Bugyotsuji

Nuts, isn't it! Actually we can't even carry a live gun much anymore. The police are getting so strict it isn't funny. The last place on 14th June we had volunteer uni students to carry the gun cases from the changing rooms to the field. The red guncovers we were carrying contained bamboo staves to look like guns. Then a special security team surrounded us and escorted us to and from the display pitch. Only within the coned/taped-off area are we allowed to do our thing. Members of the public sometimes try to hold the guns and the police don't like it. I have also had people pull my sword out suddenly when I was surrounded by people, so in the interests of safety it makes no sense to carry a real blade. Everyone has tsunagi, although in the past I know previous members sometimes broke the rules. Come to think of it, on top of all the kit and clobber, a wooden blade is thankfully much lighter. PS They used me on the poster again this year, an old photo though... http://toki-week.com/

Here you can see the chopstick wedges which I used to hold the tsuba in place on the Tsunagi for my re-enactment sword. The koshirae is something I purchased recently but some bits were missing, so I had to have the tsuka re-bound with green Tsuka maki, and the silver fuchi and kashira repatinated to match the silver fittings on the saya. You can also see the stand which I bought last night. Brian, if all this is too heavy, please feel free to crop as I don't know how!!!

Well, I have a theory that a good description removes the need for a photo, but here are some shots of what I was talking about above. The first is the Go-taiten ceremonial Tachi Meiji/Taisho? tsuba which I had patinated to remove some of the glare. The second is a genuine Tachi tsuba from... Edo? with large O-zeppa. This needs cleaning, but I am afraid that if I remove the black patination on the o-zeppa these too will turn bright brass yellow. The tsuba itelf seems to be an alloy of copper and brass? with bits of oxidized colour showing through in spots. This too may need some kind of clever clean.

If you've got some time, and haven't yet read it, compare this thread about a Higo Koshirae tanto, Tsuba, etc. that I spent some time and money cleaning up. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4637

This week's report is another general roundup. Met a Kabuto and Menpo collector today in the local historical sword & gun shop, a Belgian named Philippe Lehmann (?), but had to rush off, so didn't get his card. Advertised this NMB site to him first though... This evening collected the Handachi koshirae which was being colour/color coordinated. The Tachi Tsuba was a bright yellow shiny thing, a Go-taiten virtual toy, and it has now been patinated to suit the furnishings. It looks splendid now, with a blackened Mimi. The fuchi and kashira were brightly polished silver, but he has darkened them to go with the silver fastenings on the Saya. The whole package looks much better and more suitable for our displays. He had also fixed the 20 Monme gun barrel for me, removing the 'silver' plug that someone had left stuck to it. "Not silver", he said. "It was steel". Weird. He cleaned out the metal, grew some nice rust there, burnt it and oiled it, and now you cannot tell where that irritating spoil mark was. Full marks. He gave me a dry cloth and told me to wipe it down for a week, until the rust stops growing. He says he loves this time of year, the rainy season, because the rust grows so well, and he refused to take any payment off me. "I just love growing rust", he said... On the way home I dropped into another friend's place to pick up a genuine Tachi Tsuba which he was keeping for me. He had just bought two at the auction and said I could choose one. One was yellow brass with little Aoi Mon, four blades in a cross shape and some kind of Nanako etching, but no O-zeppa. Quite expensive. The other slightly smaller and black, but quite fat with two large O-zeppa engraved with vines. Came from a famous collector west of here. Hummed and hawed, but finally went for the latter. Couldn't afford both. He showed me how to fit the Tsuba firmly in the correct place on the Nakago, using little plugs fashioned from chopsticks in lieu of sekigane. My first real Tachi Tsuba! Oh, and he had a spare plain vertical wooden Tachi/Katana stand which he sold me, genuine Edo, with a locking/unlocking wooden upright. Very pleased with the double trip this evening. What all have you lot stumbled across recently?

Hi there, er... SP (Do you have a first name?) Welcome to the site and congratulations on reading the Mei. Have you posted some pictures yet, with overall measurements? First piece of advice. Don't expect much, and move slowly! You may never find out any more than you know now, or you may discover one vital fact, and then maybe another. The real reading and discoveries will be within the steel itself, but that is a whole new world and takes years to read. Your question about books has been asked and answered a hundred times around the site. Please browse first. Are there any sword societies in your area? A quick visit there should open some doors to advice on restoration. No need to rush into anything. Don't attempt any kind of cleaning. Assume your sword is not a masterpiece, and then you will never be disappointed. Restoration can be very expensive. Be 100% sure of what the sword is before making any decision on spending suitable money on it. If it's a good sword, don't take the cheap restoration option... Just some general stuff to get you an answer. Hoping others will join in. And hoping that you will enjoy the learning process!

Are you going to buy it, Kenji san?

Great print!

It looks good to me. I wonder what others will say?

Yesterday evening I went round to collect a couple of things from a Kinko shokunin, and drop off a couple more. I had bought a really small copper and shakudo Tsuba for the Tanto, but it needed some Sekigane work to make the Tsuba a tight fit. It's solid now. The Yari has a black lacquer haft bound in silver here and there, but the fittings were patchy and bright, so he recoated them in a semi titanium-type traditional finish. The spear looks perfect overall now. Really pleased with this work. One of my guns has some indented patterns on the barrel which were never meant to be filled in with Zogan, but a previous owner had experimented with silver inlay and left a bit of a mess in one area. My friend is going to take out the blobby silver inay and restore the barrel to its former appearance. Yay! Also, he doesn't like the bright appearance of the Tachi Tsuba on the sword I wear for displays, so he's going to dull it down for me. Excellent. (The Tsuba is horribly modern looking, but we all wear Tachi Koshirae so even a toy one - from a Mozo-to? - was said to be better than nothing.) Oh, and the local sword shop had a folding wood and leather Shogi stool which I have been thinking long and hard about. It is dated Bunsei 8 Nen, and I rather like objects with dates on them! So that has now found a new home...

Just had a quick read. Very good.

My first instinct, after reading everything you have said, is to let it go and go to bed with no tears.

One shilling! Hahahaha.... lovely. John L. thank you for taking the time to look at my tsuba on the previous page. I understand and agree with what you say. Incidentally, I missed what Barry was saying in his post about the removable seppa dai plate, but picked up on it when you mentioned it. An interesting feature indeed!

Forgive the jumping on the wagon here, but I've just got to ask. Some time ago, Barry asked me to post hi-res pics of this Namban tsuba, (the only one I have, likewise) and I did, but never found out why. It measures about 7.3 cm vertically and 6.9 cm across. I know nothing about it, except that I bought it on impulse, and even now have a love/hate relationship with it. Any comments, guesses welcome. Docliss mentions the seppa dai being gilded as unusual?

No, I didn't, Ian, but I do now! I know he was very highly regarded both in the UK and Japan and I have read many stories about him. Here are some pics for you, Carlo.

Mark, Piers, All, I once had a sankaku yari mounted as an aikuchi tanto, the blade being only 4 or so inches long. The nakago had been cut, of course, but the mei SHIMOSAKA was still evident. Now, it is true that I have never seen another one (maybe one other??). Edo?? Whilst the yari itself was no doubt old, the aikuchi tanto koshirae I thought was perhaps Meiji although of course it could have been late Edo. It was a somewhat poor quality affair and my feeling at the time was that it was a cheap way for someone to have a defensive weapon, a tanto blade almost certainly being more expensive than a by then more-or-less useless short yari, of which I'm sure there were thousands freely available. Maybe they are "rare" in Japan because they were mostly sold as curios in the Meiji period?? Regards, Barry Thomas. Good point. Lots of yari with rusted lower tangs which can be snapped off and reshaped, and lots of out-of-work katana shokunin, and lots of Western visitors and you get... a+b+c =

Something I came across today which I bought for the NMB Edo corner here. A small Kutani porcelain tea or sake cup with a photo in the bottom of a chap in uniform. Some debate among the dealers and customers ... "Nogi Taisho!!!" etc., but they were not really sure who it was. It was Admiral Togo Heihachiro, but I realized that people have generally only seen pictures of him as an old man. He looked too young for them in this portrait! In small gold letters inside the rim and upside down it says Togo Taisho. He became Taisho as a result of winning the Tsushima Straits battle against the Russian Baltic Fleet, so the cup has to be post 1905. Comparison of the medals on his chest might date the cup more accurately.

Talking with a Japanese friend today I mentioned these two slots and he immediately said Kakuri Kurishitan. I said, nope, ...Ford said that that was the one thing we are not allowed to say. He looked astonished and said "Who's Ford? Everyone knows it's a hidden cross." Then I thought to myself, why do we have to swallow that very first restriction put upon us. Why, Ford, why? :lol: Then looking at the Namban ship tsuba on the cover of the book posted over on the Namban Tsuba thread, the Nakago ana suddenly looked like a ship, and the cut away sections looked like the sail of the ship. Hmmm... then I thought that when it comes to proscribed things, the Japanese love to have a second or even a third explanation lined up for times of trouble. Everything in Korakuen Pleasure Gardens for example can be said to be for beauty etc., but there is often a hidden military meaning behind almost all of it. (Mark, sure let's start a different thread! I saw another one today, BTW, but the koshirae was much poorer quality.)

On the book cover Tsuba above are square slots, bringing our two threads together.

Yes, I agree with Reinhard on the readings. The first character on the fuchi may be 光 Mitsu-, but possibly 芝 Shiba-, but it's hard to see, and I would want to check my books first.

Hi Mark. There are modern versions, but the one above was done in late Edo; the saya Koikuchi is cut specifically for this yari, as too the seppa and tsuba. Sword-related Japanese people I have shown it to have been generally surprised by both its relative rarity, and genuine nature. Back to the tsuba in question, the holes may have been cut later to incorporate something, for example a blade with a high shinogi that needed special side pads to hold firmly. A square cut for special copper, gold sekigane? (Really struggling here...)

Hehehe... point taken. My brain is still refusing to give up on the cross-slots puzzle above. I hope Ford gives me the tsuba for my efforts anyway!

Add this to your memory banks, Guido.

Or Nobody's cameo pic from yesterday in this week's Edo Period Corner viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554&start=705

Oh, wow!!! 2 Ichi-bu (Ni-bu?) bankin? Well, then it is not such an alien concept! :lol: