Bugyotsuji

Hmmm…. Fire, a possibility I hadn’t considered. The proportions do look right.

And… several objects here which may prove puzzling. Most of these are connected somehow to my matchlock, armour and blackpowder displays, but not all. Can you see for example a rice quality tester, a fire starting kit, a pricker, a tinder container, a priming flask, some bear bells, etc.? Most of these were not expensive, or I swapped them for something, i.e. nothing to break the bank.

This little lacquered carrying cup may be made from the same material as the ashtray haizara netsuke above. The concentric rings and little pinpricks look similar. Could be hazé 櫨の木, wax tree.(?) Upright cup

Hmm… I wonder what that is, if it is not bamboo…(?) My own collection, culled mostly from antiques markets in Japan, generally tends toward the functional and everyday rather than top-end Netsuké and Sagemono, so I have several smokers’ sets of that same ilk, although they are handmade, so no two are really alike. Good honest artefacts. Just occasionally I do spot a real treasure though!

The pitting on the kerakubi neck flange raised a warning flag for me. Blade and kerakubi should both be mirror smooth, at least in places. A pre-polishing Yari? Someone has messed around with the mekugi hole and dremel markings…(?) unless that is 山 and an attempt to erase it? I’ve seen modern Chinese ‘rusted’ arrowheads, so I’m reserving final judgement for the time being.

Hmmm… I tend to agree with your final thoughts above.

大元少将 Major General Omoto, these kanji, I wonder?

Well, we know what it is but I haven't been able to find an exact match just yet. (It is possible that it was created after the Edo period was over, missing out on being listed.) It is three 'dark' crossed 'uchiwa' or 'gunbai' fans, so in Japanese it has to be something like 三つ団扇　三つ違い陰軍配 Mitsu uchiwa or mitsu chigai kage gunbai, etc. Also look for 唐団扇, ‘China fan’ motif. E.g. and

Yes Dale, roughly 9.5 x 9.5 x 0.5 cm. The Metropolitan example has a smooth rim, more like a wheel. Here are a couple more:

Would it be true Robert to say that most museums are closed on Mondays?

PS Since we use the name of Katchūshi (along with Tōshō) as one of the two foundations of tsuba evolution, fashions in the manufacture of armo(u)r, especially kabuto, which continued down through the ages alongside sword manufacturing, could well provide us with some useful reference materials. One BIG problem is that these two fields of study are like oil and water, ne’er the twain shall meet. It’s like the ancient word ‘mujun’ 矛盾 (blade and shield) meaning contradiction or paradox, is still expressing their anti-magnetic properties. Are you a blade being, or an armo(u)r being?

Remember that this thread is focussed on the evolutions in iron tsuba, if I have understood it correctly. Beautiful elaborate sukashi work in copper brass, gold, silver and gilt was evident in armor fittings from very early on. The artistic techniques were certainly there for soft metals. Returning to iron, holes were drilled in the iron of kabuto plates and shapes were applied to the edges of iron haraidate-dai, upright holders for maedate. There were fashions for Kabuto bowls such as for the famous bulbous Akoda shape, indeed I sense fashions in Kiku chrysanthemum tsuba could have followed these as the triangular iron bowl plates curved outwards, following numbers such as 12, 16, 24, 32 or 62 etc. Kuruma ‘wheel’ tsuba (not Guruma, except inside compound words) also favoured set numbers of spokes, as did kiku chrysanthemum tsuba. There may have been corresponding fashion changes in armor outfits that included kabuto and tsuba on swords. But in iron? Did they have the files for fine work? Am I alone in seeing numbered spoke consistencies between kabuto plates and tsuba spokes? Here is a tsuba for age consideration. What do we think? An evolution from older yamagane tsuba? The hitsu ana are contemporary with the tsuba.

Ken, really appreciate the donation to NMB! And Brian, I owe you so much over the years. That meal is definitely on me! Just promise not to get in any fights before then! LOL

Today I discovered the reason for this use of three blades for 州 Shū province. The kanji can be seen as three ‘standing’ 立刀 ‘rittō’ blades. See the right side of 割, for example. 3 of these blades, but then piled neatly in a heap, = 刕 Although it is not included in many dictionaries today, it was a conventional usage often found in 古文書 old manuscripts.

Byakudan-nuri can be found here and there but it is not exactly common, and yes, it suggests a wealthy patron or someone with status. There has always been a culture of swapping out bits of armo(u)r for any number of reasons, and may well start with damage on the battlefield (repairs needed immediately) and the passing of inherited armo(u)r down each generation with changes in fashion. You could say that katchū is in constant slow-moving flux.

Hi Ken, It depends where you would propose selling it. In Japan matchlock prices are rather sagging atm. You might get £1,000 at auction there, if properly registered, etc. A private buyer might pay more. In the UK it could be double that or even more, depending on various factors.

For anyone travelling around. There is a special triple museum hosted cooperative event connected with Unrui swords in Okayama. The Prefectural Museum Hayashibara Museum of Art Okayama Castle

Ken, military, yes. Once again, congratulations! Several of the byō 鋲 pins, (or ‘nails’ as they are called in English gunsmithing, apparently) are missing and will need replacing. Almost everything else seems to be present. When you say ‘rifle’ you may be referring to a Tanegashima Hinawajū smoothbore long gun. (?) They didn’t get any true rifles until the Bakumatsu period, from abroad.

This stock is from a flashy ‘merchant’s’ small game gun from Osaka. Some like the bling, but others are not so keen on it. Divisive! Great for what it is, especially at that price, but I would not be afraid to cannibalize it if you need genuine parts and they fit! But it’s your call, and I can see the case for restoring it with a ‘new’ barrel.

Yes, it says: ‘Sesshū Jū Kagoya Rokubei Kanetsugu Saku’ 摂州住籠谷六兵衛金次作 Sadly no dates given for this smith, but Edo period for sure.

PS the name is corroded, but I’ll work on getting the smith’s personal name.

Yes, agreeing with Brian. Super űber crazy cheap for a ‘bajōzutsu’ carbine pistol like that! Lucky 🍀 find! This was made by a smith in the House of Kagoya in Sesshū (Sakai, Osaka). Mid to late Edo period. (We have a hand cannon from the same collection.)

Cleaning an old matchlock pistol today and realized the 州　is written in the same manner, 刕 three blades, which I had thought was only used by swordsmiths. Perhaps the gunsmith was originally a katana kaji.(?)

Jussi and Uwe are correct. Shū 州 (province) was written several ways.

Just from that one shot it looks like Byakudan-nuri, a superior lacquer coating along the lines of what Jean describes above. 白檀塗