Bugyotsuji

Keep it as a discussion piece.

Justin, that could well be the answer. Best one so far, I reckon! I’ll bet on your horse.

前立て , often shortened to 前立, is read maedate. Yes it is 前に立つ （Mae ni Tatsu) 'stand in front', but grammatically speaking the sound of the T within a compound word generally softens to a D. 　Like Wakidate and Ushirodate. If you see Maetate written somewhere, it is not 100% wrong, but it just lacks that je ne sais quoi, IMHO. 　 Having said that, there seems to be no agreement yet among experts. I can find examples of both usages on the following site for example. https://www.touken-world.jp/word-armor/helmet/page/3/#ancho5245

If you’re going to bin it, please send it to me.

Although the square cross-section handles are similar, the heads are different. The key may well be in the word scraper. What does a pipe scraper do? (Mine is probably a seam marker for cloth.) Among the possibilities that did cross my mind, if there was to be any connection with swords, was a sort of vellum scraper, for wet same' handle wraps. Lastly I wondered if it was to be used as a tapper block under a wooden mallet, for removing very tight tsuka from shira-saya.(?)

Nice unusual Ojimé.

Strange that the writing is so very different. Two small points. 1. Gunomé + 小乱れ komidaré 2. 表裏　Omoté/Ura 腰樋・添樋Koshibi, Soébi (Actually a photograph would help illustrate what the writer was attempting to describe.)

Check these out, Bruno. https://www.google.com/search?q=布袋徳利&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEwJa7rZ3tAhUhCqYKHSruDKMQ_AUoAXoECAUQAw&biw=1366&bih=625 Hotei Tokkuri, (for Homeishu from Tomo no Ura?)

Not good. May be time to pick up the phone for clarification.

It was I who added the puzzled icon to your post, George. Do you have any other shots, of the other side of the 'scraper' part for example? You ask if anyone has seen anything similar.

Hi Mike, Check out this recent thread. Your white numbers are 五六 or 56.

Point taken, George, but in such a Koshirae?　

So many factors come into play, that a quick answer must be difficult. Unlikely, but not completely outside the realms of possibility right after WWII, with many facing extreme poverty. Perhaps the family were of Bushi stock, and had nothing suitable to give, or hid a suitable blade in a funky koshirae, and gave it to her to use on herself if things should not turn out well, or for her eventual funeral, imagining that they might never see her again. (?) PS Looks like it got well used for other things in the meantime.

So that's where they all went! Into NMB members' collections. John, I have not tried detaching the hammer head itself, but an internal drop of superglue might well be in order.

For a more general background, and a real door-stop, has anyone read James Murdoch's History of Japan? (Volume 1 goes up 'to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1542'.)

If you want readable earlier history, have you read anything by Yoshikawa Eiji? I tried The Heike Story (English version of his Shin Heike Monogatari) and it was a surprisingly good read. Not a direct translation of the Heiki Monogatari, but an unforgettable and illuminating insight into the history of Kyoto and the feuds of the warrior ruling classes. One of my desert island essentials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiji_Yoshikawa

無銘　江戸前期　加州兼若 Mumei early Edo (Kashū Kanewaka) The rest is too fuzzy to see, Mike.

These Tebako usually have a fairly deep inner tray supported by the edges of the box body, giving two levels inside. PS Ignore the white silk cords which I took off another box for the photo session.

Richard, normally a push with the long prod will dislodge a mekugi, but occasionally it will not move under a simple pushing force, so you will need to hammer the end of the hammer, (well, gently tap the hammer to get movement). Rather than having to use two hammers, you can remove the 'drift' pin, place the tip against the mekugi peg, and tap that with the hammer to dislodge the mekugi. Yesterday I had to remove the pins of a long gun and they were so small that I chose a mekugi-nuki hammer with an internal more-pointed drift. Not to put too fine a point upon it...

Here you go, Gwyn. Been through the wars or what!?!?

Lovely piece, reminds me of a Chigo-zashi I once owned. What is the width of the Kozuka hitsu? The only Yajiri themed kozuka I have is copper.

Re the woven material, I think it is a kind of cheese cloth, (normally a hidden part of the lacquering layer process), which has its own beauty if left semi-exposed... no?

I have a tiny little boxed Higo Zogan folding mekugi-nuki, given to me years ago, far too nice to actually risk using. :headbang: ️ Pic to follow .....

When we say the tébako, we should not forget her humble sister Cinderella, sitting quietly in the hearth.

So they are using the word 'arm' and none of us knows what it refers to? If....(to repeat) it refers to the serpentine (hammer, etc.) as being a replacement, then common sense would disagree. Why bend a replacement? I have seen plenty of bent serpentines, easy damage when a gun is mishandled and dropped. Not so easy to correct, though, as there is a danger of cracking. Unless they think that it is genuine, but a shorter replacement that has been deliberately hit and stretched to bridge the problem of landing the match in the pan?