Baka Gaijin

At least it's not someone playing their drums at 02.30 Hrs.

Oh, the Ningyo bit!! That's doubly interesting, depicting Teppo as a Home defensive method of Intruder attitude re - adjustment, and also as a subject of a Puppet drama. Toyotake - za being a Bunraku theatre in Osaka: https://wepa.unima.org/en/toyotake-wakadayu/ Re the kamon useage on the pages, does this relate to puppet masters?

Apropos of nothing, From the National Diet Library database, here's an illustrated book published in 1700 called Ayatsuri Ebansuke あやつり画番附. アヤツリ エバンズケ It features, almost in Manga format, exploits of historic characters. Many interesting illustrations: In the link below, the image on the top right might be of some passing interest, possibly to one person living in Japan and two Vikings.... https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F2533295&contentNo=8&outputScale=4 This page is of NMB interest, unfortunately the forum settings won't allow me to upload the Jpeg directly: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F2533295&contentNo=18&outputScale=4 Here's the link to the complete book, which is also on my page "Pre Modern Japanese Books and Illustrations" over on Facebook. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2533295

Good morning Greg, For a moment I thought you meant these Fans, patiently waiting to view "Swords of Kyoto" in 2018... Seriously though, the subject of Fans is really fascinating, as it encompasses so much, from a simple tool for keeping cool, part of an elegant game from the Heian Court, a devastating close quarter weapon, an object of Talismanic importance and a symbol which controlled the fortunes of men on the Battlefield. Here's a demonstration of Tessen against Sword at an Embu at Shiramine Shrine in Kyoto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Tacd1JIkM

Good afternoon Nathan, Try researching "Igeta Ni Ichi Ji". Hi John, try researching "Futatsu Tsunagi Kanawa".

Good morning Piers, Excellent call from your wife. I'm not so sure about the Kampyo suggestion, as this looks to be rather a messy rural action, for the outdoors or the kitchen area. These fine Ladies in their elaborate Kimono are, as the say here in Bath, "Bon Ton". Closest I can get to an Edo period wringer is something called a Kinuta, a type of material dryer/ softener, involving one or multiple mallets: https://data.ukiyo-e.org/artelino/images/39825g1.jpg My thoughts would go to the Collections at both the Rekihaku Museum in Sakura, and the Edo - Tokyo Museum just down from the new NBTHK Hakubutsukan.

Good morning Bernard, I have tried to fathom out what the tool is in the second image. At first, observing that it was making something into a spiral, as evidenced by both the extrusion from the machine and the second example on the floor by the hasami scissors. I looked for spirals and the mosquito wheel came too mind briefly and was discarded. However, the white sheet that the second woman holds, may be the clue. It looks like a bolt of cloth I wonder if the machine is for turning out V shape cross section lengths of material for inner edging in Kimono? Or like the folded cotton Itomaki that is found on so called Satsuma Rebellion Tsuka. Your call Piers, as your knowledge of Arcane Edo period tools is legend.

Well done Brian, What Pietro said!!! Hi Piers, there's an interesting thing about the little pendant hanging from the shaft of the Yari in your print, given artistic licence. This demonstration of Owarikan - Ryu So Jutsu will show you what it is most likely for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJa657qFOw PS from the Saya shape, it might be depicting a Jumonji (Magari) Yari blade, fighting with that is shown at 6.22.

Thank you Ben, Doubly interesting subject matter, because we almost have the concept of Onna Bugeisha, which we mentioned earlier in the thread, as the print depicts two women engaging in what must surely be mortal combat. I suspect there is a more than little of "Hell hath no Fury" for one of the parties involved in the altercation. Katana v Bangasa? My money's on the one on the right!! PS, There's maybe a clue in the position of the Obi knot on the figure on the right, are we venturing into the distinction between Gaiko and "Belle de Nuit"? Any thoughts Piers or Steve?

I've found two in the National Diet Library Collection: I feel that the composition is an allegory upon the enormity of Nature and the fleeting insignificance of Man: Here in Volume 7 Frame 20, the theme is visited using large leaves: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F851652&contentNo=20&outputScale=4 Volume 10 Frame 24, the theme using a mat against snow: https://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/jpegOutput?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F851655&contentNo=24&outputScale=4

Good call Steve, I'm currently checking out the 15 volumes of the Hokusai Manga at the National Diet Library. It's got the look of one of those image themes that an artist plays around with for years, until the right combination shows up. A bit like Rembrandt's images of beggars or Picasso's images of bulls.

Good Evening Bernard, Such names, Luminaries in the truest sense, despite this current age of instant online expertise. That which you have thus described, surely must fill in some valuable gaps in the perceived history of old school, "feet on the ground" 19th Century contributors to the burgeoning field of Pre and Early Modern Japanese Studies. Thank you

Good morning Bernard, I like the Hokusai attributed drawing, the question arises, which Katsushika? Katsushika Hokusai himself or Katsushika Oi? Fascinating story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsushika_%C5%8Ci Have a look under a glass of about 10x magnification and you will see thin and wispy pentimenti under and around the finalised ink in the main body and also amid the diagonal strokes. Well discovered Steve, re the collaboration between Urushibara and Brangwyn. Urushibara was quite a prolific artist in his own right, sometimes using the name Mokuchu, here is his rendition of a pile of old stones just down the road from me: This article from the "Grauniad" should fill in the gaps: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/feb/14/frank-brangwyn-yoshijiro-urushibara Re: "Grauniad" (UK Joke, you'll have to be a bit of a Private Eye to work it out).

Hi Brian, this would have been a preparatory drawing. The dealer Richard Kruml,who originally displayed it, described it as probably showing Satsuma troops battling with an Imperial soldier on a rearing horse. http://www.japaneseprints-london.com/1085/ As the production of a woodblock print involved the destruction of the artist's final drawing, a number of preparatory sketches would be done to get the balance correct, then a crisp line drawing would have been produced, which would be pasted to the first block and the Master block carver would start the cutting process.. This final drawing was known as the Hanshita - e. This will fill in the gaps: http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/h/hanshita.htm Here's a similar, albeit reversed rearing horse in this triptych by Yoshitoshi: https://data.ukiyo-e.org/bm/images/AN00694564_001_l.jpg

Good morning everyone, A few posts back, I used the term pentimenti, being the visible trace of other drawing beneath the final design. Literally "evidence of the hand", showing the decision making process as the artist works the layout of the elements of the drawing. Here's an example by Yoshitoshi.

Hi Guys, I'm Back, with perhaps a more appropriate username! Nothing to see here! Move on! The Artist previously known as Malcolm, now signing as Malcolm T, when he can work out how to do it, and zero ratings......... ROFL. Cue for Handel's "Sarabande": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWMR79IMQ-M Pip Pip Cheerio Mateys!!

With respect and thanks to Professor Oka for allowing free access to her monograph on this time honoured publication: https://dept.sophia.ac.jp/monumenta/news.php Bettina Gramlich-Oka Chief Editor, Monumenta Nipponica Professor, Japanese History Faculty of Liberal Arts & Graduate School of Global Studies Sophia University

Here is some eye candy, for everyone in current lock-down mode. 53 Stations of the Tokaido: Here is the route, from Station 1 - Nihonbashi in Edo to Station 53 The great Sanjo bridge in Kyoto. https://www.wdl.org/en/item/9933/ However, it turns out there were actually 55 stations along the way, confused?? Here's what the road looked like in the early days of photography: http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/list.php?req=2b https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%8Dkaid%C5%8D_(road)#/media/File:Tokaido1825.jpg Now, the artists: Hokusai: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc224949 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc143100 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc224914 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mia/62742 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc157713 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc142258 Hiroshige: https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Series/Tokaido_Series.htm https://www.fujiarts.com/Japanese-prints/Static-Sets/Hoeido-Tokaido/0-main.html https://www.teamwakon.com/blogs/news/82153862-the-fifty-three-stations-of-the-tokaido https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Series/Tokaido_Road.htm Hiroshige II: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc232975 Sadahide: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc232577 Kuniyoshi: http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/Main%20-%20Landscapes.htm Utagawa Kunisada: http://www.kunisada.de/Kunisada-landscape/early-landscapes-0.htm Toyohara Kunichika: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc152549 Kawanabe Kyosai: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc231880 Utagawa Yoshitsuya: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc233085 Utagawa Yoshitora: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc231921 Ochiai Yoshiiku https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mak/11565-77 By the time we get to Meiji, the interest wanes in favour of other subject matter, however there are some images: Yoshitoshi: http://www.yoshitoshi.net/series/Tokaido.html Fujikawa Tamenobu https://ukiyo-e.org/image/artelino/45856g1 Now in the 20th century: Kawase Hasui: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc205883 Tsuchiya Koitsu: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/jaodb/Tsuchiya_Koitsu-No_Series-Tokaido_Yaizu_no_hara-00027714-030421-F06 Soseki Komoro: https://ukiyo-e.org/image/jaodb/Soseki_Komori-53_Stations_of_the_Tokaido_Road-Odawara-00032632-021002-F06 Here you can see the Stations as they are today: http://www.guusrijven.com/archive/eng/projects/tokaido/index.html Enjoy お願いします

Gentlemen and Ladies, I have had the great good fortune, to obtain an early woodblock print of the Buddhist deity Fudō Myō-ō It is seriously rare, and, I request assistance here, also, please be aware that the item is not for sale, so, I have no dog in the fight, so to speak, I just want to know more about the item that I have acquired, and now cherish. (It is currently being sent to Japan for conservation and mounting as a Kakejiku scroll, as it was originally intended. This came from from an important English Estate, and, along with Armour, Swords and Kodogu, was acquired by an Important published English Diplomat, in Japan in the 1870's. There is an annotation to the card support - verso, by the previous family owner which states: "14th/15th Century ō-sugata or ō kage woodblock print - August Shade. However, it is the very early stages of my research into it, so I will conservatively refer to it as early Edo era 1600 - 1868 for the time being. The exciting part is that it was printed at Naritasan Shinshoji Temple, which I know very well, and would have been sold to visiting faithful, to benefit the temple, much in the same way Omamori are sold today. Apparently these Talismanic prints were called ō-sugata or ō kage - August Shade. I've not come across those terms before, so it's all a great voyage of discovery. I think, on reflection, that August, does not refer to the month (for obvious reasons), but to the August or elevated nature of the subject matter, using the sensibilities of the late Victorian era. Thank you in advance for you kind cooperation.

Good afternoon all I think this may be Seiryuken Eiju, but I am not sure about the Kao: Help please

Hi guys, Just off the press, so to speak. Anyone in Japan at the moment for DTI, would do no better than stopping off at Sakura, which is on the Keisei line to Narita Airport. I have visited Sakura three times previously, to visit the Rekihaku museum and its small gun collection. This time, the Reticular Actvation Center of this addled brain was online and I spied an ad for the Tsukamoto Sword Museum just behind Sakura Museum of Art. Straight up from Keisei Sakura Eki and a double dog - leg at the top of the rise, by the Catholic Church found a lane with a long wall, whitewashed in the morning sun. At the end, three surly schoolgirls bunking off school, were surprised that their little haven had been broached, and disappeared in a giggling mist of AKB48. Peace now restored, I discovered the bronze cast signs stating “ Tsukamoto Bijutsu Hakubutsukan “. A short sharp walk brought me into the courtyard / parking space enough for two cars and the portico of this unassumingly stylish building, which was painted in bright white. Above the portico, I spotted the clue to its ownership in the form of a ceramic Kamon, depicting Maru Ni Mitsu Kashiwa. I noticed two pairs of shoes, toes pointing outwards on the double step Genkan. Two pairs became three and I was greeted by the curator who gave me some slip on sandals. He noticed my camera and grinned, Shashin OK!! He added, no charge entry....(my kind of guy!!!) I was given a brush pen and signed in. There he left me to ascend the staircase to the gallery, which contained some 20 blades and Koshirae, from the permanent collection of over 400 items, along with a display of the stages of making a Sword, similar to the one at the NBTHK. I spent an hour closely examining the display, which included some big names including Hizen no kami Tadayoshi and Inoue Shinkai. In summary, well worth the visit. I will update this with some snaps, when I am back in Blighty. Nihonshu calls........????????

Hi Guys. Any details regarding this years Dai Token Ichi would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a visual treat in two volumes: 尚古鎧色一覧 Shōko Gaishoku ichiran Colours of Ancient Armour lacing. Fom Waseda University Library Volume 1: http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_00230/ke05_00230_0002/ke05_00230_0002.html Volume 2: http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ke05/ke05_00230/ke05_00230_0001/ke05_00230_0001.html

Just found this fascinating Video featuring a dedication ceremony and sword making in the precincts of Kashima Jingu:

Here are some snaps of the new NBTHK Hakubutsukan. Blades are ok to photograph, but not Koshirae.