Bugyotsuji

The Nakago looks kind of long. I wonder if it underwent Machi-okuri at some point?

Good question, so I too will float this at the next 'opportunity' (gathering of sword know-it-alls). Something I heard a year or two back was the existence of the 'abura-saya'. Following use, a sword blade was oiled and placed into a wooden saya which, from the residual oil, turned a darker and darker hue with usage and time. At some point the blade was then cleaned and placed inside a shirasaya, a white-wood sheath for long-term storage. The difference between a shirasaya and an abura-saya was visible in the colour, i.e. the oil staining. As to the historical record, the first occurrence of dual usage, shirasaya for long-term, as opposed to battlefield koshirae for the short-term, I am all ears.

All wonderful stuff as usual from you in your Man Cave, Chris, but we will need a little more information as to what is going on there! From a bear of very little brain.

Ah, well done! Been bashed around a bit. It looks like 信忠 Nobutada from here…(?) That should start the detective ball rolling!

Well, it seems to be made with 籐 (Tou) equatorial rattan, wood and stag antler. The blade steel does not show us much much in that state, but with a bit of negative sori it does have Japanese blade characteristics; without a photo of the hidden nakago tang, however it is difficult to make too many more comments.

At first glance that final kanji looks to be the maker's Kao 花王

Thank you Fabien for the detailed update. Good shooting!

Bizen no Kuni, Osafuné Jū Kawachi no Kami Sukesada

See https://www.google.com/search?q=井上真改+菊紋&client=safari&sca_esv=15969251e734fcae&hl=en-gb&udm=2&biw=390&bih=663&ei=LypQaInJH5-Rvr0PkLTZmQY&oq=菊紋+格子状井上真改&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciHOiPiue0iyDmoLzlrZDnirbkupXkuIrnnJ_mlLkqAggAMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogRIsrABUABYAHACeACQAQCYAXagAXaqAQMwLjG4AQHIAQCYAgKgAhOYAwCIBgGSBwEyoAffAbIHALgHAMIHBTItMS4xyAcO&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img#vhid=gcWHilZ9rGD9UM&vssid=mosaic

How did the talk go? (Hmmm… Is there some reason they have displayed the blade with the nakago to the right? )

Unfortunately there is a time lag with Tanegashima alerts which arrive in my mailbox two or three days after the original post. Normally I check in here two or three times a day anyway, just to be on the safe side, but this weekend I was run off my feet. Apologies. With no images now it makes it harder to remember what was different! Was that factoid about battlefield use in an old or modern English language publication, or somewhere else? Matchlock long guns involved clever use of match cord, wound around your left forearm. To use a pistol, however, you need to wrap the cord around your right wrist, and as you extend your arm to fire, hope the string does not come loose for a misfire. On horseback (these pistols were rare and really only available to wealthy Bushi) the cord pull-away problem would be compounded with the movement. There is one famous moment at the Battle of Sekigahara when a knot of mounted Shimazu troops surrounded their lord and wishing to return him home safely, but with honour, charged right through the Tokugawa lines, discharging pistols as they went.

Normally I do not like to comment on things for sale, so in this case I merely said it was not for me. Thank you though for considering the seller, Alex. When I say 'yes', the back sight reminds me strongly of a type of fantastical gun the Japanese produced, which they called Namban-Ryu, or 'Barbarian style of gunnery'. The problem is that they were wildly decorated in order to look exotic, and I am not sure if any two were even alike. For this reason, I could see elements pointing to a viable matchlock, the side view of the pan for example, but then other decorations which I would not normally associate with Tanegashima matchlocks. Here is a page from Sawada Taira's book illustrating just two examples of the Nanban-Ryu school of gunnery. What exactly do they have in common? How much decoration do you allow, and how wild is ‘genuinely’ wild?

Agreeing over Mike’s father’s dragon. A popular subject and a fun object. Sadly, probably designed to pass for the real McCoy, as Colin says. It’s possible that ceramic Netsuke were worn in the humid summer as they are cool to the touch, and the Japanese are super sensitive to seasonal changes, as indeed they are with food. (I do have a couple more which I’ll post if the thread goes quiet.) In the meantime I’ll be thinking about some other aspects of Netsuke for this thread.

Some yeses and some noes, Alex. Not surprised you had trouble!

Quick answer for me is no thank you.

Do you have Tamayama Meishito on your list? About Us | 玉山名史刀 玉山名史刀 京都店 刀剣商／ホームメイト PS They often keep their ground-floor shutters down for security reasons.

Quick note on the words 'togi', polishing and 'heri', lessening, wearing away. When spoken together as one word, out loud, the 'h' changes to a 'b', giving us "togiberi". (Interesting discussion, apologies for interrupting the flow.)

And the simple Manjū, plus the Satsuma lady. If she is a netsuke, the strings would have been wound around her body, as with the natural curves of hyotan gourd netsuke etc., but, as with some Netsuke, she can also stand up okimono-like! So there we have a few examples. Ceramic Netsuke will often break if dropped, which may account for their relatively rarity. I tend to think of them as an interesting off-shoot of mainline Netsuke. What do you think? Satsuma peasant lady with giant beet, side view front view

Here is the ceramic or pottery chestnut. The reverse with typical Himotōshi holes forming bridge. Recent antiques fair 灰皿 haizara find And reverse

This is my old faithful, possibly Hirado ware. Quite heavy in the hand, about 4 cm across by 2 cm thick. Silver mekugi peg/post/pin gold-plated at one end, an eye in the other. And the reverse

Some illustrated examples. Two of mine are very similar, the seated Daruma and the manju.

Neither raising nor lowering the tone particularly, but just to add another coal, log , er, uh... another shovel of wood chips to the fire, here are a couple of ceramic Netsuke examples. Unfortunately I do not have any human or animal figures here with me here, or good photos of them, but my general impression of ceramic figures is that they tend to be quite crude. I do have a nice little Satsuma figure of a woman carrying a giant 'kabu' beet on her back, but I cannot be sure that she is a Netsuke, or just a small *okimono. The first of these is part of a sagemono set I carry everywhere with me as it contains my hanko. The next is a similar ceramic 'haizara' ashtray which I found in an antiques market quite recently. The third is a lacquered ceramic chestnut, with quite a bit of damage to it. The fourth is a very simple 'manju' with copper fastenings that I found about 20 years ago in an old drawer of bits in an antiques street market. (Photos to follow.) *Okimono, a free-standing decorative object designed to be placed on a flat surface for display. They might have been carved, even signed by the same artists, but differ from Netsuke in that they were not designed to be worn like Netsuke, they are usually bigger and more intricate, without needing to worry about catching on clothing. Other general giveaways are a large-area flat base and lack of himotoshi holes.

One word of warning. There is no perfect blade, as everyone knows. You seem to be asking for people to point out stuff you cannot see, in advance. But if someone actually does that, you then seem to go off the boil, as with your first candidate above and BBB's subsequent comments. If you show a blade to people, ten people will tell you ten different things. If the blade is really good, and cheap at the price, someone may step in and buy it! In order to rise above small defects, you may decide to spend more and more, until you reach another fiscal limit, only to have another flaw or drawback pointed out by some higher authority later. Some collectors have several swords, each with imperfections of some kind, but each strong in certain other points, a series of compromises...(?). Hoping you can find a nice balanced medium!

Hate to have to agree with Brian, but

常陽住源正兼? https://nosyudo.jp/b08021385/ Masakane(?)