Bugyotsuji

Thanks, Peter, I enjoyed those.

Three hishaku 柄杓, but not the bigger horse ones.

Kutsuwa 轡 handed down in the Mori family (Mori Ranmaru etc., not Mohri), belonged to Mori Nagayoshi. Christian Daimyo. Your Kozuka reminds me of 'Rusu Moyo' that you get with Netsuke. Objects lying around give a strong impression of something not present, in this case a horse. Romantic notions! What kind of splendid horse might be worthy of these, the owner might wonder?

Not that it makes sense, but the top kanji looks to me a bit like Mori 盛 and the bottom like Fuku 福... (?)

James, you have obviously tried to get the definitive shot, but can you get another couple from different angles in different lights? Thanks.

Sorry Ron, yes you are right. I was using it in its modern terminology; these are advertised on Japanese websites as Netsuke straps or pendants, (not acting as traditional Netsuke, which were in most cases not pendants), but as trinkets to hang from your key ring, mobile/smart phone etc.

Came across it in a drawer of bits the other day. It was given out at a dinner for the gathering of the clans at their five-year festival over there on the Japan Sea. The blurb says something about Yamanaka Shikanosuke (Yukimori) being born in 1545 in Izumo (present-day Hirose Town in Shimane), was retainer to the Sengoku Daimyo Amako (Amago). Attempted to restore the main house, something something, er... motto was "Give me seven difficulties and eight agonies". Possessor of great bushi spirit, also know as San-in no Kirinji. Moves are afoot to have an NHK Taiga Drama made about his life, etc. Thumbs up to the tacky bit! :D

The answer? Yamanaka Shikanosuke lasered (?) inside a Netsuke pendant, smaller than a push pin.

Horse bits and horse-ladle, spot on! (Very nice by the way!) PS Did you mean, and, add or any...?

And the answer is... roll of drums, Tadaaa!

A ghost?

Steve, play with what I offered above. It may be the best you'll get. Could the final stroke ノ be the tip of the first stroke of the top of 介 Suke? Settsu/Sesshu means the larger area (especially north) of Osaka. This is where the smith was living and working. If there is a town or village name, like Hatakeyama, this narrows it down further for you. Then comes the title, like Guardian/Protector of Yamato, Yamato no Suke, and finally the smith's name. Think ... 'New York, (Greenwich village) resident, "Guardian of Gotham" Steve Fortiate'

You will need to have a good reference book to do this. You will also need extra patience as these English renderings could be one of several Japanese Kanji, such as Masa, Suke, etc. Incidentally I did come across a slightly longer Mei with 畠山 in it, ie 摂州住畠山大和介正次 (Masatsugu) listed as Osaka, Tempo era.

Despite my double misgivings over the soundtrack and Beat Takeshi, that was well worth watching. Good find, Pete.

Informative and yet heart-warming message, Peter. (Love the RIP at the end!)

Met the good lady who wrote the original descriptions and put this book together, today at our regional NBTHK meeting. (Chief Gakugei-In at the Token Museum.) She was carrying a bag full of Ichimonji and Kobizen swords for our further education. Collectors in this area had brought along some interesting tsuba in an attempt to draw gasps from her. I definitely heard her say 'Oh, Ohhhhh.........' so I think she was impressed.

These pins were also tapped from the other side to hit the underside of the plate and jig the angle of the fitted lock plate into the optimal plane/position for smooth working of the serpentine. (Fine tuning)

Brian, thanks, and here is a shot from the original window opened up last week.

Very interesting. Can you give us some outline of what he said?

See the two balloons marked 城 Shiro (castle) on either side of the river. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 2,0.036349 Apologies for eating wayside greenery, (michikusa wo kuu) 道草を食う. （Wandering from the topic.) When the Kama comes back from Shita-togi, I will update as and when.

West Bank (cont.) Various Japanese sources refer to 寺山 Terayama as being the site of old Fukuoka Castle. You can also find J references pointing to a 本城山　HonjoSan/MotoShiroYama (Old Castle Mountain). So which was it? We parked the car on the west bank and walked around what has to be Terayama, a stepped rocky outcrop covered in woods, and among the bamboos a flat top, but there is nothing to label the thing. Rows of old tombstones on its slopes suggested a link with a temple, however, giving validity to the name Terayama. The oldest standing stone on the top is in the style of Genroku, according to my friend, (around the 1680s?). This hill would never have been washed away in any kind of flood. A row of notices at the foot of this hill concerning the Ayu fishing season and giving warnings about illegal fishing flashed up some interesting information. The prohibited fishing area given on one sign starts at "the northeast corner of Terayama, Honjosan". See from the middle of line two: 寺山本城山. In other words, the two names refer to the same hill. Take away the modern river bank around here and nothing else in any direction would have stood up to periodic flooding and served as the solid base for a castle keep. Is there no-one interested enough in history to push for proper and informative signposting, or is there some reason that the local populace discourages visitors, I wonder? Over the way visitors are kept to a minimum by the 'strictly enforced' (sic) need to ask the Golf Club for permission to approach their smaller remains, and by the real threat of gold balls flying overhead.

Talk about the site of Fukuoka and its market, and where the Fukuoka Ichimonji used to be made, drew me back again today for a follow-up walk. (I had asked for some old iron repair work to be done with laser argon welding and went to pick up the result.) It seems that Bizen Osafune Fukuoka Castle was positioned on an island in the middle of the Yoshii River and stood there from Kamakura times at least until the great floods of Tai-Ei in the 1520s. The floods seem to have washed right across the broad site of the castle, leaving rocky stumps here and there on either side of the new course of the river. This explains why the part in the golf course that my sword Sensei and I went to see on the east bank, (see post above) turns out to be only one part of the old castle, despite the sign saying this is the original site, and why, having taken pictures and got ready to post here, I discovered that there are competing sites in the vicinity. Today we found what must be a better candidate for the Hon-Maru on the west bank, even if the Golf Course owners over the river might disagree. Completely unmarked, with no signposts, and now a temple graveyard in the woods, it was only by walking up and down and round about it, that it became crystal clear what we were looking at. Double-checking the place names there, and cross-checking with blogs on the web, there was no longer any doubt about it in our minds. So, if anyone points to any one site, you can tell them that it is only one feature of a much, much larger area, and not the end of the story.

Just had a quick read on the London gunsmith usage of side nails. Started thinking about the differences nowadays between a pin and a nail, and one obvious one is that a pin can be pushed in whereas a nail requires a hammer, in the common consciousness. The Mekugi (literally 'Eye pin/nail') is something in between, can be pushed down from the top, and can be made of metal, wood, bamboo, horn, etc., but it is generally not sharp, and it does not make its own way through the wood to fix itself there like a traditional nail. Conceptually, the word pin may be more agreeable. One authoritative text did use the description 'side nails/pins', however. 'Taper(ed) pins' came up in some material I was reading. 'Retaining pins' or 'tapered retaining pins' have a good ring, but the Mekugi is used as a locking pin too, under barrels, in sword hilts, etc., not just in side locks. I would never presume to referee between Ron and Ian, though, especially in the choice of an English gunnery word. Me, I prefer to escape to another island and stick with the good old Japanese end of things! :lol:

Incidentally, Shigeo Sugawa is convinced that Hinawa Sage no Wa/Rin 火縄下げの輪 is the correct term and the correct explanation for its usage. He goes into some detail describing it, on p.48 of Book II in Japanese, but he gives no sources, and some of what he says there is not convincing to me personally. For example, use of the word Kuchigusuri for 口薬 Koyaku. (Not going to use the 'pinch of salt' expression this time!)

Just to add some merriment I have found this illustration which calls it a 叉銃環　Sajukan, or swivel ring, but not much of the rest of the drawing is either very detailed or very accurate. The idea is that it was used to stack guns in threes, like building a teepee or wigwam. http://www.daitouryu.com/syokuyou/conte ... i_j12.html http://www.daitouryu.com/syokuyou/conte ... t12_1b.jpg I spoke to one of our teppo-tai members today, a metal artisan by trade, and he sucked his teeth long and hard. He didn't think much of the matchcord-holder idea, though. The brass ring not strong enough to hold a shoulder sling either. There is one more very knowledgeable person I will be seeing tomorrow. My feeling is that not even one in five has such a ring, though.