Bugyotsuji

Thank you for the detailed information, Moriyama san.

How do these people work? Is this a parallel auction, and does the successful bidder then send money to the person in China?

One word.... AMAZING!

Ford and Dirk, yup, got me there! It's as if the point of something has hit the tsuba. Would a sword or a spear hit the same close vicinity five times, all aiming roughly for the kogai hitsu ana?

I use a moisture proof cabinet like those on the following site. Though my cabinet is a small one and contains only small objects, it is really useful especially during this season in Japan. http://www.dry-cabi.co.jp/wet-seihintobira.html http://www.dry-cabi.co.jp/inglish-catalog.html http://www.dry-cabi.co.jp/inglish-wet-catalog.html Those are amazing! Which one do you have Moriyama san? Would you be able to go away and leave it for a month, or does it need attention? Do you have to fill the water tank once a week, for example?

Next weekend I will be charging both my long gun and my pistol Remzy, for our next display. My ramrod is made of wood, so unlikely to spark, but you are right about using the minimum number of fingers. When you pour in the new charge there is a slight possibility of remaining burning embers. I'll try to remember. (We are also asked not to flick the wrist and pump the stick as it could look like self abuse! How can this be avoided? ) I know of people who have had accidents, but so far the worst I've suffered is burns from the matchcord and sparks in the face from the pan flash. At least I know my guns inside out, but it's that one moment of lack of concentration... and there are so many unpredictable factors with these old guns.

Well, could be putting my foot in it, but...

Oh, and he started out with the Mei: Motonobu 基信　

Nice tsuba there, Zanshin. Funnily enough, I have a smaller Kunihiro (I think) iron tsuba here which I am just now researching. Nade-kaku-gata. 6.4cm x 7 cm. 4mm thick at mimi. 2 hitsu-ana. As with yours, it just has the two characters 国広　in the old Kanji, although they must be different smiths. As to the scratches, common sense suggests to me that the owner was careless replacing the kozuka/kogai. However, common sense doesn't always work for me, so maybe they are battle scars! Good luck with the sale! Would yours not be better called sumi-kiri-kaku-gata?

He has used computer translation software. The meaning is that they think the blade was heated possibly in a house fire and lost its hamon. Restoration will be difficult, especially as it is so thin, but we will do our best with it. Leave it to us and we hope you will be pleased with the result... Hello James, Please recognize the thing that the blade disappears to the sword when it is heated by strong heat. (= Please recognize the fact that a blade edge (Ha) disappears when heated under intense heat.) The blade starts disappearing because your sword received strong heat. (= Your sword was subjected to intense heat, that is why your ha has partly disappeared.) It polishes by the specialized technique now to revive your blade. (=It will be polished here by a technique which is specifically designed for reviving your type of Ha) I think that it goes well maybe. (= Our estimation is that it will turn out well.) The reason for the house in old Japan is that it is made of the tree and paper and burns easily such a lot of swords are in Japan. (= The reason that a lot of Japanese swords have been burnt is that old houses were made of wood and paper which caught fire easily.) Only the blade's remaining should express gratitude to your sword for luck. (= ... er... ??? ...you should be happy, express gratitude that at least luckily some of the Ha remained.) Thank you

Thanks for the advice on silica gel bags, Remy, good in an enclosed space such as a sword box, but I wonder how effective in an open tatami mat room? I am collecting boxes right now, so one of your slica bags in each sounds good. Thanks for the feedback. As to the pouch, Ian mentioned compartments, so I have cobbled together some piccies of compartment section and a type of 'cartridge' that might have gone in them. The smaller cartridge tube is made of bone, hollow at both ends, which would have hung round the neck or from the belt. A ball is pushed down to appear at the far end, hitting a lip to stop it coming right out. You can see this in one of the pics. The other bigger 20 Monme tube is very thin wood covered with red leather. Beautifully made, and of course, both reuseable. Perhaps ten of these would have been ready prepared in the Doran. A powder charge would be poured in behind the ball, and finally a stopper was pushed in to seal it. To load the gun, the stopper would be pulled out, and the ball and charge would be pushed backwards down the tube with the ramrod against the ball, so that the charge could enter the barrel first and the ball would be on top...

Well, I can't tell you the significance per se, but someone else surely will. The character is Tou, Nami, or O-nami, which would be a great wave, or an ocean swell. It can be found in combinations such as Wave Dragon, Silver Wave, Wind and Waves. The character has been used in poetry from ancient China. As a verb 'Namitatsu', it has the implication of something calm getting rougher or starting to create waves, as the grass in a prairie, or the surface of the sea. A secondary meaning is the sound of the wind that blows through the Matsu pine trees. PS Dale, where on the wakizashi was the kinpun kanji? On the nakago somewhere? Was it hard to get such a clean oshigata off kinpun?

Nedan mo chotto benkyō-shite moraemasen ka? (Loosely translated "Could you be so kind as to study the the price a little more?") I use it all the times, it's very polite and indirect, and often throws the dealer off balance. Almost always works. :D Hahaha... that's splendid Japanese! How are you going to keep it up in that Northern Capital of yours? You must be making the mental switch to Han already. PS For simplicity, use Guido's second and third words, "mou chotto?" and look hopefully at the dealer, wagging your tail. He will either say no, or if it is towards the end of the function...

Well, isn't that a funny thing, Ian. I just heard this very story a few days ago, although not in such detail. One of our newish troop members has a pawnshop with, inter alia, lots of Louis Vuitton bags, purses etc., for sale. The first thing he did was to find a large one of these Do-ran and make a shoulder strap for it, and he was grabbing hold of people and quoting the story!!! "Look, the forerunner of Louis Vuitton!" Several of us are doing this now so there's a bit of fashion happening. You'll notice the silk cord I have threaded through mine. You mention partitions, which they did have for the Hayago, (apostles), or previously made-up 'cartridge' tubes. Doran can be found today at auction for as little as 20,000 yen, but at that price usually there is something torn, broken or missing. They are fairly rare, but popular, especially the ones with Mon, so when one crops up the price tends to zoom up fairly quickly. Love to see a piccie of yours when you have time.

Good idea about the phrases thread, Ford. Perhaps there should be some simple rules, such as: 1. You have used this phrase and it worked. 2. There are two or three ways of saying this, but this is the shortest and easiest to remember. 3. Add a note or cultural comment to your useful phrase as a memory aid. 4. Avoid saying such & such, and the reason(s) why. Finally. Always remember the Japanese are happy for you to be a foreigner and will go out of their way to accommodate you. Body language generally works. Eg. a) How much? = Ikura? (Pron roughly ee-koo-ra) Note. Use of this tells the dealer you are interested in buying. Sometimes it's better to stay silent for a while and he may mentally lower the starting price.

Moriyama san, thank you for the rescue! I was still struggling with that...

Ah, Motoshige, yes, right, well, egg on my face again! That second kanji had me puzzled at that distance. If you have the paperwork then it should tell you exactly that! One pawn sacrificed...

Just bought a small iron tsuba with a dragon on it the other day. Yours is nice in copper, but I know very little about tsuba so far!

Hmmm... the writing on the box does seem to correspond with the tsuba, but you cannot rule out the possibility that it's describing a different one. Unlikely, I agree.

No right to say anything regarding your question, Milt, but quite an impressive tsuba you have there. Congratulations. Feeling-wise, I tend to side with John L.

Just had a quick look throught the dictionaries and it says that Saidan, using the same characters, is the 慣用 "Kanyou" Yomi for Setsudan.

Hmmm, thanks for the update, Jacques. So, that may possibly take him out of the equation, since James specified 'not that character'. (Unless the Toko Soran is mistaken, or Tomomitsu used two different Kanji at different stages in his life.)

(Good idea, Steve. Not seen the paper, but in fact I have several of those water absorbing pots for my clothes. I'll get a couple more and use them.) New subject! A couple of days ago I bought a black antique Do-ran, or hip pouch, for matchlock powder, balls, etc. It wasn't cheap, but it bears an old version of the Mon of our local Daimyo, so I am very pleased with it. It's made of lacquered leather, cleverly stitched and tied in leather, and designed to be to some extent waterproof, I should imagine! It has a nice brass one-touch fastener on it, and I am tempted to actually use this Douran at the National Matchlock Display on Tanegashima in 10 days. It contained an inner liner, made from old letters or papers (?), which is still black with gunpowder inside. I pulled out the liner box, (to be kept, so if necessary the whole thing can be reduced to its original state) and created another. The new one looks pretty naff, made of modern thin cardboard, so I got some old Japanese cloth and lined it internally with that.

Don't have a scanner, so here's a photo, James

Did you see my PS above which I added later?