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Baka Gaijin

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  1. Good Morning Jean, Thank you, every question answered, and thank you to Guido for posting the file. Cheers Malcolm
  2. Good Evening all, Following on from various notes in the excellent Modern Japanese Swords & Swordsmiths, I would appreciate as much information regarding the current Japanese sword legislation in Japan. 1. What is the legislation called. 2. Which organisations administer it. 3. Who apart from the Police enforce it. 4. What is the structure, is it national or prefectural. Cheers Malcolm
  3. Good Evening all, This works with things from around the house...... 1. Turn off camera flash and fix the camera so that it will not move. (You can tape it to a kitchen chair if you do not have a tripod). 2. Set blade on a Black non reflective Background longer and wider than the blade on underneath it. (Black Velvet works) 3. Place a fluorescent tube (Cool White 840 or Daylight) along the line of the mune about nine inches away from the Mune. 4. Position a long white card at a rising angle to the Ha, and about nine inches away from the ha with a hole cut centrally for the lens. (Card should ideally be longer than the blade by at least a quarter.) (Polystyrene sheet works just as well). You should with a bit of playing about up and down with the fluorescent tube, get a burn white edge to the mune, and then by raising and lowering the angle of the white card you should get a gentle fall off of light across the angles of the blade which will show some activity in the blade. (There's no hard and fast angle, you will see when the angle is correct.) If the colour is a problem set the camera to BW mode. It's not a perfect way, but better than smashing light flat on. Cheers Malcolm
  4. Good Evening Rob, Excellent site: http://www.followingtheironbrush.org/viewforum.php?f=9 Cheers Malcolm
  5. Good Morning all, To emphasise Gabriel's point, from my dim and distant schooldays, the word for Left in Latin is SINISTER........ "Romanes eunt Domus???? Cheers Malcolm
  6. Good Morning all, I've seen a few in this style, I believe they are mostly from the 1920' & 1930's often with a Tachi kake and an accompanying Yumi Ya set to flank mid to upper end Gogatsu Ningyo (May 5th - Boys Day) Armours. The blades are ferrous, with a thin chromium plate and fake hamon, rust comes through readily. They were often supplied in plain wood boxes, sold as a set, the best quality were manufactured by Maruhei of Kyoto and Tanimoto in Osaka (The latter factory bombed in 1945 did not continue after the war). Cheers Malcolm
  7. Good Morning Joe, I don't think the Kanji is Hon. It's got some more strokes, top and bottom possibly. Cheers Malcolm
  8. Morning all, Got one this am. Same format and details as above. I've disabled my email facility as suggested. Cheers Malcolm
  9. Good Morning all, Just picked up on this rather late, but it pinged a few memories of unsolicited emails offering swords from a few years back. http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubbt ... Post366337 http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/archive/i ... -6142.html They do say the past repeats itself...... Of course it could be legit. Cheers Malcolm
  10. Afternoon chaps, Good points Carlo & Guido. However, I suggest the source of the celluloid yakuza using blades in shirasaya may come from an actual event which was romanticized by the woodblock artist Yoshitoshi in his series Kinsei Kyogiden of 1865, about fifteen years after the real events took place. The series tells the story of two gambling rings in 1849 and their struggle for power. Iioká Sukegorô led the larger, stronger gambling ring, while a man named Hanzô led the other smaller ring comprised of Fishermen and market workers. During an epic battle, Hanzô’s smaller force of twenty-five was able to drive away the larger force while only suffering one casualty. After the battle the Edo police cut off all means of escape for Sukegorô’s men. At this time one of Sukegorô’s men, Seiriki Tamigorô, took his gun and shot himself. The fighting between these two rings continued on even after this battle. happened, and also became the source of the Zatoichi sub genre. A blade in shirasaya is somewhat similar to the oroshi hocho long blade used for cutting Tuna in the Fishmarket, may this be the source of the Post Modern mythology? See illustration: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur ... %26hl%3Den Cheers Malcolm
  11. Good morning all, If you scan most if not all of the many Yakuza films starring the late great Takakura Ken, you will see shirasaya being used in urban combat. See: 1.Abashiri Bangaichi: Bokyohen Dir: Ishii Teruo 1965 not to mention the host of follow ups: 2. Abashiri Bangaichi: Aku eno Chosen (1967) 3. Abashiri Bangaichi: Dai-setsugen no Taiketsu (1966) 4. Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Toso (1967) 5. Abashiri Bangaichi: Hokkai-hen (1966) 6. Abashiri Bangaichi: Ketto Reika 30 do (1967) 7. Abashiri Bangaichi: Koya no taiketsu (1966) 8. Abashiri Bangaichi: Nangoku no Taiketsu (1966) 9. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi (1968) 10. Shin abashiri bangaichi: arashi yobu danpu jingi (1972) 11. Shin abashiri bangaichi: Arashi yobu shiretoko-misaki (1971) 12. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Dai Shinrin no Ketto (1970) 13. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Dai-Dassou (1971) 14. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Fubuki no Hagure Okami (1970) 15. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Runin-masaki no ketto (1969) 16. Shin Abashiri Bangaichi: Saihate no Nagare-mono (1969) And of course the marvellous outing for Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken The Yakuza Dir: Sidney Pollack 1974 Just to up end the thread slightly, the matter of a wooden or bamboo blade in a koshirae, the once proud Samurai forced to sell his blade has become part of Japanese Chanbara Eiga genre. See: Tasogare Seibei (Twighlight Samurai) Dir: Yamada Yoji 2002 Seppuku (Harakiri) Dir: Kobayashi Masaki 1962 Cheers Malcolm
  12. Good Afternoon Ford, Here are a few possibles: http://www.old-Japan.co.uk/ http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/unive/ http://www.gettyimages.com/Creative?country=usa (Getty Images are geared up for media usage, and have some amazing 19th Century archives). Best regards Malcolm
  13. Good evening all, Excuse me if I've posted in the wrong area, but there's a very interesting tanto for sale in San Francisco, at Bonhams. http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.s ... 87-1-1.jpg The points of interest for me are: 1 The semi circular cut out on the tang,,,,,what is that? 2 The 5 7 5 leaf Paulownia Imperialis on the saya and the 3 5 3 Paulownia on the menuki...why? Cheers Malcolm
  14. Morning Zanshin, When I use the link provided on page 1 of this post: http://www.Nihontoden.co.uk. I get "Not Found" URL/error php was not found on this server. I get the same result also using Google. There is a flashing mysql repeat image when you try to access via: http://www.nihontoden.co.uk/site/forgotpasswd.php Is it IE8 playing up? (I've had some problems with Internet Explorer 8 recently.) Or is the site down? Cheers Malcolm
  15. Good Morning all, I have a problem accessing the new auction site, I'm using Internet Explorer 8. Cheers Malcolm
  16. Good Evening everyone, Can anyone help to clarify this: According to several Japanese websites, Yamaura Saneo's father was called Yamaura Masatomo (山浦昌友), but in Oi no Nezame, Saneo refers to his father Nobukaze (Inami: Nobukaze信風). It may be that his father's true name after his adulthood (Inami) was Nobukaze, and his Aza (common given name) was Masatomo. We are preparing a paper which we will share on NMB. Best Regards Malcolm
  17. Thank you Brian, I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. Best regards Malcolm PS It's interesting to watch Gunto emerging, one supposes from ancestral "Kura" in Japan......
  18. Good Morning all, A point of clarification between Gendai-to and Showa-to please. Tsuruta san currently has a Navy Gunto in the Aoi Art Auction, the blade of which he describes as Showa-to. https://www.aoi-art.com/auction/en/auct ... 1213703271 Cheers Malcolm
  19. Good Evening all, Hi Ian, I wonder if the holes are contemporary with the object, which is quite skilfully executed. The holes are pierced crudely, cutting the bottom hanging spray of foliage, and I agree that a clock movement might have been secured to it. The hooks may have been left to secure a wire or chain weight and pendulum on something like a Vienna Regulator movement, if the double hook was rotated 90 degrees to the right, the pendulum arm could be pushed into it whilst the clock movement was being wound. I think the playful cat is a clue and suggest Shinto festival and the hooks, which look "right" may have supported something like a shimenawa or similar straw offering to the Kamisama related to the season and pursuit. Cheers Malcolm
  20. Hi Rich, If you zoom in and look carefully at the tsuba in question, the line seems to continue the other side of the nakago ana, which suggests that if it is a sword damage, then it occured when the Tsuba was unmounted. I've a vague recollection of an article concerning the destruction testing of blades in the late Edo period using various items of varying resistances including Tsuba. Can anyone expand on this? Cheers Malcolm
  21. Good Morning all, I suggest that we don't see many tsuba with battlefield damage due to the fact that with the exception of the Bakumatsu/Boshin war period, the bulk of tsuba were produced during the Pax Tokugawa and thus pass down from an age with little conflict apart from personal. Tsuba surviving from Momoyama and before, survive perhaps for aesthetic reasons, the battlefield damaged pieces being discarded when a blade was remounted, in the same way Katchu becomes modified as it passes down the years. However, there's a tsuba with a suggested musket ball dent on No 9 of Grey's 30 Tsuba sale currently showing in For Sale or Trade. Here's some actual examples of a documented combat, the blade and habaki showing the scars to ha side: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/katanainfight.html and a Wakizashi with scar to mune: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/Taema.html Cheers Malcolm
  22. Good Evening all, Just picked up on this thread, and Moriyama san's observations about reversed menuki. In support of his opinion, I draw your attention to Tozando Budogu's Yagyu Koshirae Iai-To with "Sakasa Menuki" (Reversed position according to: the document of the historical Yagyu diary (sic) http://www.tozandoshop.com/Yagyu_Koshir ... 6-s106.htm Cheers Malcolm
  23. Thank you Moriyama san. Edited accordingly This is what makes NMB such an important study tool. Cheers Malcolm
  24. Thanks again Steve M. Here's a link to Saneo's work (No 4): http://www.choshuya.co.jp/0705/thanks_info.htm And to Kiyomaru's work: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... 26a106b238 On a wild aside, it seems that the Historical novellist Yoshikawa Eiji (1892 - 1962) wrote something about about Yamaura Kiyomaru's turbulent life in 1942 http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1335 ... 3details Cheers Malcolm
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