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Bugyotsuji

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Everything posted by Bugyotsuji

  1. Well, he said he makes all his own lacquer tools so he didn't need the spatulae. (My other friend who was also there however, did want them.) As he handed the 'finished' article back to me, he added a final word. "I still do not like this. You should strip it all back and start again." "The cannon is probably just an old casting reject," I said, "so I am not too bothered about getting everything 100% correct. Besides, I do not have your patience." Footnote. While I was preparing the guns for Sunday's live event, I gave the barrel of the little cannon a quick clean-out. Imagine my surprise to see how much blackpowder came wafting out of it. I wrapped up the pile in a tissue and burnt it outside. Gunpowder indeed! The pungent smoke gave off that familiar burning blackpowder smell which we get at every event. The inner walls must have been caked with it. Perhaps it had once functioned as a powder tester after all.
  2. With those Mon patterns, it could be Christian.
  3. That's great. Thanks Mark. I think Ray nailed it, but that was a TOUGH one!
  4. A couple more shots under different lighting conditions/angles would surely help clarify this, Mark.
  5. It’s true that the do should be held up by the mawashi round your waist. The wadakami will not bite into your shoulders. Can you show us a clearer picture or two of your problem? Have you tried attaching the front string to the front tip of the wadakami?
  6. 蕨手文様 - 検索 画像 (bing.com) Page full of warabite motifs
  7. Great topic and for me quite timely. Yesterday after the NBTHK meeting, I visited the excellent tsuba exhibition now on at the Osafune Sword Museum, and our sword sensei showed us around, commenting on almost everything. I took the chance to ask a raft of questions. Later over lunch I showed him a tsuba and asked where he thought it was from. Owari? Kyoto? Akasaka? He turned it over and over in his hands and I saw his facial muscles twitching as he narrowed it down under his analytical mind... Finally he handed it back to me and said with a smile, "Let's just take the Shoami escape route!" 「正阿弥」へ逃げるか? On the box I had written a note in pencil: ‘Owari?’. Later I erased that and wrote ‘Shōami?’ 'Shoami' is like a sponge to mop up the rest.
  8. Liking the tsuba design. I would go with a couple of your earlier ideas. Much (but not all) of that reminds me of iron kabuto etc., where the lacquer has been subsequently removed.
  9. Congratulations! Looks like a lovely blade. Apparently the 2nd generation Nobuyoshi, according to Tsuruta San at Aoi Art, later changed his title (affiliation?) from 藤原 Fujiwara to 源 Minamoto.
  10. Sadly I missed that NKBKHK tour too, but I joined them later for a day, on the coach ride to Oyamazumi Jinja and back again to Fukuyama Castle.
  11. 【2024年最新】花瓶 大野芳光の人気アイテム - メルカリ (mercari.com) Check out Ono Yoshimitsu
  12. Judging by the Genji sasalindo and wheels mon, the archery figure could be Nasu no Yochi.
  13. Ah, thanks, definitely added in Japan, but why I cannot say. For re-export in the Meiji Period, hmmm... that's surely possible. Interestingly, almost all of the 1864 experimental/trial Enfield rifle models from the UK (before the Snider) subsequently ended up in Japan, apparently.
  14. Decorations? I can only see two limited photos above. Are you referring to the screw surrounds or something else?
  15. Michael, no I do not know the reasons behind these delays, except that the committee have changed their minds several times on how it should look and what it should contain. The guns floor for example is a recent large addition, and they debated whether the displays should have English captions or not, for example. First yes, then no, then yes again. Your Kokuho/Jubun display method idea seems entirely possible too. There does seem to be some pressure building up now for them to stick to this 1st May opening date though. Fingers crossed. (None of the above is official, just scraps of rumours that I have picked up here and there.)
  16. Token (Eastern Construction 東建コーポレーション Corporation)in Nagoya have created a museum using world-play on To-ken, for blades = 刀剣, called Touken World. 刀剣・日本刀の専門サイト「刀剣ワールド」 (touken-world.jp) This website seems to have been designed to come up with searches from almost any angle. Originally they bought up Nihonto blades from everywhere, and then suits of armo(u)r, with seemingly very deep pockets, for a pretty comprehensive collection, but after some time they decided to devote an extra floor to the history of Japanese guns. A little birdie whispers that it will be the largest number on display in Japan, featuring around 350 old Japanese guns of all types. After several postponements, the museum is now supposed to open officially on 1st May 2024. Anyway, just a heads-up. PS I suspect, but have no proof yet, that a couple of my own guns may have eventually ended up there... something to look out for!
  17. 壬申....五百二十三 壬申 Jinshin means Meiji 5, 1872, the year of the first great registration by prefecture of guns after the Edo Period. That is the Jinshin number allocated for this Shikama Prefecture registration.
  18. It has been said repeatedly that Kyoto artisans tended to cut their sukashi edges with a diagonal slant.
  19. I gave his wife a bar of traditional translucent Pears soap. It was good to see his brushes and tool kit. I kept asking him where he buys the suki urushi but he said it was special order. Plays his cards close to his chest, this guy. Eventually he gave me various bits, and an amount of suki urushi to take home. Worth making the trip just to watch each brush stroke. The other day I found a box of lacquer worker's spatulas (spatulae) at an antiques fair. I think I'll give them to him next time around.
  20. Well I hope so Alex. I’m trying to describe the learning process I’m going through with this, fer better or fer wusser. Thanks for your encouraging words. Today I made a trip to where he lives and he squeezed out something darker than molasses. One coat of that worked wonders. In a couple of days he’ll sand it down gently to reduce the shine/glare. As I left it with him… Now I’m beginning to think ahead to studs perhaps, or retaining rings.
  21. A month or two late, but I was getting out the kit for our first blackpowder display this morning and seeing the tachi, remembered the promise above. Jingo still in service!
  22. OK, a little light here at last. The phone rings early this morning and the guy has been worrying about my results. "Have you been using 'tomei' (transparent, colorless) urushi?" he asks. "You should be using 'suki' (translucent) urushi." Well, how would I know, so I go back to check the bag of stuff he gave me and sure enough there is nothing labelled 'suki', but there is one tube of this honey-like stuff that I have been using, which yes, now that I look at it it, does say 透明 tomei on it. Now he starts apologizing. In the kit he handed me he had meant to include some suki urushi, but says he must have made a mistake. So all this time we have been talking at cross puposes. But now he definitely wants me to bring it over and have a go at it. It needs sanding down, and the bumpy bits reduced, and then it will need re-lacquering with suki urushi, he says. I remember he once told me that his father was a joiner and plasterer, of Japanese style wattle and daub walls. He himself makes the most beautiful fishing rods. So it is true, he is a kind of perfectionist. I am sorry if I have taken his name in vain.
  23. Sorry to hear about your circumstances, John. Looks like some lovely stuff there!
  24. Alex, you sometimes say just the right thing.
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