Bugyotsuji

Ah, so it is not unknown. Thanks for the feedback, Rich.

The other day I was offered a book called Japanese Sword Guards, (some tsuba in the collection of Sir Arthur H Church). The book was published in Britain in 1914 and focussed on 272 Tsuba out of about 1300 in his collection, categorizing them by schools. This is not the original book, but a rather fancy bound-and-boxed first edition Japanese translation with the Japanese written below the original English titles and explanations, published in Showa 45, ie 1970.　Someone must have thought that this was worth doing? The pictures are all b&w, and the preface proudly states that they are of the finest quality... "the photographs by the Photophane Company of Brockley will arrest attention in all cases except where colour constitutes the important element of the decorative effect." The author says he started collecting in 1873 "when good specimens were many and eager collectors few". Is this book well-known?

Carlo, here is the little dish I mentioned above. Not very good quality work, but interesting for me historically. (If you are off-Edo, Carlo, then so am I... ) This age was, however, when the Samurai spirit was indeed blended with Western inventions, but expressed in a new and glorious way. Probably learned from Nelson and the British navy traditions. To die for your country had replaced dying for one's lord.

Those are really lovely! Congratulations indeed. The Mikasa has no guns. Maiden voyage? Looking splendid. Funnily enough I just bought a small plate/dish painted with the Japanese destroyer attack and blockade on Port Arthur, the one where Lieutenant Commander Hirose Takeo died so heroically. (1904, the year before Admiral Togo's defeat of the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Straits) http://www.jacar.go.jp/english/nichiro/ ... etakeo.htm It was on sale at an antiques fair last Saturday, and a friend finally decided she didn't want it......... so, woo hoooooooooooo, N Photo on its way...

Wow, it's still alive. I love it when something like this pops up. for the feedback.

"and is they an abc internet learning site for kanji please" Your question contains two or three within it, Steve. Jacques has addressed one of them by connecting you with pages for learning Kanji specifically for reading Nihonto tang Mei. There are good books on how to learn Kanji stroke by stroke. I expect there should be some good internet sites too, but I haven't run a search on them, so I cannot help you there. They will be out there... I feel positive. One of your best moves would be to get a good Kanji dictionary and learn how to use it. The experts never have all the Kanji in their heads, and the better you are, the more you will rely on having a Kanji Dictionary by your side. Andrew Nelson's Japanese-English Character Dictionary is one I have owned for 30 years.

(Jean, English tea, or Japanese tea? ) KUNIYOSHI (Utagawa Kuniyoshi collection) http://www.japantoday.com/category/nati ... us-scholar

Never heard that one before. Not bad poetry. Not bad at all... :| (PS I love it)

HI Kevin and welcome to the site. No, I can't help you, but someone will be along in a while with words of wisdom, I am sure. Whether such words will help you in your unusual situation is another matter. You are permanently in China and you want an introduction to an authentic dealer, who might also be able to advise you on shipping to China?

Is that a New Year's scene on the side of your kettle, Jean? So, what's the tea, then, and where is it? :lol: Milt, the Do can't really be moved up or down. The Nodo-wa neck guard is a damn nuisance. I hate mine. If it's too tight it feels like it's choking you, and besides it is very difficult to tie by yourself unseen up at the throat and wearing chain mail Kote on the arms which doesn't want to bend that far. We tie them at the front and then swivel them to the back. Gradually the string relaxes so they hang down a little, and then they get caught under the shoulder pieces... grrrr... In an ideal world we would all be wearing Menpo with Nodo-wa attached. Brian, I must send you a length of match cord. The sear question is in the forefront of my mind.

This might turn out as a good thing for your future puchases... :D If people were interested in it, something good is hidden somewhere... Carlo your English is forgiven at last!

Couple of closer shots of the lock surrounds

Yesterday I purchased a Tanegashima long gun. This was not in my plans, but I knew that it could be used as a loan gun even if I didn't want it at home. (Envision one enraged woman) The two guys who had been wanting to buy it, and who had missed their opportunity when we stepped in, were full of sour grapes when I met them later... but I found out they were part of S..... Sensei's inner study circle, so there is something about this gun that they liked. I spend Sunday cleaning the red rust and black soot off the barrel, lock, brasswork and woodwork, oiling it gently and polishing it off, and discovering more about it. The signature reads 嶋屋市兵衛作　Shimaya Ichihei Saku. Shimaya were a gunsmith in Settsu, (Sakai, Osaka); other examples of Ichihei's work are signed with Settsu-ju, according to the records. Despite the dealer telling me the gun is in the style of "Shikoku somewhere" I could find little to support his assumption except maybe the general slim shape of the stock and butt. In fact the more I read up, the more I came to the conclusion that the dealer knows little about guns altogether. It shows a confusing mixture of styles, but not much about Shimaya's native Settsu either. Something (perhaps the slender but perfect shape) keeps tugging at my mind and saying Kunitomo. Our Teppo-tai leader sounded a bit odd on the other end of the phone. "Piers? Ah, I hear you have bought a strange gun! Everyone was here last night and they told me ALL about it." Well, I didn't know what to say. What had they all been discussing? "Er, I thought maybe you might want an extra spare gun for the lend-lease armoury/armory!" says I. "You know I bought four spares last week, so no, we don't need any more." he says distinctly dismissively. Now what? How have I offended him? As it happens I have been growing more and more fond of this gun! :lol: The wood is a lovely glow under the grime. The barrel is in surprisingly good nick on the outside and a quick rust blast with the ramrod showed me she is clean as a whistle inside. In fact, I now feel no need for him to take it off me at all. I don't even want to show it to him in case he suddenly decides he likes it!!! Much of the dirt and grime is still there as I didn't want to remove too much of the age. The gun looks to have been hanging in someone's smoky kitchen for a good 150 years.

Downloading photos and discovered one sneak sideways shot I managed at the Daimyo Gyoretsu at Yakage last Sunday, 9 Nov 2008. We often have to rush to get our kit on, and then stand and wait sometimes for up to an hour till we get the signal to move. Again, I was planning to take more, having my camera hanging in my kinchaku, but we were constantly being 'shot' by the crowd so I gave up...

Thank you very much for the link. It sounds as though you are wishing you could be in Japan, and you will thus not forgive anyone who misses these! Yesterday I bumped into two of these wandering ronin, er.... gaijin, down this end of the main Honshu banana. Quite an educational day to put it mildly. To both of you, good to meet you and see an antiques market through your eyes! Whereas I usually finish looking in two hours or so, we were still going strong six hours later!!! Thanks for peeping in at the NBTHK benkyo-kai in the evening. Sorry you missed the Katayama Ichimonji, one of only two known Sukefusa (despite the paperwork saying Norifusa, the blade was discovered to be his teacher's) in existence, but I understood your worries over the trains and I hope you got back safely. B 'encouraged' me to purchase a long gun, and it has turned out to be a long and ongoing story, which I will post shortly over in the Edo Period Corner.

As you say above, Milt. "If it is the case that an extra letter found its way in there 'by mistake' then the whole thing must be pretty shoddy/untrustworthy/casual/careless", etc.

Yes, I have a copy of the same book. Originally quite expensive new. It covers almost everything... Now all I have to do is use my photographic memory and commit it to the living tissue of my brain.

OK, just to get the ball rolling I will guess at the most obvious. But... I am 95% sure someone will correct me :lol:

Oops, I fell straight into the trap. Wow, they are difficult to tell apart, aren't they!!! Thanks for the link, Moriyama san. Tricky, tricky, tricky... Note to self: Check every character twice, and then double check that. 'Double-check Dubceck' they call him. 石橋を叩いて渡る　Look before you leap. (?)

"It is not judged" could have any number of meanings. At that price the seller is 100% sure it is a copy. Even so, it's an intertesting piccie. There is a box of scrolls at an antique fair near here, all going for 500 yen each. Admittedly there is no-one who can judge what each of them might be really worth. An expert friend of mine died last year, but he used to be able to sort through and find some bargains in that box. Occasionally he'd say, "Here, Piers, buy this."

Nihon Tosougu Kenkyukai, so NTK, NTKKK (?) If you don't like the tsuba, I would be willing to take it for you...

WOW, many thanks for that. It's been weeks now that this correspondence has been going on here on this site and on another site and emails going backwards and forwards. Many, many thanks! や～本当に助かりました。ほっとしました！ Even though I can find no record of such a Netsuke-shi, that is how it should be read?! You are absolutely sure?!!!

Yes, but I have seen many examples of Rantei's signatures, and none of them look like the one above. Do you think it could be? See post #14 here: http://forums.netsuke.org/tool/post/net ... 2&trail=15 At first I thought yes, but then gradually I backed off.

Well, five experts n the UK have all said that this is definitely "Rantei", according to a little bird.

藤原国次造　Fujiwara Kunitsugu tsukuru/zou (made by)