Bugyotsuji

岡田兼定　作 Okada Kanesada Saku https://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT215403.htm

The history of guns floor at Nagoya Tōken world, however, has made great efforts to provide accurate and readable English signs for almost every display. The curators for each floor seem to be markedly different, left entirely to their individual devices, with insufficient overall museum policy. The blades are generally good, and plentiful, but the displays could certainly be improved.

Fairly common Hira-sankaku Yari indeed, but heavily damaged. I’ve never before seen a gimei Yari, but 大吉 作sounds more like a fortune telling than a real smith’s name. The slightly longer kerakubi could indicate a little more age, possibly early to mid Edo period(?), but I’m just guessing.

重 ‘Shige’ can also be a nickname or short form of a person’s name.

銘酒 Famous liquor (Probably imitating the old earthenware Yomeishu flasks found in Tomo.) Tomo-no-Ura is where Miyazaki Hayao wrote Ponyo. Exciting find!

Every weekend this autumn we have been donning full armour and putting on displays with old smoothbore ‘Tanegashima’ guns. Busy, busy, busy. On Sunday we will be part of the Daimyō Gyōretsu at the old Honjin (inn) Sankin-kōtai stop at Yakage. The constant wear and tear of equipment means the ever-present need for running repairs. Most of these, you have to be ready to do yourself. The medieval battlefield would have been similar but more extreme. I have just finished applying glue to broken tsukamaki strings on the tachi koshirae. A cheaper fix than ordering an identical complete restring! It looks fine, except when it rains and the transparent glue sections turn milky white. Half a day I spent on reattaching loose iron plates and chain mail on the kote sleeves, and the main frontal cord of the haidate had snapped and needed replacing. Meanwhile, the matchlocks also need constant cleaning and prepping, before and after each display. (PS Yesterday with Igor I bumped into Les and Ray at the sword museum! Small world.)

Wordsworth said something about emotion recollected in tranquillity. On Saturday I laid out a table of objects, this and that, and with the help of the organizers, gave a talk to an audience of local citizens. Since then I have heard back through the grapevine that it was an acceptable afternoon and that people enjoyed it. I may have put a noose around my own neck though, as the city has now asked me to do a static display for their children's event later this month. Hmmm... Onko Chishin, 温故知新, learning from the past, to fashion the future? The past can teach you about the future?

Offhand, I do not know the definitive answer, John, and would have to spend some time looking it up myself. It could be some type of sageo cord, to prevent slippage, and ‘lock’ it in place behind the obi.(?)

Jean, thank you for the supplementary thoughts. I discussed these with some friends. Of course you must be right on both counts. Thank you!

You open the lid, light the end of the matchcord, and close the lid. The sukashi is for oxygen intake and smoke egress. These are the two candle holders, Left and right.

Thanks for posting, Rick. Leaving aside questions of quality and age for the moment, your fledgling karasu tengu is signed Masakatsu 正勝. There was a Masakatsu carver, real name Suzuki (1840-1899), who worked in wood in Uji Yamada, according to Ito Ryoichi. There is also quite a bit of information, with illustrations of the kind of work done by at least two Masakatsu in the 1800s in the MCI, pp 416-419. Look and compare. Is the quality there? Is the age there?

Not yet got around to shooting the candle holders, but here is the match holder mentioned above. In days when lighting a fire was not a quick or simple task, it allowed a burning match to be carried, pushed through the obi, in relatively safety. One less task for a matchlock gunner who needed to be able to react quickly.

Forgive the long silence. So much water has flowed under the bridges and through the fords since July. Just to record two recent finds at antiques fairs in Kyoto, each serendipitous in its own way. The first is a bronze portable candle holder. It could well be Meiji, thus strictly speaking outside the remit of this thread, but I saw it in the distance, that unmistakable shape! I have one at home, but I had until then never seen another! They do say these things are better in pairs, so quick as a wink, I snapped it up. Back at home I compared them; there are small differences, but they were surely made by the same hand, and essentially they look really good sitting on either side of my armour display! Two peas in a pod. Photos may follow... The second is a burning-match holder. Now these are as rare as hen's teeth. I've always wanted one, and for twenty-plus years I have looked but never seen an example outside a museum collection, except for one fake. Then last Saturday, there it was, on a table, and the whole world dropped away. The dealer was surprised that I even knew what it was, and he called some people over, as if to witness a miracle. One of these was an armour repairer who used to work for Daishiba San in Kyoto, and he asked me if I knew Uwe Sacklowski!!! A bolt from the blue. I was so glad I had made the effort to tag along with the offspring last weekend. On Saturday I have been asked to give a 60-minute speech in Japanese to a citizens' group at the city library. They wanted the outline by today, :eek: ...so after months of nervous worry, I have just sent off two pages of summary. I hate being pinned down like this. Anyway I am hoping they will allow me to ramble stupidly in broken Japanese about Nihonto, Koshirae, Tosogu, Katchu, Hinawaju, Netsuke, Bizen-yaki, etc., then to set a puzzle for them, and finally to express how kind the people of the Bizen region are. They have also asked me to bring along some objects for display, so I am preparing an Edo period map, some books, and random armour parts, guns, netsuke, tsuba, etc. Wish me luck, please, teaching my grandmother to suck eggs!

Wow, that’s an ugly one. But some of those brass parts look ok! Good find.

Dang, Colin! Excellent question! The quick answer is “a mixed bag which included two dollops of serendipity”. This is the Netsuke Central thread, however, so to stay strictly on topic, the weekend was ‘educational’. I saw perhaps 100+ top-class Netsuké, and thinking that it might be relatively cheaper, enquired casually about a beautifully lacquered, signed obi-hasami. The answer was ¥1,000,000… Well, cheap to some perhaps, but that was ten times my total budget for the day. Ulp! I did buy an obi-hasami of perhaps bone material (?) which cost relatively nothing, plus two ojime, and a very pretty old shell (with a tatty string remnant through it), which had once served as a ‘natural’ netsuke. There was indeed a fashion at one time (early to mid Edo) for natural netsuke, and I once had a pearlescent nautilus shell netsuke, plus a beautiful chunk of amber with silver fittings, so I was pleased to acquire another one. So, netsuke-wise, not a great haul, but better than a kick in the butt.