Bugyotsuji

Mid-Kamakura, 13th C Yoshifusa. I think the last sentence means that it was probably altered to be mounted for use of a general?

Here was a Mino Den from the 16th C, such a bright sword.

At random ok? This Sukekane Bakumatsu Hoko was quite striking for me. I actually took a video clip of it.

OK, no problem, I'll add some more as the muses take me! Armour-piercing Pierre

More information

Introduction

From 18 Feb to 22 April at the Sword Museum in Osafune, Bizen. (Now part of Setouchi City.) 41 blades from the Akabane group, rescued from the allied confiscations and subsequent destruction, focussing mainly on Bizen, but with other special or interesting assorted blades also on display, over two floors. List of works here: http://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/token/tenji/index.html Today I had some time off from another errand to pop in and have a quick look at the exhibition. Beautifully displayed as usual with particular care taken over the lighting. The display cards have been translated into both English and French by a good lady named Sophie who lives in Setouchi, I am given to understand. Yes, I did take some photos, so maybe two or three will start to appear here from my スマホ sumaho. (Short for 'sumaa-to ho-hn')

Sounds really interesting. Thanks for the information.

Some interesting general background to Minatogawa sword smithing, partly in English, throughout this page. For a rainy day... http://ohmura-study.net/732.html

Good link, Henry, so it's just around the next corner, then?

Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago I once owned this Kabutowari, but a friend kept asking me to sell it to him, so eventually I did. Over the years I asked him every so often if he would sell it back to me, and finally last week it came home to roost!

Thank you John. It does have some age to it. Hmmm... what do you think?

Not sure where to ask this question but decided to post here. I would be interested in any light that could be shed on this. 清水行一　作 This is the Mei that appears on the blade reverse of a good quality kabuto-wari (*Hatchi-wari). The blade, tsuka and saya are all of the same high- quality (Meiji?) work. (Possibly even up to WWII). The Mei has been cut with care. There is a gold and silver Kikusui Mon blade inlay on the front, with a dedication: 寫楠公鉢割　Replication of the Nanko (Prince Kusunoki) Hatchi-wari. Having looked in various works of reference both on paper and on the net, I have drawn a blank so far. The Mei being on the blade itself (the tsuka cannot be removed) suggests to me a swordsmith, perhaps out of work post-Edo, although I have looked through lists of Kinko artisans too. The koshirae is not signed anywhere that I can see. Could a smith be using his own name, since this is not a Nihonto sword per se? If so, how would I track down a smith from such a personal name, I wonder? Kusunoki Masashige was elevated to 'Sho-ichi-i' Senior First Rank in 1880. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_court_ranks,_positions_and_hereditary_titles To tell the truth, just writing this has cleared my mind a little. (*The extra T in hachi is for those languages where ch is pronounced sh.)

Very interesting. Could be an idea for NMB members to add comments or suggestions to that list!

雷汞 (Raiko balls) = Raisan Suigin, ie fulminate of mercury https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%B7%E9%85%B8%E6%B0%B4%E9%8A%80(II) Here is a Bizen Raika pill lock gun: http://www.e-sword.jp/antiqueguns/1610-7045.htm

In the absence of any name, please allow me to call you 'komi'. You have a raft of questions there, so let's start with the easy ones first. A tanzutsu 短筒 literally means a short pistol. If you are going to carry one by your side as you walk, then smaller and lighter will be better. If you ride a horse, however, a long gun may not be easy to carry and reload in the saddle, so shorter cavalry guns were produced, and the name for these as you say was Bajo-zutsu 馬上筒, literally horse-back gun. They tend to be longer than the Tanzutsu above, would be awkward to carry as a secondary sidearm, and they have certain distinguishing features. You can stand them upright in your stirrup or saddle and reload them with little trouble. They will probably have a rectangular hole in the stock for a binding strap to prevent dropping. Of course, nothing is absolute in the world of J matchlocks, so you will find examples that straddle the boundaries of both. Once you have the basic rules, you can begin to appreciate the exceptions. Conversions to percussion systems happened with great frequency at the end of Edo with all types of matchlocks, but the beginnings of pistols are harder to spot. Matchlock pistols were almost unknown around the world, although I believe some were once produced in India at one time. If you research the beginnings, perhaps you can add to the body of knowledge. Much of the early years of matchlocks in Japan was naturally shrouded in secrecy to prevent handing advantage to the enemy. Most of the tens of thousands of matchlocks from before 1600 seem to have been lost for one reason or another. There is a record of the Satsuma troops using Bajozutsu to break through the Tokugawa lines and excape from the battlefield at Sekigahara in 1600. I have an early pistol from around the sieges of Osaka in 1614-15, with a crossover shape suggesting lack of evolution. They continued to be produced throughout the Edo Period, but their numbers were way fewer than long guns, perhaps 1 in 100 as a very rough rule of thumb. It is my belief that pistols were in use as early as the 1560s, not too long after snapping matchlock long guns were first introduced to Tanegashima in 1543, but who, when, where and why?

Two photos are better than one.

fake news?

Got one here too.

That's great. Many thanks Manuel for the quick and thorough reply.

Just ran across this interesting 2013 article by Markus Sessko about the floods and the Sukesada line: https://markussesko.com/2013/03/12/the-great-flood-of-the-yoshii-river/ From what I have heard locally among the sword savvy, there was a series of recurring floods from the 1520s onwards, but regardless, that would not detract from the detail in the article. Strangely though, it does not mention the almost total destruction of Fukuoka Castle in Osafune, which controlled the route into Okayama. There is also a parallel story about the Kiyomitsu.

According to Francesco Marinelli's excellent study on the Umetada School, in Italian, Umetada Myoju's son Myoshin (Hikojiro) signed Hikoichi which could be written either 彦市 or　彦一. http://www.intk-token.it/forum/index.php?showtopic=8584 Quote: Vi riporto un mio libero articolo (work in progress) sulla scuola Umetada, fonti principali: ''Naunton Collection - Japanese Sword Fittings'' di Henri L. Joly del 1912, ''Japanese Art & Handicraft'' di Henri L. Joly e Kumasaku Tomita del 1915, ''Japanese Swordguad Artist'' Gary D. Murtha del 1982, ''The Japanese toso-kinko Schools'' di Markus Sesko del 2012. Umetada Miōshin (埋忠明真) o Myōshin (1615/24-1644/48?) il cui suo primo nome fu Hikoichi (彦一 o 彦市), viene indicato nello Shintō-bengi (新刀弁疑) come figlio di Miōju e col primo nome di Hikojirō (彦次郎), che è stato anche il primo nome ereditario della famiglia Umetada, mentre sul Nihontō Kōza viene riportato come il suo fratello più giovane. Lui era un sacerdote, portava il rango di hokkyō e firmava le sue spade come Ietaka (家隆). Anche lui viene menzionato nel Sōken Kishō come Shigeyoshi (重義) Actually I do not read Italian, but studying Latin and French at school gives me enough information to understand quite a bit of that! My question is whether there are any examples of either signature, and in which work mentioned above it is written that the two Kanji representations of Hikoichi above were interchangeable. I cannot find this information in Fujishiro, The Nihonto Meikan or any of the other reference books on my little shelf. I am aware that the Myochin crossed over the Toshin and Tosogu borders, which complicates the search a little. All I can find is the common notation that Hikoichi, written 彦一 ,was one of the 'family/tribe' (一族), around Kanei 寛永 1624-45, or possibly 寛文 Kanbun 1661-73. The puzzle that I am entertaining regards a Tanto signed Umetada Hikoichi, using the 市 kanji. Many thanks!

Your 'dear' colleagues had better give you countless valuable gifts to make sure you stay friendly.

A Nagamitsu (Kokuho) with saya, a very nice Fukuoka Ichimonji blade (Juyo), and a couple of Masatsune caught my attention, (one was Ko-Aoe) but the KoBizen Masatsune had a really interesting old travelling Koshirae with it.

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