Bugyotsuji

Moriyama San, is that Mune 宗 or Ie 家 chika?

Since then I have donned the "STAFF" T-shirt and taken various groups around the exhibition. Last Thursday we had a busload of people from South Korea. There were roughly 20 children and 20 adults, like oil and water. Their badges said they were members of a local Japan-Korea Cross-cultural Communication Society. They looked like tourists, in a big rush to see the swords, and then get on to squeeze up some Bizen pottery. Their two Korean guides spoke Japanese but no English, and I was asked to take them round speaking Japanese, the guides translating into Korean. (One of our Japanese elderly guides followed me round and kindly filled me in, or put me right, on some of the details.) You can imagine the questions that bubbled up in my mind, (why me? etc.) but I decided to keep to the beaten path wherever possible. It was interesting, as always but more so, to see what they were interested in, if anything. Apparently some of them had commented that since swords started in Korea, what was the point of looking at these? The old illustration on the screen of the marketplace in 'Fukuoka' had some of them fascinated. The clothing of the early middle ages in Japan was so reminiscent of Korean clothing. I commented that Korean ships used to trade around these parts, coming up the Seto Inland Sea, and up the Yoshii river, to barter their goods under the walls of Fukuoka Castle here in Osafune, Bizen. One other thing that struck me was that they did not seem to be interested in the swords at all. It was as if they could not look at them. Only one, the Muramasa, held them still. "Tell us about this one", they said. It seemed to fascinate them. Twice I was warned, but it was only the second time that I realized they were saying not that I was going too quickly and please slow down, but that time was up and could I please speed it up. :lol: Anyway we all filed out into the blazing sun to stand in the car park and wave as the big tourist coach pulled out and headed off to their pottery class up the road.

Things are not quite so simple as I had originally thought. To every rule there seems to be an exception! Many thanks for the wonderful variety of examples. Plenty of food for thought. No database here, just an interesting topic for me personally and seemingly so too for the greater membership. Incidentally the two Hitsu ana above look like Mt Fuji. (With two clouds above?)

Agreed on the trigger shape, but the stock maker is from late Edo Kunitomo. Either of 判治兵衛昌直, 昌芳 The latter is earlier, from Tempo.

Just to make everyone jealous... ... our order came through & my copy is waiting at a friend's house for me to go round and pick up.

Many thanks Henry. Every one of these adds flesh to the story and helps me, at least, see a little better.

Erm...

Thank you Keith. It's as if we are fitting pieces of the subconscious past together here. Just trawling the internet and came up with this blog discussing (a) Satsuma tsuba and the use of the small holes. Generally it covers what we have been discussing, but goes into some interesting detail. It says among other things that there was a strong admonition against drawing one's sword, which once drawn had to kill someone or be used to take your own life. To avoid this, Bushi were actively encouraged to fight with the sword still sheathed inside the scabbard. The holes were called Tsubadome ana, or Sayadome ana, (s)he says. Through them would be passed a length of twisted koyori paper, or a length of string or wire etc. to be attached to the Kurigata. The holes only needed to be large enough to thread paper, string or wire through, so they were very small, especially so at the end of Edo Bakumatsu, when wire was first made widely available. The author clearly distinguishes these from the older and larger Udenuki holes which were used to strap the sword to the wrist on the battlefield and prevent it being dropped. http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/sayosamonzi/31879732.html 薩摩示現流仕様の鍔は小さい。攻めの流儀だから拳を守る必要を感じなかったからだろう。それに右頭上刀を天に向かって真っ直ぐに立てるトンボという構えを取るとき、鍔が大きいと耳などにさわり邪魔になるからだとも言われている。因みに尾張柳生拵え仕様の鍔も小さい。奇しくも剣術の２大流派で用いる鍔に共通するものがあるというのは興味深い。 薩摩には武士がいったん刀を抜いた時には相手を殺すか自分が死ぬかだからやたらと刀を抜いてはならぬ、事があった時は鞘ごと抜いて戦えという教えがありました。そこで鍔に小さな穴を穿ち、紙縒りや細紐、針金などで栗形に固縛したのです。この穴は鍔の右側に二つあり、鍔止め孔とか鞘止め孔とかいっています。孔の大きさは紙縒りや細紐が通るくらいのもので、針金が流通する幕末になると見つけるのが困難なくらいの大きさになります。因みに鍔の下部に二つの大き目な孔がある物がありますが、これは腕抜き孔と云って戦いの最中に刀を取り落さないように紐を通し手首に巻き付ける為のものです。

Lovely. We may have to refine our definitions somewhat! Note to self. The word 'kan' in Udenuki no kan, seems to be interchangeable in everyday use with ana, ie hole. Is it just me, or does the word 'kan' suggest some kind of fitment, rather than a bare hole? With Tanegashima matchlocks the word is 'kan' but perhaps with Tsuba, 'ana' is better? Udenuki-no-kan, udenuki-no-ana... hmmm... . PS I feel a poll coming on. Something along the lines of "Of the tsuba that you own, how many have these holes in them?". For those who would like to keep their outright tsuba numbers secret, a simple percentage will do. (I have about 50 tsuba of wildly varying quality, middling at best, of which three fitted the bill. So, about 6% in my case, but then again I was subconsciously drawn to them already.) :lol:

Yes, there do seem to be some clever holes disguised as other objects. Designed to tickle the fancy?! Ron, that is a good find. Thank you. We can clarify the terminology a little here, then. 1. Satsuma holes, which are smaller, were called more properly Sayadome-ana or Sayadome-no-ana. This word means 'Sheath-stopper/fastener hole(s)'. I have heard elsewhere that local laws were passed in Satsuma requiring the seals to be unbroken upon random inspection in public places. The Saya was tied from the kurigata or the kaerizuno to the tsuba by a length of twisted paper called a koyori. Every household had an abundant supply of these and people could whip them up on the spot, but I wonder if there was an official type that had to be used? Paper twists could be broken easily, but the owner probably had to have a good reason for making that extra tug. 2. Udenuki-no-ana/kan means literally 'forearm, go-through, hole/ring/loop'. If Satsuma Sayadome were smaller, then these by definition will be generally larger in comparison. Several examples above show one hole, not two, so are we happy to say that Udenuki-no-Kan could have come in either ones or twos? (This is also true for Netsuke which especially in older types often had a single 'chimney' passing up through a hole in the base. On another note, Japanese armour and horse saddles had many places where two adjacent holes were used for stringing.)

Lots of examples, and far better than I had hoped. Some patterns are emerging in my mind. One thing that stands out for me is the placement of these holes. Although they could be put almost anywhere, artistic consideration seems to be of the greatest importance, perhaps more so than functionality. (This again is something that people say about Netsuke, ie the placement of the holes is vital and can make or break a composition, although functionality will always be vital in Netsuke.) Common also is a disparity in size. Sometimes they are called 'Sun & Moon' 日月 Jitsu-Getsu (101 ways to read these characters in conjunction!). Two of the Udenuki holes above are ringed in gold/brass and silver in order to emphasize that aspect. There was certainly a period in Netsuke when one hole was markedly larger than the other. Please forgive the constant reference to Netsuke, but I have a pet theory that spare Tsuba sometimes functioned in the Muromachi and Sengoku period as Netsuke for carrying other things from the obi, weighted against them. Spoils of war? Conversely it could be that Netsuke may have taken their inspiration and birth, at least partly through such usage of Tsuba. Could these holes have had a primary active function, as udenuki, then such a secondary passive function, whilst keeping it all the while artistically pleasing? (Now we wait for the heavens to open...)

Oh, wow, thanks for posting that. Now we are getting into Netsuke/Tsuba crossover territory with the two 'Himotoshi/Udenuki-no-kan' holes being 'natural'.

Oh, all right then, I'll put them up first. The only one I can roughly date is the first, Wakizashi-sized, 7.5 cm high, mid-Edo, signed 明珍　紀守次 Myochin Ki(?) Moritsugu, also named 忠則 Tadanori, one other example being dated 寛保 3, = 1743. The second is smaller, at 7.2 cm high, and the third is much larger at 8.9 cm. (Apologies for unflattering shots taken leaning up against the pc.)

Something that has just come up again with PeterD's recent thread, is the two holes sometimes found (often but not always) near the edge of some tsuba. I have been interested in these holes for some years, but the Geocities link once posted on this site has disappeard. Guido posted a useful illustration of how leather bindings through them would have worked. download/file.php?id=6749 Would members like to post examples of their tsuba, leading to more comprehensive discussion of their shape(s), purpose(s) and characteristics? Are they found only or mainly on older tsuba? Were they connected with fighting on horseback, where dropping a sword would be fairly fatal? Is there a strong connection with Satsuma, but are the Satsuma holes smaller than examples from elsewhere, and for a different purpose? If this thread looks like taking on life, I will add a couple of examples to keep the theoretical pot boiling.

Wonderful exhibition, and wonderful photography considering the circumstances. Many thanks.

For all the haters, some good news! No-one will risk doing this work. The end result may well take the historical value out of a genuine Saya, both internally and externally, and it may well not be a perfect job. If the dealer will take this red and gold Jumonji Saya back, then we can go back to the drawing board. An interesting suggestion the other day was that I should try asking the Saya lacquerer here to lacquer the Shirasaya suitably and in so doing kill two birds with one stone.

My first pistol was a real beauty and admired by all and sundry. It contained a terrible secret, though. Someone (no names) had applied too much heat, freezing and force, and the Bisen had broken in two. It then needed boring out and a new screw cut. It made me feel like an imposter, hiding a brand new Bizen with western-type screw in it. Since then I have been super aware of the fallibility of the Bisen itself. Incidentally someone told me the other day that the first guns made in Tanegashima probably had solid, sealed breech plugs. Oh, and Chris, the other pistol in question I mentioned earlier with the rusted stuck Bisen has silver inlay on the barrel right to the edge, so I am a little nervous of too much heating.

Brian, one of mine has not been opened yet. I know exactly how you feel. I have given up several times, but then the old urge awakes to try again. One day, for sure...

Wow, nice find. Thanks. Hours of fun to be had in there!

Nice lamp, Ron, and full of interesting nuggets. Have to agree with Brian. This is an area that I had some inklings about and indeed I have a few Japanese glass pieces, but the whole story had never fitted together quite like that. It is amusing to note that the Japanese have formed two different words from the English word glass, ie Gurasu グラス　for drinking glasses, and Garasu ガラス　for glass in general, such as window pane glass. You have to be able to remember to say Gu, or Ga, depending on the context or you could be laughed at. Well, no, people are far too polite. Now it is too late to ask him for further information, because he died a couple of years ago, but a good friend, a Professor Seno at our university who was also Chief Monk at his temple in Fukuyama, told me he had the biggest and best collection of Japanese glass, (usually called "Bidoro", from the Portuguese Vidro) in Japan. He had many Garasu-e ガラス絵, too, pictures painted on glass, although he assured me the world was full of fakes nowadays. Most of the time his collection was out on the road, ie on loan to some prestigious institution or other he said. I went to see a display of Bidoro at the Kobe Museum some years ago and he proudly pointed out which bits in the catalog/ue were his. Once when I mentioned an interest in Nihonto he drew back and said that was one thing he refused to collect. Having been in charge of prisoners-of-war in Hakodate, Hokkaido during the war, he felt as a Buddhist that he could not be involved with an object designed to take life. Thanks for the prompting, Ron. I have other friends involved in glass in this area, and you have brought this into focus. One is the curator of a museum and he has been involved in collecting ancient glass from the middle east, and another has amost single-handedly rediscovered how to make core glass, as opposed to the later Roman invention of blown glass. This artisan was called in to recreate the missing hanging beads on the square Buddhist canopies in Nara. I shall gather together some bits and pieces such as an Edo Period glass Netsuke and Tombo-dama beads into a Furoshiki and ask them for their thoughts at an appropriate moment. There is a pair of Edo Period firemen's glass goggles on display at the Hayashibara Art Museum (opened yesterday) which fascinated me. I know there are collectors out there of Edo reading glasses, but I have seen very few. Someone offered me a pair the other day, but with no glass where the lenses should be...

Nothing in black brushwork other than what John said, and the date of the certificate. These certificates generally state the absolute bare minimum, and even then it's like drawing blood from a stone.

Request for caption translation, which I will have to do anyway, so here goes. Slightly short form. If anyone has a better translation, please do not hesitate to offer suggestions! 19 Private Ownership ____________________ Katana Mei: Muramasa Said to have been owned by Sanada Yukimura Blade length: 68.8 cm. Sori (curve depth) 1.7 cm. Late Muromachi (16th C) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Popularly known as "Yo-to Muramasa" (The Siren Blade Muramasa). Famous for causing grief to the Tokugawa. Likes blood, causes the owner to become hot tempered (Tanryo), or it brings evil/a curse upon its owners, and the stories grow in the telling. From the start they had a good reputation for the sharpness of their cut. The Koshirae and Kodogu (tsuba, menuki, fuchi, kashira, kozuka) all dragons and tigers. The Saya is Sendan Kizami (1,000 cuts/notches)

Borrowed from Sawada San's book. It doesn't indicate whether these were made of brass, or wood, but perhaps wood would be less likely to shine in the sun and give away your position, (apart from the smoke of your match!). It might also explain why they have not survived. In woodblock prints however, they are sometimes painted the same colour/color gold as the brass lock, in contrast the stock/butt, or the white, black or blue for the barrel. So... brass? (See illustrations above and on previous page.) Caption: 50 Monme O-deppo Yagura

Grain shots, and further bits, Kashira, Kogai, Kozuka etc.

Here is a line of blade shots.