Baka Gaijin

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

Good morning Adam, I think that Ford would be the best person to ask about the internal fixings of multi part Bronzes. I'll stick with the cartouche theory, because it would finish the piece off neatly as per the rest. It's sometimes an indicator to see how the areas that don't show on a sculpture are finished. Yours has detailing to the base of the Minogame Turtle's claws as well as the base of the shell . Cheers

Good morning Adam, There is a slight problem from the outset in that the rectangular signature cartouche is missing from the base of the Turtle's shell. This would point with a fair degree of certainty to the maker. From its dimensions it's likely to be a three character form as opposed to the square form cartouches which contain more elaborate signatures and honorifics. For example, the foundry Genryusai Seiya sometimes referred to as part of the Tokyo School used both a rectangular three character cartouche (Seiya saku) and a more elaborate square form (Genryusai Seiya zo). However as far as I know, they tended to cast the signature "in the metal" so to speak, not as an added cartouche. It may have been that the cartouche was gilded and prised off at some point in the vain hope that it was actually Gold. This may be an indicator. Other Tokyo School makers were Kaniya Kuniharu and Hiromitsu Perhaps contact either Christie's, Sotheby's or Bonhams U.S. as they have regular sales of Japanese Bronzes and may be able to recognise the actual pattern and pin it down to a maker. You could also try posting it here: http://www.asianart.com/phpforum/index.php Cheers

Good morning all, It's all in the "T" Bato 馬刀 Batto 抜刀 Cheers

Again thank you Paul, Fred, Jean & Brian for the clarification. Let's try to make it NMB at DTI!! Cheers

Thank you Paul.

Good Afternoon Gentlemen, I just spotted a notification on both Nihonto.com & Ricecracker.com announcing 2014 Dai Token Ichi dates: November 1,2,3 2014 Which is a Saturday Sunday & Monday, is this correct? Cheers

Good evening George, The archer would be Nasu no Yoichi. Here's a soulful rendition of Ogi no Mato http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7aO1Q0UIMs and also Nasu No Yoichi: I note you're Blade Runner fan. So here's a tricky question: Is Deckard a Replicant? Cheers