Bugyotsuji

And he has not even put on his kabuto yet! In those days they had helpers, perhaps ashigaru, which would have cut down on time, and repeating the process of dressing for battle would have further shortened the process. For teppo displays today we usually have a minumum of 90 minutes to load the guns and get our full Tosei gusoku kit on. I have been doing this for 15 years. Some members like to ask each other for help in donning or tying certain pieces of armour, but others refuse any help. Gradually you learn shortcuts and improvisation.

And that is for O-yoroi.

In the meantime here is a set made for the first anniversary of the start of the 'Greater East-Asian War', ie one year on from the attack on Pearl Harbor, dating this to December 1942. (Tiny little sake cups, lidded tokkuri and wash bowl. All signed and inventoried. Kutani ware.) Apart from the nails used in the boxes, I get a feeling of confidence from this set that Japan still believed at that time that they could win the war.

Me too please! (Brian, I believe N was collecting such things at one time...?)

Politics, in the broadest sense, Brian? Pecking orders and egos?

Aoi: "This sword belongs to ranking." ...something missing? The calligraphy looks well done (to my untrained eye), ie nothing to worry about. BTW, I have a spear with the same kind of Tokubetsu Kicho paperwork signed by the first NBTHK president Hosokawa Moritatsu (1883~1970). Before Honma Junji. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%B0%E5%B7%9D%E8%AD%B7%E7%AB%8B

Haha! So heavy at the end he has to sit down.

Stephen, what links it in your mind to occupied Japan? The pottery basketweave underneath is a first for me. This thread is reminding me to dig them out and take some sakazuki shots.

Thanks Steven, for the kind words! I posted mainly to report on the factors at work making such display decisions.

Recently a letter arrived from the local sword society asking for members' cooperation in offering swords for two approaching displays. One is the 70th anniversary next year of the founding of the Okayama branch, and will be held in the Osafune Token Museum. The other exhibition will run there from the beginning of September this year, the title being 華麗なる備前刀展 Karei naru Bizen-to Ten. The only stated condition was that such blades should be accompanied with Kantei paperwork. Well, being a cheerful and generous sort of fellow, even though I do not have anything really first-class, I contacted Mr K and told him what I could offer. With a Bizen theme, I offered two spears and one wakizashi. One spear is a relatively short gin-nan-po suyari properly mounted on pole, signed Sukesada and dated Kaei 6 (1853) of the Bakumatsu. Fairly recent Kantei-sho paperwork. The other has gorgeous mounts, and the beautifully-shaped sasa-no-ho blade is attributed to Munemitsu of Sue Bizen by Mr Hosokawa of the NBTHK back in the 1960s, given Tokubetsu Kicho on blue-green paper. The Wakizashi blade is Mumei, but the Hozon paperwork attributes it to Sue Bizen Sukesada, and my sword teacher thinks from the beauty of the hamon that it is highly likely Yosozaemon no Jo Sukesada. The koshirae is also of high status and quality. What do you think he said? "No Mumei blades can be accepted, unless older than Namboku Cho." So that ruled out the Wakizashi and the Munemitsu yari. Of the three he was most intrigued by the Bakumatsu Sukesada, despite its fairly common shape of blade. Why? Because there are few examples of this smith's work and almost nothing is known about him. This family tree is an area he has studied in some depth. It left him deep in thought. I doubt it will be chosen for either exhibition, however. So, there you have it. Zip, zilch! Do any of the honourable members have similar tales to offer?

Your utsubo/ebira box reminded me of a similar but slightly smaller one that the wife threw out last year. Yesterday I found it in a sorry state round the back of the house and brought it in for some repairs and TLC (new wood pins etc.) . It is around 100 cm internally and just right for either a sword or some arrows. I wonder what its real purpose was? A large scroll?

Mei + date

No, the deactivated guns are or were in the minority. It is possible though that more younger dealers are starting to plug the vents in order to avoid legal hassles with deregistration paperwork etc., but I have no information on that and I guess it would be hard to get accurate figures.

Quick answer, no!

What the man said, plus 画 ＝Ga

The good news is that we can read the name of the Choshu smith, 玉井真吾直清 who worked for the Hagi Han, and the lockmaker 戸村重右衛門 who also worked there in Ansei 安政. These two bits of information tell you that it is most probably a Bakumatsu gun, in the style of Ogino-Ryu. Unfortunately this particular smith is not listed, but someone very close, such as his father,玉井甚吾直清 is. The name is only one character different. (Unless a mistake was made by the records office on the paperwork!) Interestingly there was a smith with the same name as your lockmaker; they must be the same person. His son/disciple(?) was 信兼, and I suspect that extra name is what you are seeing in the stock. The words Niju makibari 二重巻張 refer to the method of barrel manufacture. (I am not sure what the single Bu 武 character refers to.)

With time, TLC and luck, yours might open eventually. But, we just need to reiterate first, a) some Bisen are stuck so fast they can break under huge pressure. The barrel can also scar horribly from the vice. b) towards the end of Edo there seems to have been a fashion for Bisen that were deliberately fixed in place by the smith. My 30-Monme was like this, but it took my friendly Japanese gunsmith to discover this. No amount of anything will move such a Bisen.

Wow, that looks exceptional! Many thanks. Another reason to go to Berlin!

Seriously good! Many thanks, Steve.

This is one old kanji for 関 Seki 關

猪毛之靭 seems to mean 'boar-bristle quiver', Eric. It must have contained an Utsubo at one time? Nice box. All the good boxes are coming here instead of the other thread I started a few weeks ago!

Sweet object. Someone needs to do a definitive study of their usage.

That's great. A friend has a couple of those large arrow boxes, one with Hideyoshi's Mon on it! Another friend just bought a whole bunch of those large cutter arrowheads fom a collector; I managed to sneak just one, all I could afford! My Katanabako I took to the local sword shop to see if they might be interested, but they said that no-one in Japan wants anything so large nowadays.

Wow, yes, I haven't seen those shots for a while! The top four are indeed the large brown katana-bako which is still in the hall today. The bottom shot is the now long-lost black teppo-bako. Clever find indeed.

Ian, I reckon the boy done good in this lifetime, and his Dad would be right proud. For a man with no money, where do you find all your nice things?