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drl

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Everything posted by drl

  1. I’m looking to purchase an outstanding seki-ryu hinawaju (for myself). Budget is >$10,000 for the right example. If you have a seki-ryu matchlock for sale or can recommend a seller, I would appreciate a message with contact information. Thank you very much! -David
  2. I’m looking to purchase one (for myself). If you have a seki-ryu matchlock for sale or can recommend a seller, I would appreciate a message with contact information. Thank you very much! -David
  3. Watching the video and other articles about Miura Hiromichi's great skill and devotion to the katchu tradition was one of the inspirations behind my own interest in this field. Rest in peace, Miura-sensei.
  4. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Ian, what a wonderful insight and a compelling theory—thank you for sharing. I especially agree with the likelihood that sellers of armor during the Meiji period or beyond would likely have wanted to remove identifying maedate. The shachi now feels just right, and I can't imagine Hiro (yes, I named him) without it now.
  5. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Swapped the circular central maedate with a shachi maedate. Comments welcome.
  6. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    I took better endoscope photos of the hachi mei (shown below). It definitely reads "Yoshihisa saku" (made by Yoshihisa). According to the Shin Kacchushi Meikan, the Myochin Yoshihisas who signed in this simple way (Yoshihisa saku) include: Myochin Yoshihisa (1532-1555 or 1528-1532, depending on the source) Myochin Yoshihisa, Fukui, early Edo period, died 1675 Of course, in the end it is just engravings on a gilded iron stripe, and there is some uncertainty about the Myochin lineage and evidence of self-spun genealogy among the Myochin line. The fact that the seller apparently did not know (and did not advertise) that the inside of the hachi was signed given the intact ukebari makes this discovery particularly fun. Thanks to everyone who helped piece together the above information.
  7. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Thank you so much, Piers! 🙏 This will be helpful given that the copy I ordered from Japan will take a while to get here and no expedited shipping was offered.
  8. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    I ordered it.
  9. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Thank you—I was told there was an English translation, but I suspect it might not include these photos. I guess I will get the Japanese version and use Google translate
  10. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Thanks, everyone for your helpful and educational comments. Uwe or anyone who has Shin Kacchushi Meikan: would it be possible to please share with me the photos of the kabuto and mei on pages 294 and 295? I was not able to locate a copy available for sale. Many thanks for your help.
  11. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    That would be excellent!
  12. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Thank you—I will do that if an English one is available.
  13. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Is that character (which Google tells me means “positive” simply part of the appraiser’s level of confidence, but wouldn’t be part of the mei? I assumed the mei would read “made by Yoshihisa” but the appraiser added the “positive” character as a customary reflection of confidence. Then again, I have no Japanese language knowledge whatsoever so I could be way off here
  14. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Here is the original endoscope photo that I almost disregarded in case anyone who can actually ready Japanese can decide the other “scratches”! The lighter golden stripe is not false color, but the actual image. It corresponds the underside of the front center plate of the kabuto. I’m not sure why it is so much lighter than the underside of the surrounding plates—I suspect the metal used on the front center plate decoration (which looks almost like heat-blued gun metal) created a different oxidation potential for this area of iron, which caused it to patina differently over the centuries.
  15. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Since the kabuto lining is intact, I used an endoscope to take photos of the inside of the center segment of the hachi. I didn’t think much of the photos when I first reviewed them, thinking all I saw was scratches but no mei. But today I took a closer look and it seems like one of the photos, when rotated 180 degrees and enlarged, has “scratches” that match the mei on the kabuto appraisal (Yoshihisa)! See the attached. I feel like some kind of nerd Indiana Jones! 😂 What are the characters below Yoshihisa? Thank you, Uwe, for inspiring me to take a closer look at the endoscope photos. And thank you, Jon M., for guiding me on where to look for a mei.
  16. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Details of the do.
  17. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Enlargement of side of kabuto, showing details that match those of the do (below).
  18. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Thank you, Uwe. I agree and have read several similar caveats from others (Abelson, Kozan, etc). I did see works in Kozan very similar to the hachi and menpo that Kozan’s book attributed to Myochin (in some cases with the same first name) but I only view the appraisal as evidence that the armor was created before 1703, the date of the appraisal, and that the Kabuto and menpo were likely made in the Myochin school.
  19. drl

    New yoroi acquisition

    Papers and labeled silk bags for each part (the bags are very thin and many were falling apart). The appraisals say the kabuto was made by Myochin Yoshihisa, and the menpo was made by Myochin Nobuiye. The appraisals are dated 1704, and those two Myochin smiths according to Kozan worked 1504-1554 (Nobuiye) and 1532-1554 (Yoshihisa).
  20. After many months of study, assisted in large part by members of this forum, I completed the acquisition of this yoroi set. Many thanks to the wonderful John Masutatsu for advice refining the armor arrangement for display. Suggestions and comments are welcome. I'll post papers of the mento and kabuto below.
  21. I fully agree about storing the original even if I find an exceptional creature maedate to study and display on occasion, and I am already documenting everything. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Best, David
  22. You have an amazing visual memory. Yes, and I did already ask Tsuruta-san. They did not have any such maedate but kindly offered to keep an eye open for one.
  23. Thank you; I sent them an email inquiry. If it is helpful, here is the Kabuto on which I would like to mount an extraordinary creature maedate (replacing the circular maedate):
  24. Thank you for these helpful replies. It appears the Kinikuniya store is sold out of virtually all items, but I enjoyed reading about many of their sold items. I would appreciate any additional suggestions as well. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge.
  25. I'm grateful to this whole forum for serving as a source of katchu education for so many people, including myself. I've become fascinated with maedate—especially the ones of intricately carved creatures (dragons, shishi lions, octopi, imps, etc.). Can someone please recommend dealers that sell high-quality maedate of this type? Or if you have some outstanding maedate for sale, please let me know. Thank you in advance.
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