Bugyotsuji

'Stone' 石油 Mineral oil was discovered way back in Nara times. (Nihon Shoki, it was called burning water, or burning soil.) But seeds were pressed for oil, including Camellia as mentioned above, and Sesame and Rape. 600-800 AD. Woods high in oil such as Matsu pine was popular for burning. As oil lamps became popular, and as people noticed which fats and oils burned well, many sources were used including animal (horse etc) and fish oils, apparently. As animals came to be considered impure, or killing them was banned under Buddhist laws, whale oil took over from horse oil.

Could the character be 葛 I wonder, giving Kazura- or Katsu- or Kachi- ?

Visiting a local archaeology museum the other day I was surprised to see a brightly-shining mirror prominently displayed in a glass case. It was surrounded by very old mirrors and I thought of you, John. Close examination revealed that they had actually created a bronze mirror especially for the display and had polished it to show how it would have fuctioned new. It didn't seem to have anything coating the surface, just a bright orange-reddish reflection in which I could see my familiar handsome face fairly well. Incidentally, the small mirror (later adapted to be a Maedate) which I posted above was made by "Tsuda Satsuma no Kami Fujiwara Ieshige" and I found some material on the internet referring to a larger mirror made by this person in Kamakura in Einin 3 nen, (1295). This was certainly a line of mirror makers, rather like the swordsmiths, as you say. PS An antique dealer told me last month that the length of the the mirror handles gives an indication as to age, but I can't remember which way round he said. The longer, the... (?) PPS In your first post you ask what harm in polishing a mirror? I have noticed that J people are very particular to place mirrors facing down. Further, I have been told that the mirror is one of the oldest sacred objects in Japan, possibly even ranking with the sword in status and mystery. Even today I sense many Japanese people have a strongly susperstitious reluctance towards them.

Lovely saying, Steve. Reminds me of my uncle who was a Rear Admiral. He used to puff on his pipe thoughtfully and then with a wicked glint in his eye, come up with something pithy that amused everyone and at the same time made you feel comfortable to be alive.

Excellent stuff. We live and sometimes learn.

Ah! :D I should have put two and two together. This could be from a Ryokan, of course, or even ex-basho kit... "The past is another country", as my father was fond of saying. (Although the past is still partly with us here and there...) Watching Kabuki in Kyoto a couple of years ago I was pleased to see an actor with such an accoutrement/accouterment by his knees, filling a kisseru, smoking it, and tapping it out, following all the subconscious processes from beginning to end. Real smoke, too...

No plans, Stephen, although one day I will have to make some kind of decision! John, forgive my obtuseness...

"Barbotte" in R Cotgrave's A Dictionary of the French & English tongues 1611, is explained in English thus: "The chinne peece of an helmet." "Barboter" is "To mumble, or mutter words betweene the teeth." Since this chin piece often had a piece of beard on it, and the Menpo caused a mumbling, then all worlds may come together happily here!

Three day's New Year sale on at the temple antiques fair and I found several interesting little bits. The stall-holders traditionally offer something special at knock-down prices. Two pairs of old beautifully carved ivory chopsticks, and... this week's piccie: This smoker's set is just about perfect; the drawer with the hidden slide even contains a bunch of individually hand-carved sharpened toothpicks.

How high can a dong climb? Happy New Year 2009 one and all!

On Sunday the 28th I found myself at an early-morning antiques market and discovered this large dish for sale. Normally I won't touch porcelain as I can't 'read' it at all. In this case I liked the design, and mentally formed a vision of how much I might be prepared to pay for it, but luckily the stall-holder was away for breakfast, so I deliberately walked away from it to see if it would remain in my heart. My friend came over and reckoned it was Edo Period; when the dealer turned up later he said it was Imari, and confirmed late Edo. No chips and no cracks, and a deep BOnggggg when knuckled. Well, that just about checked my boxes for me, so I asked how much. I could have pushed him lower, but there is a saying here that you can force an antiques dealer down one day but he'll get it back from you later. If you allow him his margin today, he will repay you one day. Well, I live here, unlike some of you lot who come flitting through, so I took the cut that he offered and left it at that!!!

Hi Barry, that was a tall order for me! Well, here goes. Fingers crossed this works! Done my best with the camera. Never taken hi res pics before. The linking is experimental too. (I like your Namban tsuba, BTW. How big is it?)

Well, I'm . Wanna swap? :lol:

Nice understanding wife you have there, Tony, BTW! Congratulations on the prezzie.

Thanks for the observations, John. He produced a round lacquer box with a very thick black tsuba inside, took it out and passed it around. Nobu-ie. "This tsuba would get Juyo without a doubt", he said. There were two figures on it. "Just because the experts have never seen one doesn't mean that they don't exist", he said, launching into a description of having passed it around some tsuba Kanteishi and observed their expressions. "This may be the only one in the world", he said. "I have certainly never seen another." (This chap is quite a famous Nihonto carver, and says there are some works of art he has created in his life which he has never repeated.) He asked me how much I thought it might be worth. Tongue in cheek, I said, "I'll give you ten million yen for it!" "Here, you can have it," he replied, extending his arm....

If you cannot get any further, consider 正阿弥　かねのぶ

Was visiting someone's house yesterday for wild boar stew, and he came up with a surprising remark. He said that the received wisdom is that Nobu-ie did not put human figures on his tsuba. Before writing what he said next, may I ask if everyone agrees with this so far?

Have to agree that looks good. Not too OTT; a lot better than the original.

Check out the famous story of Inaba no Hakuto. (White rabbit of Inaba) He was quick enough to use sharks (or crocs) as stepping stones, but he is probably checking behind to see if they are after him.

Remy, Bonjour! (Bon soir?) Now I understand what you were originally asking! Please overlook the OTT reply. :lol: If the tsuba is not high of especially high quality, and if you monitor it from time to time, it could be a nice thing to have in there, if your wife does not object. How about a photo of how you display it! Is it iron with a lacquer finish to it, or is it some other material like copper or brass?

Remzy. What kind of bathroom do you have? What kind of heating system do you have in the house? Is the bathroom heated too? What temperature fluctuations do you have there? When you say 'bathroom' do you mean the room where you take baths? Why do you keep them in there?

I like it! Thanks for posting! Do you work with a die-cast model set, or do you make everything yourself? Himeji Jo... not far from here, and we have and had lots of interaction. They will be entering a period of refurbishment lasting something around 5 years, I hear. At 10:45 am on Friday the 26th December on the Educational channel, NHK Kyoiku, there will be some scenes of our lot demonstrating the use of guns protruding through various Hazama holes in Himeji Castle walls. The program/programme is for school kids and shows how things worked in the past. 'Mieru Rekishi' or Visual History. The NHK flim crew were astonished at the quality of the armor/armour brought along.

He's got 7 negative replies on this J site, (as opposed to over 1,000 positive) mostly relating to poor description, (no mention of damage) and discovery on receipt that the supposed antique was in fact not old at all, or it was modern Chinese... http://rating3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/ ... &filter=-1

This one I guess: http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/nbthk-tk ... museum.htm Maybe contact them in advance and ask for an English-speaking guide.

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'.