Bugyotsuji

John, do you know of any illustrations showing how this worked in practice?

Thank you for the information, Moriyama san.

Ian, thanks for posting those. A sudden thick vein appears! :lol: Your clock is a new world for me. I wouldn't even know which way up that was or where you read the time... It looks like a fantastic object, though. Can you find anyone who might be clever enough to work on it for you? (For love, not money?) The Douran is very nice. I am in the UK, so unfortunately no Kamon books to hand. Do you know the Kanji characters for Yendo? As to your two long guns, which you have sensibly cut in half for the shot... (but where's the muzzle end? Would like to see that!) :? they look like good examples. Do you know their bore/caliber/Monme? I have no trouble with the Sakai gun as everything shown looks representative. The lower gun, though, might be Okayama, with influence of Bizen. Would it be possible to include a shot of the rest of the muzzle end? Can you confirm whether there is a two-inch cut/shaved away section at the top/end of the stock/butt on the opposite side from your cheek? (Do I see it in your shot there?) Is there a kemuri-gaeshi on the back of the pan, and is the pan lid slightly open in your photograph? The rounded 'filed' barrel could be typical of this region. A Rakkyo (pickled-onion) muzzle shape might confirm this. Oh, and you've obviously had them apart.... do they not have any Mei?

Just found it, ...but Markus got there first! Fantastic! Haki means, 'what precious thing that you wear from your belt', ie sword, so "On the front of the sword".

The first character of the first part in brackets has me foxed. It says, "Front surface of the xxx-ki" ..."Back to front?" The last section says "Hirado influence", or "Hirado tradition". Sorry I can't help more.

A good read, and amusing about having to get off the horse before shooting! Thanks, Jacques. So, these are really cavalry pieces, or shortened long guns, as opposed to pistols per se. Both were in fashion in Japan, but even today the smaller and shorter they are, the more they seem to be valued. An overall length of under 30 cm is best, if my memory serves me.

Yes, Guido, this figure of yours of 300,000 is exactly what they cost nowadays, especially since the recession. You might get one for 250,000 and you might find one at 400,000, but anything above that and the dealer is either a blagger or he's trying to get his old pre-bubble money back, or he's got something super-special.

As it's Monday here in the UK, I thought I would quickly post a recent acquisition. Ian and I posted pics of our Muna-ate, or chest protectors, not too long ago, but I can't find the actual posts. You will have seen an example or two in leather, in Sugawa's homepage above, no doubt, which reminded me. I had the original one with the crossed feathers Mon, possibly from Aki in Hiroshima, or maybe Ako Castle in Hyogo Prefecture. Nothing missing and pretty fair condition, considering its age. Very small, though! A friend who knows that I like (and to some extent collect) Kuyou-Mon, or nine-heavenly bodies Mon, recently found this set of Muna-ate and headband at a dealers' auction for me. The neckstrap and obi-stoppers were missing and they were generally in tatters, but with a bit of application and careful study of the original border stitching, my wife was able to repair this set quite presentably. They are made of cloth and some kind of felt, and would never stop a bullet.

Guido, yes, that's the page where I originally got the info, and it was India, (not Iran), thank you. Jacques, no problem! I knew there were some, but I've never seen an example. Brian, perhaps Ian would know the best book in English on the subject. I have Sugawa Sensei's books 1 & 2, both in Japanese and in English, and they were my stock handbooks for quite a while as they have many illustrations from his collection. His editor seems to have missed several translation howlers (?) to the point where you can't really rely on the facts & figures or categorizations, but they are good books to have to hand as he is such an eager enthusiast. Did you ever read Noel Perrin's Giving Up The Gun, BTW? http://www.amazon.com/Giving-Up-Gun-Rev ... 988&sr=8-1

Brian, you have good taste! The shorter hand-held Bajou-zutsu (cavalry pistol) or Tan-zutsu (short pistol) are much rarer than regular long guns. I read somewhere that matchlock pistols were only ever made in Japan and... Iran(?). Within Japan, they were held by men of rank, so perhaps one in a hundred guns was a Bajou-zutsu (the Police in Japan don't like the word 'Tan-zutsu' so we tend to avoid it.) To give you an indication, we are the only musket company in Japan to be able to do a demonstration with pistols, so there's 20 against 400+/- members of other castle groups. Sometimes in the past we made up the numbers with a, shall we say, not so kosher gun. It's taken a few years but I think we are up to strength now. A lot of people are putting out quiet feelers for a decent working pistol, but they do not come up too often. Because of their rarity, and the fact that they command the same price or more as a long gun, there is and has been an underground market in reproductions. Some of these are cleverly made, with an old barrel and new stock, or vice versa. If you do come across one, please let me know as we have a pool of expertise available and may be able to comment on it. If you do go for a long gun, there are so many ways of describing them. Hoso-zutsu, (literally long thin gun) Gun-yo-zutsu (military gun, generally no fancy decorations, but made for reliability, does the business) Shi-zutsu (samurai gun, indicating fairly thick and heavy and a bore of over 6 Monme.) Chu-zutsu or Ju-Monme zutsu (10 Monme, .70 calibre, these are surprisingly heavy) Above these are the O-zutsu or big hand-cannons, which start at 20 Monme. (I have one) Examples also exist of 30 (1.1 inch?), 50, 60, 100, 500 and 1,000, I believe, the latter having a bore about the size of a tea saucer. The following site has lots of good reading, but many of the facts need to be taken with a fairly large pinch of salt. Sugawa Sensei's books are available in both Japanese and English. http://www.japaneseweapons.com/hinawajy ... nglish.htm Long Bizen-zutsu tend to be smallish calibre Hoso-zutsu, and because they were made in the same area and with the same iron as Nihonto, people prize them for the quality of the iron/steel barrels. Unlike most Japanese matchlocks which use brass for their mechanisms, Bizen tend to use iron, with silver-headed pins.

Here's a rare row of hand cannons. Tanegashima Island, 24th August 2008 See the wasp-waisted right-hand grip.

Educational thread, gentlemen, for which many thanks. Kane.ie and Nobu.ie are now more clearly fixed in my mind. For the association with contemporary painting, Ford, you have certainly found excellent material. Spot on...

Moriyama san has already done the last part for us, but: ã¾ãŸã€é™¸è»è»åˆ€æ‹µãŒé™„帯ã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ãŒã€ Also, it comes with army furnishings, but è»åˆ€æ‹µã«ç´ã‚られãŸåˆ€å‰£ã¯ã‚µãƒ¼ãƒ™ãƒ«ã®å®šå¯¸ã§ã‚ã‚‹2å°º1寸å‰å¾Œã«ç£¨ä¸Šã’られãŸã‚‚ã®ã‚‚多ã„ãŒã€ whereas many swords in army scabbards underwent suriage to fit the standard saber measurements of 2 shaku 1 sun, or thereabouts, 本作ã¯ç”Ÿã¶èŒŽã®çŠ¶æ…‹ã§ã‚ã‚‹ã“ã¨ãŒå¥½ã¾ã—ã„。 this one is good because the tang is in a state of ubu nakago (untouched, as originally created)

Apart from 'Bushu' and the description of the Tsuba itself, there is no more information about it. Can anyone add or subtract anything to the body of knowledge, please? (Such as rough age?) The tsuba looks to be in layers in the photos above, but under 10x magnification I can't see clear demarcation lines any more. It looks solid iron. Should I trust my eyes or the photo? Could this tsuba be copper internally, however, and could the Fukurin have been added to hide the striations? Or shouldn't I be asking such questions? Seoul Airport, Korea

Pronunciation is actually a tricky problem. The sound file idea would be good, if easy to set up. The main problem for English speakers llies not so much in the Japanese, but in the inability of English to express the simple Japanese sounds, such as long and short sounds. Especially hard when we have two or three different phonetic systems, none of which are really satisfactory for all. Japanese is completely consistent and predictable once you've learnt the chart of sounds. (There must be a clickable webpage somewhere.) As an aside, would a DON'Ts page with reasons be a useful addition for beginners, I wonder? (Or NEVERs.) EG Never try to clean the Nakago (tang). Why? It needs to be richly aged. This patina may be the key to reading its history and thus also judging its value.

Brian, the process is the same, and the same card is used. You'll have noticed it is divided into two sections, the lower one for guns and the upper one for swords. The Law is Ju-To Ho, or Guns & Swords Law. There is a huge variety in the available guns. Most decent ones are in private hands, and there are some that should be avoided at all costs. As with swords, you either have to know a lot to be confident of buying through a shop, or go through a friend who knows his oats. Our local shop here is half swords, a quarter armour, and a quarter guns. I recommend time and patience in order to source a good one, unless you already have a route. It also helps to know in advance what Kuni you feel close to, and/or what school of gunnery (which will be reflected in the shape).

Well, the Edo Period Corner needs updating and I am off on a long trip tomorrow. Last weekend we went down to Tanegashima for this: http://www.city.nishinoomote.kagoshima.jp/ Click on the top left piccie. I'm the one wearing a blue sporran, picture rightish. The local TV and papers covered it, so I translated one of the articles from yesterday's paper. See below. (On the way back we visited the Bukei Yashiki town of Chiran, and spent some time in the Kamikaze Tokko-tai Chiran Peace Museum. Worth a look if you have not been. Left Kagoshima at 5 pm and got back home at midnight last night. Hung up the armour to dry, did a huge wash, as everything was soaked in sweat, and cleaned the guns, getting to bed at 2:30 am.) August 25 2008 Minami Nihon (South of Japan) Newspaper 22 Matchlock Companies Doff their Helmets in Tane-ga-Shima To celebrate the arrival of the matchlock, Nishi-no-Omote Town has held a Teppo Festival. This year is the 50th year since the formation of the new city boundaries, so 22 Castle companies put in a rare appearance. Visitors were surprised and pleased to see this gathering, 465 years since guns first arrived in Japan on this small southern island in 1543. The theme chosen by the council was “Arrival of the Guns – Revitalization of Our Islandâ€. A symposium was held on recent research into the history of ancient guns, and a display was put on in the newly-opened City Park. Dressed in their various traditional outfits, 250 arquebusiers or musketeers representing 22 Castle Matchlock troops strutted their stuff. A 27th generation direct descendant of Tokitaka Tanegashima, Lord of Tanegashima, took the salute as the troops announced “Allow us to pay our respects!†and fired off a volley. This was followed by a full day’s display of ancient gunnery on the park stage. Translation by Spider Godwin (Alias “Bugyo-tsujiâ€, official translator for the Bishu Okayama Castle Musket Company.) (PS Tanegashima also happens to be where Japan fires off all their space rockets, so it is very much in the forefront of government research and funding, but a completely idyllic semi-tropical island otherwise. I think we are thinking Outer Hebrides, aren’t we?)"

Well it was hard getting a clear shot of the Fukurin. Perhaps the autofocus was getting its knickers in a twist. The Inome Sukashi tsuba is papered to Bushu 武州 and is 8.3 x 8.3 cm. And not quite as thick as I was expecting.

Hi John, thanks for this extra information. My original informant above is a contemporary Habaki maker who is also one of our local NBTKHK teachers, although he has not seen the tsuba itself yet. I have a few of the coins you mention, well, if those oblong 'bu' or 'boo' bits can be called coins, and it's quite extraordinary how low the gold contents goes, testing the edges of the gold colour/color. I will keep an eye out for the coin you mention. One coin that I have been looking for but which is fairly expensive, is a Bo-eki Ichi-en, trade dollar, based on the Mexican silver dollar, which I believe start around 900 dollars, which may have been the follow-up to the coin you mention. I heard that the One Japanese yen, the US dollar, and the Mexican silver dollar, all had the same-ish value back then and was the standard that traders used in early Yokohama. There are lots of fake One-yen siver coins which have flooded the market and reduced the price of the lovely real silver ones to the point where you can snap them up for a song, (depending somewhat upon the year) as long as you get the real McCoy. Great presents for people. 7-8,000 yen each a few years ago and now dealers are hard pressed to get 4,000 yen. Most people are too afraid to buy as they generally can't tell the difference.

As is often the case, while I was waiting for help here, I went out and talked to some people and managed to get a part answer elsewhere, so I will post that here. Pure gold for the edge band of a tsuba, the fukurin, would cause problems with permanency of fit, apparently. The lightness in colour indicates addition of silver. In order to strengthen the gold, pure silver was added to it, until the gold was about 16 ct. (For reference, 18 ct is 75% gold and 25% silver, so the gold content would therefore probably be just less than than 75%.) Next question! This tsuba has a very fine curved line sukashi in the iron on either side. Holding it to the light I noticed something caught in the cut. The only thing I could work into the gap was a sheet of paper, but that wasn't strong enough to shift the blockage. I tried a cutter blade and a pin, but they were both too thick to go into the gap. As I was messing around it began to dawn on me that to cut such a line would have required magical skill with a...a...a... what? A series of super fine fretsaw blades? I even considered buying a blade and snapping off the eye at one end in order to slip it through... (PS It turned out to be a small ball of rust which I picked away at gradually with the tip of the pin from all sides until it was gone.)

You're welcome and thanks for the thanks, on behalf of the 'team' (?)

Quick question about "gold". When the NBTHK paperwork says 金 Kin, (as in Kin Fukurin) does it actually mean gold, or does Kin cover anything yellow and shiny, like brass? As an adjunct to this question, do they test for gold, or is lack of oxidation/discolouration a good enough indication for them? Does anyone know what purity of gold was used in Mid-Edo? Was it mixed with silver, like the coinage? If it was mixed, was this for cost reasons, or for reasons of strength, or beauty, or what? in advance.

What Moriyama san has not said is that the rest of the characters in the second picture merely repeat what is written on the side of the saya, ie "Made by Masamune. Valued Possession of Toki Yorichika."

Hi. The kinko will have a way of reading his own name that is 'correct' for him. I can find six people who signed with these characters. It can be read in many ways, eg Toshi-hide, Toshi-kazu, Toshi-hiro, Toshinaga, Toshinobu, but the second Kanji will have one reading that tsuba experts will know and share! Let's wait and see. The third mark is his 'kao' or flourish. Let's make a stab at Toshihisa!　

Kokan Nagayama defines the two words in much the same way as Brian above. Hagarami: an oblique crack in the cutting edge. (As opposed to Hagire which is vertical)