Bugyotsuji

Found a Kama with chain and weight (Kusari-gama) for sale at a local antiques fair today. Nothing fancy. Very dirty and very worn. Looked the real McCoy. The little blade was moroha. The dealer does karate and is always interested in such things. He also loves to chat, but the problem is to extricate yourself before he pushes you to the sale. The chain was attached to the top-back of the blade, so I asked him what the difference was. (Some Kusari-kama have the chain attacked at the bottom of the haft.) "Oh, that's easy", he said. "From the top it's usually a short chain, and you swing the weight around holding the Kama in your right hand." "When it's attached to the bottom, you hold the kama in your left hand and swing the chain around with your right." (Or vice versa?) "It takes practice, but with a kama in either hand you are invincible", he said, making motions of attacking me from all sides, both pushing and pulling. "You can beat a katana any time if you're good enough."

Good thought. Thanks for the clip and link. (I have a friend teaching Katori Shinto Ryu in London which Ryu also seems to use a variety of weapons.)

Nice find, Justin, including the three main types of lock mechanism. Eric, on your chart there, Yojintetsu needs no u after the Y. (Yo of yojin is like the yo in "Yo dude!") Jiita is two words, pronounced as two words, ie Ji-ita. Also the Shibahiki butt-guard is one word, meaning lawn-dragger, (not alternative words). Shiba-hiki is also possible. PS One question that has long bothered me. For Byo we usually say 'rivet', but as it is not fixed in place or hammered tight from the other side, and is designed to be pushed in and taken out regularly, would 'stud' not be a better word? (cf Dome headed blind rivet pin, etc.)

Now that is a difficult question, Eric. It seems to be a general word, not specific to Hinawa-Ju, and the purpose seems to be debatable, ie for carrying or for tying/security. I will double-check on this, but don't hold high hopes. Sawada San does not give a specific name for it and none of the illustrations I have seen do either. Above in the Seki Ryu Ozutsu pic, the arrowed explanation says it is a screw to fix the trigger guard and barrel, but although pointing at the ring it does not use a word for it. On the other hand you can describe it, and people will nod their heads wisely. First of all it is a Wa or Kan, written 環. This may be the closest correct word. You could also use the English word Ring, ie リング. There is another general word for ring, ie 輪 Wa, which would be understood, but often people say Wakka ワッカ, ie 'a little ringy thingy'. Secondly it is fixed to the underside of the stock, in front of the trigger guard, so you can run J Google searches using those terms, but they do not bring up a fixed image or word. There is one term that I found Sawada San using when describing one of the imported guns of the Bakumatsu. It is a Western gun, with a ring in front of the trigger guard, but in this case the purpose is known, ie for fixing a shoulder sling. If you use the word he uses, you then declare to the world that this ring was used for carrying, and it may have WWII connotations, so we need to be a little careful. He says Tan-ju-kan 担銃環　ie post ring for carrying sling.

If I get another chance I will try and sneak a shot of it.

Tonight we will be discussing this question at the local NBTHK sword meeting. Hoping to get some insights. Jean, that really is a good-looking object. I wish I had your skills. Congratulations, and thanks for showing it.

Eric look at the round one next to it. Needs one more black line drawn there. You get round or rectangular, but not both. Ude nuki no Ana, or sometimes Ude nuki no Kan, sling hole, or more precisely for passing string/cord for binding to forearm when on horseback. Usually an indication of a cavalry gun.

Enjoyed those, especially the first. Thanks.

Now we start to get into difficulties. Different schools of gunnery called things by different names. We were simply after generalized names to begin with, but if you compare the charts above you will see some differences. For example although the trigger guard is Yojintetsu (Not you or yuo), with Seki guns (see the long snaky trigger guard) they are called Yojingane, or Saru-watari, or monkey slide. PS The vent hole is generally called the Himichi or 火道 literally 'fire path'. PPS There are several other words in the charts we have not listed yet. For example, Daikabu for butt, Kanime (crab's eye) for the moving/protruding tip of the serpentine catch, Ibo-kakushi (wart hider) for the distinctively-shaped little standing screen, piece of metal that hides it, and Wasoku ana, lanyard hole, etc.

NB Ron's list has those little updated spelling corrections that the image doesn't. (Sugawa used old-fashioned Romanization in his book, and his final editing throughout was sloppy.) I.e. Sakujo for Sakujuo, Byo for Biyo, Udenuki no ana, etc.

Recently I came across a Kama (sickle) which seems to have been made by a Katana-kaji swordsmith rather than by a No-kaji or agricultural blacksmith. Some of us have had a bit of a debate about this. It reminded me of those crossed Kama, in the Mon of Kobayakawa for example. Jin-gama literally means 'Camp-sickle'. Sasama says in his book Nihon no Katchu/Bugu Jiten, (and I translate): "The handles of those for the army camp were bound in metal, and fastened with Byo (Mekugi) rivets. They could be used simply as weapons, but also to rip down barricades of 'sakamogi' thorny brambles, to cut cords pegged and stretched out (designed to catch horses' hooves) and to clear paths through long grass, a weapon with many purposes". Would anyone have any specialized knowledge in this area, or illustrations of such Kama for comparison purposes?

You are welcome. Thanks for taking the trouble to do this Ron, something long overdue.

Chris, a katana, Mino smith 1942, 月仙 'Gessen' I think it was written in English. Katana, Noshu Seki Ju Kojima Katsumasa, 20th C. And Tachi by Imaizumi Toshimitsu, 1944, whose son chopped off his fingers and runs the 'Meito' Udon shop nearby, (sadly closed on Sundays). Otherwise at the end a Miya-iri Shohei Tachi of 1963, and a modern 2007 Tanto utsushi of Kanenobu/Kagemitsu, by the present-day Kagemitsu.

Well, that is roughly what the title is in Japanese. 「古刀・新刀・新々刀から現代刀まで」　"From Koto, Shinto, Shinshinto to Gendaito". Nothing on loan this time, they have gone through their vaults at the Sword Museum and dug out representative swords for an overview, but having seen them today I was quite impressed. Not stuffed with Kokuho, but good depth of quality throughout. If anyone is down in the west of Honshu it would definitely be worth swinging by, (and maybe catching the exhibit at the Fukuyama Castle Museum at the same time, which is stuffed with Kokuho, Jubun, Jubi, etc.). My favourites today were a Norimitsu 法光, and a Yosozaemon Sukesada in the Koto section on the ground floor. Upstairs were some eye-openers, including two Takahira, a gorgeous katana of 1833 and a lovely wakizashi of 1836. The beauty of some of those end-of-Edo Shinshinto swords blew me away, such as an 87.9 cm Sukenaga of 1841. Even a couple from WWII were seriously impressive, including a stunner from Imaizumi Toshimitsu. Naturally there were many Bizen swords, but the rest of the country was represented too. Musashi, Mino, Echizen, Shinano, Yamashiro, Higo, Bungo, etc.

Given the popularity of the Nozarashi skull-in-the-wilderness theme to symbolize loyalty beyond death to one's lord, I could accept the idea that these might be not fleshly but skeletal bones clinging onto the sword, even in death.

Too right!

A former British Airways pilot who flew the Narita/Heathrow route regularly, told me how he managed to fit a Yari diagonally into the cockpit on a return flight one time. (Among other things including a Nihonto, etc.) Incidentally after you guys posted photographs I realized that this has to be good advertising for the DTI and so I recommended suggesting lifting the ban to some dealers today.

Was there only in spirit this year, Guido.

To be so positive, he must have taken careful note of the Boshi and Hamon. (Of course, it could have been by Takemitsu or his disciple Chikumitsu.)

Chatting with one of the dealers last Friday and asked how the sales went. He said there was a slight overall disappointment throughout. Perhaps the general dealer expectation had been that with the cheaper yen rate there would be more overseas visitors carrying more ready cash. In the event there were not as many customers as had been hoped. I said that in my experience the prices at the DTI are too high and he agreed. Maybe some of the dealers set the initial price extra high to cover booth rental and in the expectation that there will be some inevitable haggling...?

According to various searches, Nanzan (no) Ju is a classical Chinese hope for a long future for the country of Nanzan, and by inference prayers for long life of a person or business. Could have been hung on a wall inside a shop or business premises? http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/165734/m0u/ 《「詩経」小雅・天保から》終南山が崩れないように生命や事業がいつまでも続くこと。人の長寿を祝う言葉。

According to one theory, the first percussion guns in Japan were invented by Yoshio Josan of the Owari Han, a doctor of Dutch medicine, and were called "Funho". He wrote "Fun Ho Ko" 粉砲考 a pamphlet about it, in 1842. It involved fitting a paper-wrapped cap explosive over a nipple in the top of the barrel and striking it. The nipple was roughly in line with the sights. There is an illustration on p.153 of Sawada. Could the hardened central striker section of the hammer have been lost/removed for some reason? The second and more convincing theory (according to Sawada) is that of the Seika Ju, invented by Kume Tsuken (Michikata). Kume described its completion in 1839 in a hand-written text called "Taiseikimei". The hammer (plugged serpentine top?) on this example looks a little similar to our example here, but hard to tell from one b&w photo. A pill-lock, it involved using a removable pin that was dropped on the explosive and hit from above. The old matchlock side pan was used, however. p.154

Ouch. Hope you were able to find something reasonable there!

I agree with what Ron says above. The inlay has been cleaned a little too often, I might add. This can be a problem as in the West people generally like the inlay bright and shiny when often silver for example may be best left black. The gun is from Settsu, although I had thought like Ron that it might be Kunitomo. The writing is quite stylistically exaggerated, so slightly difficult to read. 総巻張　（Thrice bound) 摂州住 Sesshu Ju (Living in Sesshu, the privince of Settsu, ie Osaka) 島谷喜八郎重光　Shimatani/Shimaya Kihachiro Shigemitsu There were various ways that the house of Shimaya/Shimatani wrote their Shima character, but within that forge there was a line of 13 who carried the name Kihachiro. The second in line uses the character Shige in his name, (Shigekazu) and Shigemitsu is the seventh down, putting him into the first half of the 1800s, ie late Edo, I would imagine. Thanks for the clear pics, especially of the signature.

Often matchlock serpentine heads were simply filled in with a striker plug, but in this case the specially-bent serpentine looks custom made? Was it an earlier percussion pill type? Doing some research on the Kamon, the Inage family of Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture (originally fled from Chiba/Edo area) had three standing hawk feathers, Mittsu Narabi Taka-no-ha, but as far as I am aware not in a circle. 讃岐　Sanuki 稲毛氏　Inage Shi. See: http://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil ... kanoha.svg Hawk feather Kamon images: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%B7%B9% ... E%E7%BE%BD