Bugyotsuji

This week's puzzle. Bought this off an acquaintance about three years ago and it has been sitting in my office undisturbed ever since. 7.6 cm across. Rim is 0.6 cm. Copper. Quite heavy.

Ian, just talking to an insider friend and he said that those two guns you mention in Nagoya were here in this part of the country for six months before going to the museum there. The owner(s) were very protective about them, so the only way you can/could find out anything is to make friends with them and listen with suitable deference to their description. In Nagoya, even when the guns are on display, no-one gets to handle them either. Incidentally there is one more 'original' Denrai gun with the name Captain (Capitao or whatever in Portuguese?) Domingo inscribed under the barrel. Are you aware of this one?

Thanks guys. Reading a book last night that poses a good question. If Japan was full of teppo in the Nobunaga and Hideyoshi years, where are they all now? Granted many probably went over to Korea with Hideyoshi, and maybe some were lost at sea... but there are very, very few that can be proved to be from those early 50 years. Incidentally I was shown a genuine Keicho-deppo this afternoon. It is a Kago-zutsu in the Tazuke Ryu style, and it was made by Shozaemon(?) Shibatsuji, originally a Katana Kaji in Negoro who made his first teppo from one brought there from Tanegashima. He then moved, probably when Nobunaga destroyed Negoro-ji Temple and started the famous Shibatsuji line of smiths in Osaka. The barrel is covered in maple leaves alternating in gold and silver. (My own Bajo-zutsu is also very old, I am pretty sure, but no-one will listen to me, so I generally keep shtum. Probably better this way. )

Miyazaki Hayao in his animated film, Mononoke-hime, shows use of early Onin-type touch-hole polearms. There are illustrations extant of pottery bombards (a kind of grenade) that the Mongols hurled at the Japanese defenders of Hakata Bay during the attacks that you mention above. One shows a horse with its innards being blown out. The Chinese had a huge variety of fire weapons long before this.

It is said the same thing in the book: Tanegashima: The Arrival of Europe in Japan (Olaf G. Lidin) Thanks Jacques. Oh, and I made a slip of the keys in the name.It's Ya-ita... Kinbei.

Ian, the first actual Japanese gun was said to have been made by a Seki Katana-kaji named Yaita Kinbei Kiyosada in Tanegashima. It's the lower gun of these two. There are much larger photos on the web. http://www.library.pref.gifu.jp/gifuken/predec/01.htm

Thanks Koichi san. (Strange, but the website pictures have been changed since I posted the link. Now the explanation has been covered up.) PS. Perhaps it just wasn't loading properly yesterday. Seems fine now.

The paperwork says 特別貴重　昭和４１年　瓜勝虫図鍔　銘貞広 Tokubetsu Kicho Showa 41 *Uri+katsu/kachi+mushi design Mei Sadahiro * Not sure how to read this and what it means... Melon & dragonfly?

This is said to be one of the two actual guns that the Portuguese left behind. It is in the Teppo Museum in Nishi-no-omote City, the main town in Tanegashima, but I noticed a couple of discrepancies in their display there and left with a couple of question marks in my head. One was the bore, which was obviously much larger than the notice proclaimed. I asked the curator and he said vaguely that oh, it must be referring to 'the other one'. Normally the guns are described as Denraiju, but the sign here says Portugal Sho-den-ju (first/originally transmitted gun) http://www.city.nishinoomote.kagoshima. ... enrai.html

Congratulations and I hope it gives you endless pleasure!

Here are a couple of pics of Namban-Ryu matchlock pistols from Sawada Taira's book, Nihon no Furu/Ko-Ju p.101 "Namban-Ryu Tan-zutsu. Mei, Enamiya Kansaemon. Total length, 44 cm, bore 1.5 cm."

Very interesting, Ian. I'd love to see those two Tokugawa guns... There is a style of Japanese handgun called Namban-zutsu, which does carry many of the Indian designs, but done more perfectly by Japanese artisans. Somehow reminiscent of the fancy work in Namban Tsuba.

Thanks for the link and the story.

Thanks for the background on the Fukigaeshi Ian. I will try and track down the source of the idea that Fukigaeshi might also have served to catch reverse sounds. Perhaps mistaken, as you say, but there is a body of belief in this, even if apocryphal. Carlo, yes, I am not suggesting that there is an influence, just an association in my mind. Perhaps Turkish-Mongolian might have been a better expression. And yes, the fireman connection is plain to see. This trip to the Stibbert sounds good!

Before someone steps in to do the translation, (and it will probably take some very clever detective work) there is a good chance that it is a saying or a piece of popular poetry extolling some aspect of the martial spirit, such as 忠節　chusetsu, loyalty to one's lord. Often the Kozuka has writing on it, but in general this does not lead to any ability to date it. It was often a fashion thing, and even if a name is included, Gimei are particularly common, I have heard.

My feeling is it is something along the lines Steve says above. A merchant's ledger etc. Often used for linings.

No, no, no, not too late and very interesting. Thank you for posting. You can see how the Fukikaeshi is still very important in the design even when no function is immediately apparent. Rumored/rumoured to be reverse ears for catching sounds coming from behind. Whereas Ian's and mine remind me of Roman helmets, the second one there has Arabic associations for me. (And I love the horse armor/armour) Good finds! Now I have heard so many names for these Kabuto. Tatami, chochin, keitai, hitae, and there must be more.

Having looked for some time at the tanto I mentioned a few posts ago, and having turned it around in my hands, it becomes apparent that it does have several redeeming features. First of all, the Koshirae was obviously created specially for this spear; it is not a case of a koshirae being adapted to carry a spear tip. The Tsuba and Seppa with square holes were fashioned specifically for the spear Nakago. The Saya is well executed with black Nuri and the Shitodome in the Kurikata is lined in silver. The Tsuka is covered in good Samehada with large knobbles. The Menuki/Mekugi are metal reverse-screw types with Tachibana Mon on them. The tanto koshirae was not done recently, and the general opinion is that the work is Edo. The Nakago is short for a spear, so for whatever reason it has been Suriage, but it was respectfully and proportionately done. There are marks which may once have been a Mei, but they are unreadable now. The sankaku blade was badly rusted, but gentle attention by me from limited experience with rusted spears and arrowheads has reduced the damage and enhanced the appearance. (Not recommending anyone else tries this!) There is a small nick in one edge. The blade has Yaki-ire, and in an ideal world I would and may send it to the Togishi as it would surely end up looking brilliant. Someone treasured this spear enough to give it an extended life in proper and fitting Koshirae furnishings! I hope my period of stewardship will be of remedial benefit. PS In case anyone is worried, it does not need a Torokusho in J, as the 'blade' is under 15cm.

What kind of hair is it? :|

Personally I like the tsuba and the way the holes work for both the arrowheads and the tsuba itself. If you are wanting a translation of Koichi san's translation, it means

Fantastic, Ian, thank you so much for that. Sets of holes in the iron plates for which no obvious purpose springs to mind had me puzzled; it could just be that such an ensemble as you describe was there originally. Or perhaps it has been adapted...

Sometimes you say the right thing, Jean!!!

And here with the fukikaeshi swung down into ear protection plus extra strapping position?

Ian, it would be very interesting to compare pictures. Your description is intriguing. Mine sounds similar in some respects. Is there a photo of the one in the Royal Armouries on the net anywhere? Can you take some shots of yourn? I will post mine. There was actually one more available with some sort of hanging padded iron ear flaps but it looked as though it would give me asthma so I left it. Maybe I can still get it from the dealer... but it will need some patient restoring. Smoke & mirrors...

No 1 above, the chochin half kabuto... hmmm. It is completely restored (thanks to the missus for making the E-boshi) and wearable now, but what is in dispute is the use of the Fuki-kaeshi. When I swivelled them down to below my ears and tied a shinobi-no-o to them, a very knowledgable Japanese collector friend laughed. No, no, no, he said, those are fukikaeshi and should not be swivelled down. Again I demonstrated what I thought to be a very reasonable use for these 'fukikaeshi' look-alikes, and he hesitated, sucked his teeth and then added that it might after all be possible, as to his knowledge there is no detailed illustrated record out there. I am now thinking that they served as fukikaeshi decoration in the folded-up position, but in real battle they could have served to hold the kabuto on more firmly and stop it flying off under violent head movement.