Bugyotsuji

“Maker’s 🐢 turtle” !!!

https://studyenglish.at.webry.info/201505/article_4.html Your answers might lie here. 亀戸天神社 Kameido Tenjinsha. (See link with Claude Monet.)

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/h1033077981 It does not say what it is, but it is listed as ‘unused’ under Bugu, Tsuba and Tōsōgu… A modern ‘Kozuka’ knife handle??? Beautiful work, by the way.

Dale, do you have a link to the original Japanese site? I wonder if that word ‘Kosuke’ is an attempt at rendering 小柄　Kodzuka/Kozuka into English? A fancy knife handle decorated with Higo Zōgan?

Ah yes, the famous story of Godaigo Tenno and this your loyal samurai Kojima Takanori. http://blog.livedoor.jp/shakuhachi_fue/archives/17935704.html

Yes, a very interesting thread here. Jake, part of the problem is the limited number of colors/colours that an ukiyo-e artist works with. Notice that 藍 ai (indigo) blue is used here and there, including to indicate steel on the blades. Not very accurate, but we accept the convention and get the general idea. I suspect that much more can be written about the usages of the various traditional 'reds' in Japan. 小豆 紅花 赤 紅 朱 臙脂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_colors_of_Japan There are 98 here: https://irocore.com/category/red/

備前焼 'Bizen Yaki' pottery is an unglazed rusty earthy brown.

Christine, are you suggesting that you still have one of them, or were they all sold off in some manner?

Malcolm, if you can put up with some ramblings for a moment, I can offer a potential line of enquiry/inquiry. One of the fashionable words in Yokohama in early Meiji was カメ. This was based on Westerners walking their dogs on the Bund and shouting "Ca'mere!!!". It sounded like the Japanese Kame, and indeed there was an amusing craze/fashion in Yokohama for people to name their dogs 'Kame'. The third character is 丼 don, suggesting that the sign may be for a restaurant called 'Kame Don', not that they actually served turtle but that the name was still amusing in 1880, and in Katakana to indicate a foreign word. There are weaknesses to this explanation, however. I have not made an effort to locate such a restaurant by a bridge on an old map. Why is the sign rounded at the ends, giving the impression of an artist's seal? And what does the last Katakana character ト indicate? I started looking but soon gave up, finding possible *leads but nothing solid. Scruffle this up and chuck it in the bin as you please. Offered in true humility, Your fiend, etc. *The sound Donto ドント　(丼ト?) conjures up the sound of the Donto Matsuri, Kyushu-ben 'donto' after which some eateries are named, and katakana for the English word 'don't', rendered as 'donto'. Some kind of clever word play here? OK, I promise not to dig this hole any deeper!

OK, if we’re going to look at your setup critically, what adjustments could we suggest to improve it? To get the ball rolling, how about hanging the sodé vertically from the shoulders?

No sooner said than

Ah 将, thanks. Quick question to anyone. Recently I found a kozuka with a hi in the blade, which I cannot recall having seen before. Is this common?

Since his title was Ōhmi no Kami, is there not a good chance he felt that he guarded the legacy of Azai Nagamasa of Odani Castle above Kunitomo?

Fukuyama Castle in Hiroshima has been gifted with 2,000 steel plates by JFE Steel for the 400th anniversary of the castle's founding. 1619-1622 The north face was considered weak against 'cannon fire', and was originally covered in 鉄板 iron/steel plates, apparently. Unique in Japan. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2bbcef8ae572d5fcddec336a75ea660599960206 https://tabetainjya.com/archives/cat_19/post_6604/

Much better! Yanagawa. Yes.