Bugyotsuji

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) 　

"Life is illusion.... ? BTW There is an old kanji for Akatsuki 暁　曉

Using your two possible Kanji, MOriyama san, could the two lines be: "One lifetime, one enlightenment. One enlightenment, one lifetime." or "One lifetime, one harmony. One harmony, one lifetime." Signed by Hisanaka, or a Chinese poet...???

Thank you Moriyama san. Your reply makes me smile.

Now we are talking!!!

My question wasn't phrased very well. Please forgive me. It would be going off-thread, so you do not need to answer it. What I meant was you must feel some personal pride in the long and deep evolution of Japanese culture. For me the study is objective in a way, an outsider looking in without too much emotional help, except the excitement and interest in discovering new things about the past. A 'different' past, too. Perhaps you have this too? Or not? (When I look at Shakespeare's writings, or Chaucer, I do not feel any personal connection, really, just a frustration that I cannot understand it clearly.)

How do you feel towards your ancestors who used such language?

What is the 4th character??? Is the hen Tsuki?

Wow, it's complicated. Thank you for that, Moriyama san. Can you make any sense of the other inscription?

:lol: :lol: :lol: Er... pics 5 and 6 yes, 7 NO

Well, if the other photos won't attach the regular way, let's try a different way. (Oh, ignore the Hotei above, by the way please!) and

Have been sent this inro writing and asked to read, but it's way out of my league. The character under Joka seems to suggest this is a copy of Joka, rather than the 'kakihan' as I was advised. Can anyone help with the inscriptions/poetry? The motif is a monk(?) slumped on a cloud. Picc supplied if necessary. Credit will be given as due. The other piccies I was sent are too large... humph.

Yesterday (Sunday 9th November) was the Yakage Shukuba Matsuri (Daimyo Gyoretsu). We were invited this year for the second year in a row, and this was our last event of this year. There was a very big crowd, and some confusion between the police and the organizers, but generally the live firing part went well. My pistol woudn't fire and it took 4 tries until it started fizzing... ... ... and then BANG, and loud claps from the relieved public. If you have time to visit Yakage, the large and spacy Honjin there is definitely worth a visit.　The walls have lists of the Daimyos and processions who passed through and stayed there. Everything, kitchens etc., is as it was in Edo times. http://www.town.yakage.okayama.jp/honjin/gaiyou.html This site has some bigger pics of yeaterday's event. You can see Bugyotsuji in pic 4 from the top. http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rouko2005/e/6c9ed ... e6e5953324

Just to add my two cents' worth here. Most of what Shan says makes sense and I have enjoyed reading the thread, but the original title got straight up my nose as soon as I opened up and saw the contents of the request. An irritating letdown. I have just kept quiet since then as it didn't seem to have bothered anyone else too much. Lots of people want help on here, but your title made it seem like you were in some kind of emergency, overriding everyone else's needs. Until now people have been fairly quiet and well-mannered in their titles. Now do we all have to exaggerate in the title in order to get people's attention? No offense intended, but just to point out that sometimes we can get off on the wrong foot without even realizing it.