Bugyotsuji

Where did all those little chaps come from? :lol: For size comparison I have included a primer flask on the right, quite a large one, slightly smaller than the palm of my hand. The coarse blackpowder flask in the centre/center is the new acquisition. This is a small one as powder flasks go, rather larger than the palm of my left hand. I think it uses bone, not ivory. The collar is carved from some very fine wood, reminding me of Kannon statues. Byakudan/Sandalwood? Keyaki? (Need to check this) In Picture 2 you can see the new bone shovel duct/cylinder in place. The cap had been filled with a wooden plug by someone, which had been thoroughly glued in, so you can imagine the struggle to chip it out and clean it without cracking the cap. (Yes, I may need to pull the cylinder out a bit more so it can go deeper into the flask.) In Pic 3 you can see a closeup of the side with the holes. The worms were considerate enough to concentrate generally on one side. I used a toothpick to fill the holes with drops of Cashew lacquer. This morning I went round with a fine paintbrush and filled in the holes some more. I will use a resin polish to smooth out the crater rims, flatten it down overall somewhat and buff it up convincingly. I hope to post a pic of the 'finished' article within a few days.

I could do with a good dentist right now. Owww...... Thanks for showing the Miso bowls, Carlo. No clear answers yet on what a) was put in wooden gun barrels or b) what the Chinese characters on the scroll relate to. All in good time. (Mine and I'll have to find it.) As to what goodies have sprung up from between the floorboards, there have been a couple in the last week or two. One is a Sai-hai officer's wand with dangly stuff, which may have got a mention a page or so back. Black lacquer rod with chased silver fittings, and white cut paper tassel. Edo Period. Last week I found an intriguing Edo Period billfold or wallet, with two completely different viewing sides. One side closes with a leather flap and brass/copper lock; the other side closes with an ivory ring symbolizing the moon which hooks over a little copper tanuki raccoon. Hmmm... for women? I asked casually. No, more likely for men, came the answer. Then on Saturday I found a cleverly-worked leather wood and ivory powder flask needing a bit of restoration work, some of which I have now done. Unusually well-preserved white leather musket ball bag attached. Potentially could be very good, but some perplexing challenges ahead. (Do you leave 10-15 woodworm holes through the lacquered leather surface of the flask, or do you try to find a clever way to stop them up?)

Hmmm.... that's a heavy blow to the site. Your presence was always felt, and people kept generally in line under your strict and fair 'guidoance'. If they didn't, through ignorance or carelessness, then soon learnt to ... The place was better for it. Will miss you. Hoping you will continue to stay around in any capacity. Many thanks.

Any luck with this, Barry?

Looks like someone has tried to remove some of the rust...

Would it be possible to move the Mekugi ana to the top of the frame so we can read the Mei from top to bottom more easily? The shadow obscures the Mei in some way, so in an ideal world I would love you to take a clearer photo...

Something Kagenori... Bishu (?) Kagenori, am I seeing?

Jeff, which is the closest city to you?

If you have a local sword shop and you can make friends there, then the easiest way is to ask them to arrange it all for you. There will be a nominal sum involved, depending on what rank you are aiming for, but you will step into a cut-and-dried process with no heartache. The ideal shop should have been doing this for years, and they can advise you at any point how your process is coming along. Just be happy to allow a few months for the wheels to come full circle. PS Remember there are different organizations out there appraising swords, so you will need to make a decision on whose papers you value most... or if you are planning to sell, then whose papers you consider carry the most credibility.

Thank you John. Not sure yet how that fits, but it is a possible way forward. I think I will print all this information out and show it to some Chinese people at the Confucius Institute. Not that the scroll is worth much, I guess, but for the joy of the game.

Good question about what they fired. Possibly grape, or even those ball-shaped fireworks. (Will check this out.) I've seen examples of them here and there, including the one in Sendai. The Westerners arriving at the end of Edo also came across them, I believe. Our Teppo-tai members went to Seki-ga-hara one year but they came back convinced that they were each haunted by some terrible ghost. Some of them fell ill or had accidents and the whole story of the trip to Seki-ga-hara would come out again. Whenever I express a desire to go for the next national enactment there, they all look gloomy and say how lucky I was to have missed the last trip.

So let me get this right. 1. The Tokugawa allowed the West to erect a stone monument in memory of the beaten army. 2. Kondo, a Confucianist from Bizen (any connection with Shizutani Gakkou, I wonder?) was chosen to compose the writing for the slab. 3. A Chinese calligrapher was asked to do the writing itself. 4. The monument was carved and erected in 1817, the wording indicating the places where the Kubi-tsuka mounds were to be found. (?) 5. In 1865 someone did a rubbing/Oshigata of the monument and created a scroll. Does this sound reasonable so far? :lol: (I wonder if the monument is still there...)

The date may be written with Qing's era name. 嘉慶二十二年歳次丁丑小春下浣 (Kakei ni-ju-ni nen Saiji Hinoto-Ushi, Koharu/Shoshun Gekan) – The end of October in 1817 Oh, thank you, that is brilliant Koichi san. This has been bothering me. Is this way of dating common, do you think? What do you think this scroll is? Did someone go to Sekigahara at the end of Edo (Keio Gan-nen 1865) and rub a stone plaque which had been erected in 1817?

Some of the writing, rubbed from somewhere? The date is on the left, and the headings on the right, centre, and lower right. Ishida Mitsunari is mentioned in the middle, and I have tried to get a shot of the whole sentence.

For Ian and Koichi san, here are some of the scroll. (Rubbing?) You can see the problem with the date. Brian, I will go back and erase some of these pics in due course... if they are all right for the moment. (?)

Ah, that fits a few more of the pieces together. Also, I had heard that in order for the Shimazu mostly leadership to make their breakthrough, much on horseback, they used their matchlock pistols; this became a classic example of how Bajo-zutsu/Tanzutsu could indeed be a useful weapon, depending on the right circumstances. Here are some shots of the Fukuro for Carlo, surprisingly difficult to take. The bottom end is actually square! I have placed a Katana alongside for size reference. (2 shaku, 2 sun, 2 bu, 2 rin)

C'mon Piers, now a pic is mandatory... The sword cover... ?

John is correct. Words to this effect: "This Kanenori Wakizashi is hereby certified as not being registered as an important Kokuho, Juyo-bunka-zai, or Juyo-bijutsu-hin. " June 25th 2007

Many thanks for the followup info, Ian. Interesting about keeping the weight down... Since I came back to Japan I have inherited a scroll listing the gravestones of Western Army leaders (?) who fought at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. It mentions Ishida Mitsunari. The date on it is odd though, and thinking it may be a fake, I am tempted to post a photo here and ask for help. This evening I pulled out a backgammon (西洋すごろく） block for a clean and discovered that I had never really researched the Mon on the ends. Seven gold Mon on black lacquer. Three Ume in a circle, Mitsu-yose-yokomi-ume 三つ寄せ横見梅. Probably belonged to a Daimyo, someone once told me. Wonder which? I have collected various Edo Period dice and counters over the years to complete the set. Last night a friend showed me a 采配　Saihai he had recently bought; I managed to persuade him to sell it to me. Black lacquer with silver ends and a big bunch of cut paper strips. They do not come up so often, it seems. The silverwork has gone completely black; I am sorely tempted to clean it if such can be done gently. There is a sort of Mon on it, but I can't find any record of such a Mon, so it might be just a decoration. Oh, and I was given a rather splendid Nihonto cover which originally contained a long Tachi. Very pleased with this. Now all I need is a sword to put in it... :lol:

Have you considered the old Kanji for 'one'? 弌

Piers, I strongly fear that the existence and/or the possession of the nagamaki (repro) are illegal in Japan. If the blade is made of steel, not being tempered or having no edge does not matter for applying the Japanese sword laws. Thank you Koichi san. Is it a question of the material used then? When I say "it has no edge", I mean that you can run your finger along the edge of the blade. It is rounded, and not sharp. To tell you the truth I don't even know if it is steel. I just used the word loosely to mean metal. I did ask about whether it needed paperwork because I was worried, but I was assured that it is legal in Japan. I will double check immediately. I understood that it would be against the law to sharpen it, and I certainly would not be tempted to do that in Japan. If there is such a problem as you suggest, then I will either give it back, or hand it to the authorities. I have no desire to possess anything illegal here.

And the last angle, Stephen!

And here is the 'inherited' Nagamaki. If you want to trim these shots, Brian, please feel free. I wouldn't know how...I just keep the old camera stoppered way down and pray.

Oh, and if it is a screw, remember that Mekugi screws tend to go clockwise to unscrew.

Hi Moss, your question is multi-faceted and difficult to answer simply. This may be why everyone has passed over it. Besides which, much of it has been asked and discussed before(sometimes heatedly) on this site. So, to clarify your first question. Are you saying that you are aware of a certain Katana in Japan, and it has paperwork, and you want to know if it is likely to be 'Nihonto', as opposed to... xyz (?), precisely because it comes with said paperwork? Is this correct? Your second question is about the validity of paperwork in certain year periods. The quick answer is that yes, there is a common sense that in some years the powers-that-be were more generous (looser?) than they are today. This accounts for why some swords may come with their earlier paperwork, ... and the buyer wonders why there is no up-to-date Kantei-sho attached.. You are aware of course that there is/was more than one organization offering Kantei, and there could naturally be disagreement between them on occasion? The quick answer in my opinion is that the system is generally good, but not 100% watertight. (As always, I stand to be corrected by following comments.)