Bugyotsuji

Someone once mentioned shooting in the shade, and not in direct sunlight. You could try 10 shots at different light angles and post the best two or three of those. (Sounds as though I'm trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs.)

One has to take into account that by following this policy, There is a big risk to be in a graveyard before starting collecting/buying... Jean, just sometimes you say the right thing.

Carlo, very good! I have a funa-tansu and had a set of keys made for it, so I think I can guess what you are saying! Actually if you include the little black makura yari I now have 5. They're pretty things, but... the poor man's katana? Brian, thanks for the warm words. The opposite could also be said, cf Reinhard on previous page; one of my closest Japanese friends has already chewed me out over this yari and the holes in my thinking.(= taken me to task.) Long lecture! Shades of: "Study and wait for ten years. Smear the glass panes of showcases in sword museums with the sweat of your forehead. When you can truly judge a sword, that will be the time to buy. Until then you are... !" This is one of the things I like about this world. You collect conflicting opinions, sometimes harsh, and allow them to sharpen you up! (Frisk?)

I love it! Yup, it carries enough truth to pass as fact! Hahahahahaha.... And yet, we guys think we're being very naughty and very clever, but she's somehow getting the attention she craves into the bargain... All's Well that Ends Well! hehehehe It gets a bit harder when you buy a yellow sports car on impulse though, and then wonder where to put it and how to explain it away.

Believe me, Piers, I had 4 katanas on a 5 stand katanakake, Four slots were used and I put my Kanetomo tanto on the bottom lot. It has been there for 2 months and my wife did not notice it Best thing to do, if she notices it, is to say that you have trade it for other items (bit and odds) Very good! You just have to find the right way of explaining it!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

OK, so I admit it was impulsive, (and Meat Loaf put it well) but it's not a bad yari per se, is it?!!!! :lol: Now all I have to do is convince the wife that there were always 4 yari in the house, not 3!

My pleasure entirely, Jean! :D

　Lacquer-filled è¡€æº on flat side. Sankaku-gata, sasaho blade.

She said she didn't know how to remove the blade and would I do it for her? She was married to his father for X number of years and never touched anything???

Nipped round there this arvo and discovered his mother keeping shop. The yari was still there ready for the polisher. She said she wouldn't mind my taking a few quick shots. It is usually kept in a really nice full-length yari-bukuro.

Looks difficult to photograph. No better shots available?

Look at that! It's wonderful to see the rivets, and the signature so clearly. Brings it all really close and the time distance rapidly erodes. Nice photo!

Oh, absolutely, there's some good meaty reading in there! Thank you so much for that. Now I've just got to find a good solid period of time to read and absorb this background. Run off my feet right now... aaarrrggghhhh...........

Most grateful for the further clarification, Jean. It's all grist to the mill. Now all I have to do is 'see' with my own eyes and brain what those 'unmistakeable trademarks' are.

Ah, thank you. They are funny things, aren't they! I have some rather ordinary Kagamibuta Netsuke, but I know Jim Lewis has some real corkers/beauties along the lines of what you have been creating... (Nothing to do with the price of fish, really, but in the past I have thought long and hard about the process through which kagamibuta might have evolved.)

Reminds me of the song "Paradise by the dashboard light" (Meat Loaf). Don't go for instant thrills when it comes to NihonTo; you'll end up with babies unwanted. reinhard Sigh.... So true! PS Never listened to Meat Loaf. Worth buying the album with that track in it? PPS Found it. Good stuff! http://www.jango.com/beta/MeatLoaf

That's pretty stunning. Worth spending time looking at those illustrations. Thanks for posting that. PS Puerile question maybe, but what is the kagamibuta for, a Netsuke?

Damn, it worked the wrong way. I thought that by describing it, you could get a mental image and it would get me off the hook. Anyway, just remembered he's closed on Sundays. Give me a couple of days. LOL at Stephen! ... ... ... This should teach me to shut up.

Brian, thanks for the thoughts. I too was looking for the word 'Den' on the paperwork but there was none. I even asked, 'Is it Den?' and they said 'No'. The dealer opened To-ken Yo-ran and pointed out the sole Bunmei 1469-1486 Munemitsu, saying 'His Katana are worth X million yen!" Without digging any deeper, I accepted his pointer, but it was when I got home that I discovered a whole line of Munemitsu. Jacques D "Time Period, kuni and group" just about covers it, doesn't it, if you look at the Muromachi as a time period! Thank you very much for pointing that out as the justification for the Hozon papers, and stupid me for not going there to check. I will take your advice, Brian, and go directly to someone I know in the NBTHK. Something to look forward to, when the elements align. Sho-do-gai è¡å‹•è²·ã„ it was, bought on impulse, but you should have seen it the moment he removed the saya. Long thin bamboo-leaf shaped blade, delicate but very sharp, with a thick red lacquer-filled hi on the flat side.... aaarrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Can anyone help me along any further, I wonder? I bought a suriage sasa-no-ho yari in polish today with three Nakago ana, and NBTHK paperwork saying 無銘　mumei (å‚™å‰å®—å…‰) (Bizen Munemitsu) and the dealer added: 'from the 室町 Muromachi Period'. There is some tiny little bendy damage to the very tip of the blade, which I have asked to have fixed. (Everyone was astonished that I would bother to go to the time and expense.) There were several Bizen Munemitsu running from 1319 元応 to 天正 which ended 1591. My question. Is the attribution in your opinion to a) a single Munemitsu, would you think, and if so, how would I narrow it down? Or, is it b) an attribution to a place and a line of smiths in general, with which I should be gratefully satisfied? (No photos, unfortunately, as I left it at the shop for sending away, but I could go back tomorrow and take some, if it would help.) :|

Off cormorant fishing for a minute... but here is an old piccie of the black lacquer 20 Monme gun. This O-zutsu gun is in the overall Tazuke-Ryu style of Koshiki Ho-jutsu, but there are no indications as to where it was made geographically. The gold Sasa-Lindo Mon suggest that it was owned by the Ishikawa Daimyos of Kameyama Castle, west of Nagoya, or possibly later when Ishikawa moved to Takahashi in Bitchu; the elaborate indentations and inlay on the barrel support the idea of a special order. It was recently on loan for 6 months as part of a representative Hinawa-ju matchlock display at the Osafune Sword Museum.

Wow, that's quite exciting! Thank you for that, Morita san.

I was thinking Ishitoku, but when I Googled those two characters, the reading of Sekitoku seemed more common. Is Ishitoku equally or more likely possible, Moriyama san?

Well, I looked at it, as I am sure many others did, but didn't want to risk showing my ignorance. The first two characters, 石徳 suggest a personal name, possibly of a company, and the last two 調 and ... ? is it 之　or 々 Without being sure, and with no reference material I am stabbing in the dark. So, until someone can offer a correction, PS a) in the spoiler makes more sense in the light of what you say.

Well, the piccies are a bit jumbled up, but first glance down the right edge shows: