arsenal and it still held stocks of munitions that had been either returned as obsolete or had been ordered and for various reasons had never been issued. It was decided by the Trustees that some of the obsolete stock, plus odds and ends of armour that had accumulated, should be sold to raise money to buy the helm. I remember at the time hundred of items like percussion Coast Guard pistols still in greased paper suddenly appearing on the market. Having been through the documentation of that period, every miserable gorget plate or smashed musket was carefully considered by a panel before being sold. The swords from Chiddingstone and the material from Warwick were different. Both these were private concerns, the latter owned by M. Tussauds. Chiddingstone had serious structural problems and needed money for repairing the roof - hence their decision to sell off items. Ian Bottomley.

Mick, Ben, In the UK the rules are that if a museum has an item it does not want, it must advertise the fact around the other museums in the country and should one be interested transfer it to them. This trucking and trading goes on all the time. Should an item have been donated, the donor, or relative if one can be found, has to be consulted on the matter. Then and only then can the item be sold at public auction. Disposal into the wider world is a long tedious process involving permission of the Trustees. When the Royal Armouries moved its collection to Leeds from the Tower of London the packing team were meticulous in dispatching anything and everything from the storage areas in the various mural towers where things had been stored for centuries. Absolutely everything was accessioned and shipped just in case it might be an object of significance. As a result the collection now includes bits of wood, some only a few inches long, that may or may not have been the shaft of a long disintegrated staff weapon. De-accessioning these 'treasures' would involved assembling a board of the trustees and presenting a written document as to why these items should be disposed of. Life's too short. Ian Bottomley

A very interesting topic. During my tenure at the Royal Armouries we were fortunate in having a collection of 57 swords, many in polish with papers including two juyo blades, donated to the museum by the family of a personal friend. These have been housed in a special set of drawers in our humidity and temperature controlled stores. Using this resource, together with swords already in the collection allowed me to maintain a display that I could change by rotation roughly twice a year. I am delighted to say that I was replaced by a person who is as enthusiastic about the collection as much as me, although management changes means that rotating the displays is now a nightmare. The fact that I am still extant has allowed an almost seamless hand-over. I must confess that the attitude in other museums is often far less satisfactory and likely to become even worse in these times of financial austerity. A major problem lies in the interests of the curatorial staff. Many come from a background based on local history or history of art and, because of the funding system, are required to base their museum's displays in that area. A local museum, in nearby textile town, used to have a wide ranging collection of ethnographic items including a Japanese armour that used to scare the pants off me as a kid. During the 1960's this collection was dispersed by the then curator in favour of textile related items. As a result that museum is now full of looms and spinning equipment that must thrill the locals to bits after spending their working lives in factories that weave and spin. Another local museum contains a fabulous collection of armour, weapons , lacquer and such, collected by two local, wealthy families who visited Japan around the 1870's. These items were donated to the museum about 1900, crated up and left untouched until about 1975. When the crates were opened the condition of the pieces was fabulous having been in the dark and stable for such a long time. Sadly few of these treasures are ever displayed, although in fairness they are kept in good conditions. Ian Bottomley

All, Matt Garbut during his lecture to the Japan Society of London in the 19th century includes an illustration from a book on military matters how a handachi could be converted into a tachi using some form of koshi ate and Piers is doing. I have also seen pairs of ashi fitted with hinges so that they could be clamped around a handachi scabbard and locked in place with the hinge pin. Similarly pairs of ashi turn up made of leather that have the same function. About a year or so ago a member of our local ToKen turned up with a rather small handachi, possibly for a boy, with a loop shaped kurigata fitted to a band around the saya on the mune edge. Very careful examination showed this split, the rear half sliding down the saya to convert it to a tachi. Ian Bottomley

I would also point out lot 205 is described as Japanese but in reality is Chinese. Ian Bottomley

Peter, Yes it is. It surfaced in the UK during the 1930's and then appeared in the ToKen exhibition in Oxford in the 1960's before coming up for sale in auction. It is now a prize in the Royal Armouries. We also have the armours given to King James I (and VI) and one given to King Philip II of Spain. Quite a significant slice of the diplomatic action between Japan and Europe. Ian Bottomley

The author of article published has raised a few points of interest. Gouldleer was a quite important import by the VOC and seems to have been popular with the armour makers of Kaga. I have a mid Edo period Kaga dou having the front covered with a sheet of it painted with acanthus. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam display a wall covered in identical leather and have the original mould in which it was made. Numerous Kaga helmets have their peaks and fukigayeshi covered with this variety of leather and another which they gilded and sometimes painted with dragons in red lacquer.. The complete armour mentioned was in fact a diplomatic gift from the VOC to Tokugawa Hidetada and was originally covered in gilded silver. In the 19th century it was burned in a fire and sold off, finally becoming part of the Royal Armouries' collection where it is now on display. The only other European armour that seems to have been imported were cuirass and open helmets. The latest I have noted being one in Hirado museum made from elements of two Dutch pikeman's armours of about 1630. This would accord with them being part of a gift from the Dutch to the Matsura daimyo when they were forcibly moved to Dejima in 1641. Another part of this gift would be the tanto made from a German cavalry sword blade made in Solingen and again in the Royal Armouries' collection. Ian Bottomley

Judging by the appearance of the inside, and the way that the plates are shaped, I think it is possible that it is a real zunari kabuto but not a very good one. What is not right is the 'lacquer'. This poor old helmet looks as if has been done over with car-filler (the white material) and painted black. Originally the lacquerer would have used kokuso to corrected the slightly misaligned top and it probably looked quite reasonable when finished. I am a bit suspicious of the tsunamoto that held the front crest, it is a bit small but it might be real. Ian Bottomley

Ken, O-sode are a bit of a devil to get hanging right as they tend to want to assume all manner of angles unless the stand is exactly the right size. As Uwe has said, the sode are on the wrong sides. The rings, part way down the sides, should be at the rear. There should also be three rings on the top-plate having; a leather tie in the centre and a double cord at each end. You should start by tying the leather tie to the rear loop on the shoulder strap of the dou. The front double cord ties to the front loop on the shoulder strap. There is a proper way of tying this which is difficult to describe but here is the general idea: double up both cords and push the loop formed through the loop on the shoulder strap. Then form another loop in the tasselled end and push that through the first loop. This should now be locked together and hold the front of the sode up about horizontal. The rear double cord of the sode now ties to the side loops of the bow on the back of the armour, stopping the rear of the sode cocking upwards. Finally the long cords from the rear edge of the sode should be passed through the side loops of the bow and tie to each other around the 'neck of the bow. If you type in '0-sode' to Google and look at the images you should find images showing the arrangement. (I have just done that and there are quite a few armours with them tied wrongly so be careful). Ian Bottomley

Mark, I see Bunan third year 文　安　三　年 which would be 1444 + 3 -1 or 1446 as the date and the signature as Bishu Osafune ?mitsu Ian Bottomley

MIck, Whilst I agree fully with an attempt to ban all post 1947 ivory trade worldwide, so far all the existing legislation has come to nothing. What I cannot see is how extending this to pre 1947 will make a scrap of difference. Poaching elephants and the smuggling of their tusks to China and elsewhere will carry on without a pause. If such legislation is passed an awful lot of military gents will have to make do with Indian made mamaluke swords with plastic grips, concert halls will have to buy pianos with plastic keyboards and those with large collections of netsuke, okimono or even kakemono with ivory ended rollers will have families who are either stuck with them in perpetuity or will have to give them away. This is all reminiscent of the intent to ban swords - until they saw the prices some fetched in major sale rooms which made them blanch. They still haven't paid out fully for the banning of handguns so I suspect this will slip quietly onto a back burner. Ian Bottomley

Matt, Richard, These inscriptions are very stereotyped. If you see just the two characters, as on this blade, 10,000:1 it is the maker's name. Very, very rarely it may be the name of the blade or something. Similarly with the date- first two characters are the nengo or year period, next some numerals and then 年 nen meaning year. Don't forget you need to take 1 away from the numerals before adding it to the nengo date. In this case 1926 + (20 -1) = 1945. What then follows is generally meaningless because the Japanese used a lunar calendar and unless you have the right tables their months and days do not correlate with our calendar. Ian Bottomley

Richard, The blade is dated 20th year of Showa (1945) and is signed by a smith called Nobumitsu. Ian Bottomley

Piers, There was a really top grade kama in the Watanabe Museum in Tottori. Dr. Watanabe had collected a mass of stuff belonging to the Ikeda family and he claimed this kama had belonged to one of the Ikeda Daimyo. All I really remember about it was that the blade was fully polished and of flattened lozenge section with I think a hilt / handle and saya in nashiji lacquer. All very posh. Ian Bottomley

Uwe, Nope. A ceremonial sake ladle. Ian Bottomley

Brian, Among the treasures in the RA collection are about 30 yari given as a part of a diplomatic gift to Queen Victoria. On receipt of the entire gift it the spears seems to have been divided up between the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tower of London and possibly Windsor Castle. In total it was probably a set of 50 with 46 of them around 10 feet long and 4 about 8 feet. I assume the shorter ones were for the guys stationed at the corners of the daimyo's norimon. So far I have only seen two of the saya - great big sausages in textured gold lacquer. Somewhere there will be a massive pile of the remainder and possibly two saya from the pair of magnificent nagainata that came with them, These yari have their entire shafts done with abalone pieces in lacquer and like that owned by Piers they shed a glittering shower whenever you look at them. The situation is so bad that we store the bulk of them horizontally in lengths of plastic guttering to catch the precipitation. The few that were put on show were laboriously restored by having the fallen particles glued back into position. Something like a matt acrylic spray might help consolidate what is left, especially if several coats are applied to build up a sufficiently strong layer. That spray doesn't have any effect on urushi and should be removable with solvent at a later date if needed. Ian B

Dr, Fox, Ah there you have me. I hope I made it clear that the numbers I came up with were based entirely on rough estimates. By 1665, there was no real fighting so the work of the polishers would in the main be just routine maintenance of the swords in the town. I think it is reasonable to suppose that blades carried around every day in all weathers might well require a refresh every 10 years or so, Just what degree of polish they received I do not know, but probably not as elaborate as a modern good quality polish. What is not in dispute is that the town did manage to sustain 8 polishers and 3 saya makers. Also interesting are the 4 'silver smiths'. These I take to be workers in soft metals, some at least being the makers of kodogu. This was of course a period of transition from an era of warfare to one of an enforced peace. The institution of the daimyo gyoretsu led to the need for more elaborate equipment and on a considerable scale. I have no figures for Tsuyama, but the Maeda of Kanazawa sometimes marched with over 3000 people but more often around 2000 of which 185 were immediate retainers and some 830 were more distant vassals, the remainder being made up of servants, pages and grooms. That was a lot of equipment to keep up to scratch. Ian B

Piers, The Royal Armouries Museum has a complete kago yari I bought for the collection. The shaft is less than a meter long and has the top part lacquered gold with the usual copper mounts. I doubt the head on that one is more than 4cm but is the same shape as yours with a narrow groove on each face. Most spectacularly it still has its saya which is done with bear bristles. When assembled it looks like a small sweeping brush. I am doing an introductory book that includes yari so when it come to images I will get it photographed. Ian

Ken, Talking of warped yari, Near Matsue is a road-side noodle shop the whole front of which is a large shop-like window. Inside are relics of the daimyo gyoretsu, put there I would guess in the meiji period and obviously never touched since. There is a norimon whose lacquer has all fallen off and forms a mound around it on the floor, kamishimo and jinbaori hanging on stands as tattered rags and so on - everything bleached colourless by a century of sun. Best of all are long yari on pegs on the rear wall. These have now taken a bend at the supporting peg, the weight of the head having bent the shafts to something like a 30 degree angle but without breaking the wood. It is an amazing but tragic sight to see such treasures reduced to almost nothing. Ian B

Peter, The article was only a couple of pages I knocked up for the Northern ToKen Society after finding the census details in ‘Everyday Life in Traditional Japan’ by C. J. Dunn (Batsford, London,1969). I was intrigued about just what had been going on in that town prior to the census. It seems it had originally been Kobayakawa Hideyaki's land but since he died without heir it was given to Mori Tadamasa. He built a massive castle there said to rival Himeiji. Tadamasa's son Nagatsugu took over on his father's death and it was during his tenure the census was taken. Ian Bottomley

Eric, You are absolutely correct. It is noticeable that hunting equipment such as guns, horses and dogs were common gifts between European monarchs. Similarly Capt. Saris handed out highly decorated guns to both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada and that the English factory sold a considerable number of this type of gun whilst it operated in Japan. Clearly the Japanese gun trade concentrated on military matchlock weapons at this time and that flintlocks and / or snaphaunces were considered as suitable high class gifts amongst the Japanese nobility. Ian Bottomley.

Brian, It was far less of a deal whilst they stuck to the odd mask or jingasa, but as you say complete armours are not being knocked up by an amateur in a shed in the back yard as a way of making a bit of pocket money. On the plus side I have at least had most of my money refunded but it has been a hard learned lesson. Ian B.

Peter, A few years ago I wrote an article based on a census taken in the town of Tsuyama: ’In 1665 there were in this town nearly 1000 houses occupied by warriors of all ranks, including foot-soldiers, with about 4000 other houses in which lived townsfolk of all sorts. There is a list of the craftsmen in the town: they include three blacksmiths, eight sword sharpeners, four silver-smiths, three scabbard-workers, two lacquerers, two shaft-makers, and one worker in cypress wood. All of these were specialists in the manufacture of equipment for the warriors, but there were other craftsmen more generally employed. There was one dyer, but no less than 98 sake-brewers, as well as 222 carpenters, 37 sawyers, 6 plasterers, and an unspecified number of coopers, shinglers, thatchers, paper-makers, tobacco-cutters, tilers and mat-makers.’ You will note that two craftsmen were involved in making shafts. Note it was a distinctly separate craft from the saya makers - possibly because it invoolved the use of kashi or red oak rather than magnolia. I could find only one 'blacksmith' who was a sword maker, a Kanekaga being listed as working in Tsuyama at that period. This was after all just after the Sengoku Jidai so no doubt sword blades were fairly easily obtained second-hand. Since spear shafts were being produced in the town it is logical that spear heads were also being made there so it may be that another 'blacksmith' made yari and possibly arrowheads whilst the third was probably a general iron worker. I found the number of polishers and 'silver-smiths' interesting. Based on the number of military I argued: If the estimate of around 1500 to 2000 samurai is reasonably correct, this would equate to approximately 4000 –5000 or so swords owned by the military and other classes. Let us say there were 2000 long swords and 2500 short swords, giving each polisher about 250 katana and 300 short swords to work on. Allowing 8 days to re-polish a long sword and 3 days on average for a short sword or a tanto, this equates to approximately 2900 man days of labour. Thus each of the eight sword polishers would need to work this length of time before reaching the end of their share of the swords. This suggests that each sword could be re-polished about every 8 to 10 years. Having been newly polished it would be normal for a new scabbard to be made, requiring each scabbard maker to produce approximately 150 scabbards per year that would in turn be passed onto the two lacquer workers to finish the scabbards. Ian Bottomley

Eric, Needham quotes from the Chinese book 'Chhou Hai Thu Pien' published in 1562 ( Needham J. Science and Civilisation in China, Vol5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7: Military Technology; The Gunpowder Epic, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986) that illustrates guns introduced by the Portuguese that are identical with those used in Japan. The Chinese called these guns 'bird beaked guns', one illustration being of the stock / pistol grip of such a gun with the image of a bird's head superimposed. It then goes on to say that they were sometimes called 'bird guns' and adds that this is still the name used for what we call a shotgun. Whilst the Chinese knew of these guns they didn't adopt them, preferring to use Turkish guns as a model. It looks as if the Japanese used the same terminology. Ian Bottomley

I don't want to be a party pooper about this decorated gun but the belt hook is on the wrong way. Who carries a pistol with the muzzle upwards? Ian Bottomley