Bugyotsuji

Agreed. Nice example. Unusual tsunomoto. PS Rick Nick Rupero....

PS Part of a Kutani set of dishes, Navy Kamikaze 神風特別攻撃隊 Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, (Tokkōtai), dated 1944 (when the Japanese public first became aware of the new policy).

If you include Bakumatsu and Meiji wine drinking within the definition of ‘saké’ then I will include these Kutani goblets.

Tempted to post some sake cups too. (Sadly there was some breakage a couple of summers back when a young marten fell out of the ceiling and landed on them. Pic of incident available though I may have posted it before.)

Thanks. (Sweet collection, but they look thirsty, Bruce!)

This style is captured on a tsuba although rather than having a candle spike it functions as an oil lamp stand.

Having admitted earlier to the guilty pleasure of collecting andon and shokudai, here is an example. Brass, the main structure is a shokudai candle stand, with hook for hasami wick extinguisher. (If you need to go to the habakari during the night, it has a baby, and you can use the smaller portable section.)

Eagerly anticipated!

My old Japanese copy of the Token Yoran 刀剣要覧 (Heisei 16, 2004) gives values in similarly high figures, expressed as hundreds (or thousands) of Man, where '450' for example would mean 4,500,000 yen or 450万.

Re the menuki, the suaka suns on the shakudo fans are a really nice touch.

With genuine old parts, except maybe the koikuchi?

Perfect. Does your tsuba travel inside that box?

Teaching my grandmother to suck aggs again! Some of the catalog systems here are pretty thorough! Pedant mode on... although the Horagai is often broadly called a 'conch' as that recalls a certain image of Indian Shankha shells, etc., in Japan it is more specifically a 'triton' (shell). Charonia tritonis, Triton's trumpet. Pedant mode off.

Excellent reactions, Simon! Beautiful guns are Nature enhanced by artisans.

I do.

Hmmm... knicker elastic, yes. I have a drawer full of pilfered knickers, so, frilly garters, here we come!!! Actually I did experiment with elastic bands, but rubber tends to perish quickly in Japan and leave nasty deposits, then I found those larger flat ones thrown onto the pavements by postal workers in the UK to be good. Then I was given some broad black tyre/tire type rubber bands which were all too tight. The perfect solution was bento bako lunch box bands from the ￥100 shop. Oh and yes, I do use stickits/postits!

Just to spoil the party here, "Party pooper!!!", I find the boxes do not solve all of the problems in life. As a static display they are fine, no, more than fine, very nice actually. And to save yourself rummaging through the pile you might need some system of quick identification without actually opening the lids to check. When you need to carry them somewhere for some reason (to a friend's house, to a display or going abroad etc.), however, unless you can figure out a way to make the original little pegs secure, (see John above) and the cushion and lid fit tightly, there is always the danger that the tsuba will break loose inside the box. This means putting each tsuba into a soft bag, and carrying the boxes separately. I guess you could place the soft tsuba bag (with tsuba) on top of the box and then wrap each bundle with suitable bands. Anyway, whatever method you choose, you need to be extra conscious of the alignment of your precious tsuba inside each box.

Funnily enough, sitting at the traffic lights just a moment ago…

Apologies, Stephen, I misunderstood your meaning. Don’t back out! Good idea for Les to measure the inner Nakago-ana dimensions!

Great job, Simon! Strangely, Stephen, although I only have about 50 or 60, most of my boxes are not exactly the same size! Try getting the wrong lid to fit... or a different base board to slot in. (Unless they are part of a batch of boxes made to a set standard.)

PS The base plate/board of some of these boxes will tap out easily. If it's one of those, you can see the underneath of it and usually the two small nails holding the central positioner on. One problem is trying to get the nails to realign afterwards, but if they don't, they create new channels, which is usually enough to split the nose piece asunder. Another problem is keeping the cloth intact or trying to find matching cloth, and wrapping it tightly. To tell the truth, if you feel confident enough, you'd be better off creating a new base and 'nose'. Or use the box for something else!

It can be done but it’s a hassle to do, the wood inside is usually already of poor quality and it would loosen the original pin fastenings, and they need to be tight. The best thing IMHO is to swap already occupied boxes around with other tsuba, and/or wait for the right box to appear. Collect more boxes in the meantime. There are never enough to go round!!!

Ah, now we’re talking!

Hi David, Gives me a crick in the neck! I fired up the mobile so I could look at that the right way up, and it does say Seki Ju Kane.... sada(?) the last character is poorly written for some reason, halfway between 足 and 定(?). If you have a firm date like that of 1670, then it must be written on the other side of the nakago, no?

Dale's Princeton example seems to be made with at least two different repeating patterns, a round file and three sharp inclined escarpments, to the centre line, then reversed for the other half. So rounded valley, sharp, sharp, sharp, round, sharp, sharp, sharp... etc. Simon, would it be possible to get a silhouette shot or two of the mimi edge patterns of yours, from the sides?