Bugyotsuji

James, You don't mention where you are in the world, but climate would be a factor in answering your question about storage. On the antiques roadshow in the UK they seem to advise insuring for the top price, ie what you paid for it, regardless of its value to a dealer, so that you would get your money back in case something happened to the article. I have heard of cases where a dealer sells a sword for 10,000 to a customer, but buys it back for 3,000, so that he can then sell it again to someone else for 10,000. The sword will go round and round, netting him 7,000 each time it completes a full circle. An exaggerated illustration I am sure, and the price each time will obviously be affected by bargaining, but it helps me to keep a clear picture of what my swords are 'worth'.

The verb 'Togu' is to sharpen/polish. 'Togimasu!' would mean 'I will sharpen it!" "Toide-imasu" would mean that someone is "sharpening" it. "Togimashita" is the past tense, meaning (someone) "polished it." "Togi" would refer to the general process, and the person who does it is a Togi Master or "Togi-Shi".

Ian, thank you so much for your input. Those are very good ideas. I learn a lot from your experience. Come to think of it, the Do is hanging from the shoulder fastenings and somehow I always feel a subconscious reluctance there. Great hints.

Thanks, Malcolm, good idea. Maybe too realistic for Carlo, though!!! :lol: The Sode have been a problem because I have been altering the himo lengths to get just the right hang for my shoulders, and being slightly too tight (too loose the time before) one of the main himo broke last event and I haven't had the time or the courage to pull it all apart and do the alterations and repairs. (PS Malcolm. Will report on the pics when something definite, BTW )

We had some guests to stay and the hall looked a bit empty so I put up the black Yoroi-Kabuto. Little by little I am discovering how to display Katchu. I hadn't realized that this is a separate art in itself. I can see that some of what I have done is wrong, but to take it all down and do it again is a little daunting!

You mention the pound and parity and being unable to buy anything, Ian, but funnily enough, as the bottom has dropped out of the Gaijin market, the prices of J antiques may just be dropping accordingly. Coincidence or calculation?

Just playing now, but other possibilities are Kane 及　-chika, or Kane 戌　-ochi, -etsu. (masakari)

Thanks Sergei, that's great! PS The Toko Soran lists the Inuyama Kanetomo 兼友 on p. 85 (see earlier post). The date is given as Keicho.

Hello Sergei, The very bottom Kanji is proving difficult to read. You could try taking a close-up of this one Kanji from a couple of different angles, and it might help if you are happy to do so, (not that there is anything wrong with the photos you have already provided)... If the Mei is genuine, and not Gimei, then that might give us an idea as to the age of your blade.

I would agree with Nobody here, except for the last kanji which looks so much like 女. *There was a (koto) Kanechika 兼女 but from 美濃 *There was a 慶長Keicho era 尾州犬山住金友　Kanetomo, same person as 金伴、輝広

Me too. I'd love to read that. Are you still connected with them Ian? It would be such a waste if you weren't.

Yes, my dictionary gives them as the same Kanji too, 6476,6477, (新字源　角川）

Thanks, Carlo. Actually, John, this kabuto would be too good for teppo ashigaru, I think. The samurai would probably wear this, and his ashigaru would wear something more conical and tinny...

This is the Toppai helmet I am hoping to use for displays. Unfortunately, it may be slightly too 'good' for the wear & tear of the travelling circus. Can't compare with the wonderful examples above, though. :lol:

John, without going into detail, I have heard that the koza-ne were alternately leather and iron, leather, iron, certainly the ones in the Nodo-wa throat piece, to combine strength with lightness.

Oliver Cromwell?

I wish!

Happy Christmas, Carlo. Well, it's gone beyond that time of the week, but things have been fairly quiet down this end of Honshu. Wish I could get up to Edo more often and perhaps one day meet the boating fraternity on the Edo-gawa. Since we got rained on and my armour/armor got soaked, I have been looking at completing a replacement set for wet days. Most of the stuff I already have, but I had sold my helmet to help pay for the black outfit. Yesterday I spotted a rather unusual helmet, a 'Toppai', which is said to have European influence in it. (Think Spanish conquistadors?) Part swap and part cash sealed the deal. Got a Mae-date thrown in, and bought another as a spare. (Goodbye to my good old Netsuke flintlock lighter, though. ) It is adorning the helmet post on the armour/armour hanger in the hall. Just a question of when the wife spots it... hehehe gulp :|

I've heard of Santa Ana, but she did not suffer from wind this year, I believe. Just heard through the grapevine that most of the dealers wound up with hefty losses after they counted their hotel bills, stall fees and travel expenses.

We know that the Mongols wore silk shirts. Silk was light and strong, and could take an arrowhead into the body without allowing it to pierce the skin and cause infection. So we should not forget use of silk in Japanese armor/armour. I am thinking of Ko-te in particular which often had silk backing to the chain mail.

The Korakuen Gardens were built ostensibly as pleasure gardens in order to keep the Tokugawa central authorities smiling, but many of the garden's features had a secret secondary defensive function. One such feature is a small zigzag bridge over one of the streams, made of 砂岩 sandstone which was particularly suited to mass sword sharpening. Photo borrowed from here: http://www.geocities.jp/onyadosuzume/ne ... ruki3.html

See this parallel thread, Jason. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4319

Hi Grey. How many to go now? If your fonts are limited, you could try posting here with an explanation of the bits you want to put together, and perhaps one of the two experts Messers Moriyama/Morita can help you by posting some cut-and-pastable examples for you here. I usually keep a Kanji Gen to hand as it shows the old forms of the characters, and a similar function Chinese dictionery. Doesn't help if the computer won't produce it though..

Hmmm... I am seeing something like...

xxToadxx Open the Swordsmith Database top right of this page, and write Kanetsugu in the little box for Mei, and press search, and he may the very bottom one on the resulting page.