Baka Gaijin

Good evening Piers, Would a "winning smile" have something to do with it? Cheers

Good evening Jean, The only Kamon I could find with crossed bars are Sumitate Kutsuwa, Kutsuwa Hishi & Niwa Chigai Ki, these are usually enclosed shapes, nothing with two open sides. Cheers

But true..... The Classics Master had a tandem cycle which he named "Priapus" Nice Sword BTW

Good morning Stephen, Having an enterprising and somewhat nutty Chemistry Master who actually had a plate in his head from WW2. He regaled us with stories of base metal turned to Gold and proceeded to show us how in 15 minutes using a copper coin. This wonderful oddity, part Alchemist, part Shaman and lifelong supporter of John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford as the actual author of the Plays and Sonnets ascribed to Shakespeare, was in the first drop at Arnhem with General "Roy" Urquhart. Here's a safer method than he used, it's simple, fun and only mildly dangerous http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/pract ... r-and-gold Cheers

Good morning Brian, The small object with the birds is a water dropper (Suiteki), the rectangular reserve in the center is to hold the Inkstone (Suzuri) Cheers

Good morning doctordotcalm. These are quite decorative items and survive as interesting documents of a period of transition for Japan. As far as I am aware, they were constructed specifically to Western requirement and sold in both the Tourist areas and exported. If the flatware is Sterling Silver, they would fall into the category of "Novelty Silver" which does have a following. Cheers

Good evening all, I wonder what it is filled with, is it metal? or a residue of the type of resin that is used to fix Kogatana and Menuki. My suggestion is that it was fixed in a tsuka with resin at some point. just a thought. Cheers

Good morning JohnL Go to the very top of this page and press KANJI PAGES Your voyage of discovery begins there............. Cheers

Good evening Mark Second image (0647) First two Kanji from the top read Tanaka. Cheers

Good afternoon Piers, Great to see the Edo Period Corner up and running again. May I add that the item is made of "Haze" -laquer tree seed wax- and washi paper for the core. I suggest further that Kendo-Ka may have had a use for it, fragrancing Dou and Kabuto after Natsu - Geiko....... Cheers

Good morning Curtis, This link may be of help: http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/?page=TsubaIII Cheers

Good morning David, I'm not entirely sure but I think the 3 utensils depicted are: Chasen (Whisk) Chashaku (Tea scoop) Habōki (Feather brush) The selection may be a reference to one of the "Hundred Poems of Chanoyu". Cheers

Good evening Jean Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose Cheers

Hi Tobias, "But wouldn'T they use "ロ" for the "lo" in Lombardo?" I'm not sure, I was thinking from the viewpoint of sometimes what we hear and how we turn it into a phonetic can be a matter of if the phonetic has been passed down the line a number of times; particularly so if the person writing the Katakana on the Hakogaki does not have a precise knowledge of western naming. Conversely for example, in the very early 1960's before real instruction books were available, the Karate Technique Shuto uke was often written down as Sto kee, because when the Japanese Sensei visited and taught en masse, the inflective sound was 'Shtou Ke and thus became Sto kee, to us in South Wales at least. Just a thought. Cheers

Hi Tobias, I reckon it's Lombardo. Cheers

Good afternoon Gilles, If it helps, I get Paolo Bompardo from the literal katakana, but could that be Paolo Lombardo? Cheers

Good evening Jean An excellent culinary prospect, will the Bunny be boiled? If so, may I suggest: Cheers

Hi Donny I'll do the date: Sho Wa Ju Go Nen Ni Gatsu Kichi Jitsu (Kichi Nichi) A lucky day in February 1940 I worked it out by using the info the Kanji Pages on the top Nav Bar. Cheers

Good morning David From the top: (or the bottom as you have in the picture) Sho Wa Ju Hachi Nen Ju Getsu October 1943 Here's a useful conversion date chart http://www.meijigakuin.ac.jp/~watson/ref/mtsh.html Cheers

Good evening Grev, This should make things as clear as mud http://www.tofugu.com/2010/03/23/the-ty ... s-kunyomi/ Cheers

Thanks Stephen, The Kashima Sisters have some tying guides on their information page: http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/information.html http://www.ksky.ne.jp./~sumie99/sageotying.html Cheers

Morning all This may be of use: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hara-kiri-Japan ... =hara+kiri It's the Kindle version, but the book exists in real world form. Curiously though there is also an Italian Language version............ Cheers

Morning all This may clarify the situation regarding Varnishing: http://www.e-conservationline.com/content/view/1079 At official exhibitions, such as the Royal Academy summer exhibition, artists, in the past, would give a finishing touch to their works by varnishing them; Turner was known for making significant changes to works on varnishing day while his fellow academicians were simply varnishing). Cheers

Good evening Mark, The 3 5 3 is often mistaken for the 5 7 5 at first glance. As Brian says don't read too much into it, 3 5 3 a very popular design. Cheers

Good morning Mark, The Kamon on your Fuchi is known as Gosan Kiri (3 5 3 upper flowers), not to be confused with Goshichi Kiri (5 7 5 upper flowers) Goshichi Kiri is currently used by the office of the Prime minister of Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Go-sh ... _crest.svg Gosan Kiri was used by many families and organisations. Cheers