Bazza

OTTOMH at first glance it looks like a Hizentou, agreed. But then I look at the nakagojiri and I don't see Hizen - unless it is a waki-Hizen I'm not so familiar with. Then I look at the hada and it seems too loose to be a mainline Hizentou... Mmmmm. VERY nice pickup, though. Oi loiks it.

Peter said: > They were a matched pair of short nails with silver foil covered sakura-shaped > head that had been pounded into the mekugi. They came out - although the > mekugi was totally trashed. The fact that the mekugi was totally trashed says to me this was not done by a Japanese craftsman, but by some arstistic goombah (East or West) wanting to jazz up the appearance of a plain bamboo mekugi. I have occasionally seen these decorative style heads in tanto tsuka, but they were attached to a tight sleeve/pin style sliding fit. Also seen, of course, are horn mekugi that look quite nice without any decorated tack heads. BaZZa.

I go for printed - the wait will be well worth it. I think the phrase is "deferred gratification"... BaZZa.

Richard, Looks like it has a fukurin??? Even expertly following around and into the inome... BaZZa.

Chris, I'll stick my neck out and say there is NO SUCH THING as a "base polish" for a blade that is considered collectible - there is no purpose or point in doing so. There is something called a "base polish", but is properly called SHITAJI TOGI. This is the first phase of polishing wherein the basic shape of the blade is "set" - that is, pitting, chips, rust, "woofs" from a previous polish etc etc etc are removed and the sugata fine-tuned as necesary. The togishi then thoroughly cleans his togidai (polishing station) for the second phase of polishing called SHIAGE TOGI. This is the "finishing" phase where the hamon and hada are brought out and burnishing of shinogiji and mune are DONE. The point is, when the shitaji togi is finished hardly any features can be seen. It is the shiage togi that brings out the hamon. In short Chris, for a collectible sword the only way to go is a complete polish from start to finish. Anything else is fiddling/tinkering/stuffing around or whatever you want to call it... The most important thing right upfront is determining whether your sword is worthy of the full process. BaZZa.

Neil, Can you tell us more about the rare blackened variety, please?? I've never seen one that I can recall. BaZZa.

Hmmm, I'm the first to admit I "know nuuuthing" about kodogu/tosogu apart from liking them all... BUT.. I would opine for fail simply on the appearance of the mei. Having seen a bit of GOTO work, without even going to the books the mei seems right upfront strange to me. As Pete Klein said "My feeling is that it may not pass shinsa but if it is recognized as shoshin then it would be a 'very' important addition to canon". As for the work I think its very good and I would love to have it in my collection. Looking forward to the result. BaZZa.

Agree with the above expressions. Having said that it does appear to be a rarer type of bayonet, being double edged and much shorter than the usual bayonets seen with Arisaka rifles. BaZZa.

Jojo, On your original box lid query you might want to investigate infrared photography. Best regards, BaZZa.

A couple of years ago in another thread I promised to present a bajou zutsu found in a toolbox in a shed in country Australia. It has taken awhile to get around to writing it up, but here it is. Firstly, I acknowledge Piers Dowding who agreed it was a genuine bajou zutsu and further opined that the stock had been sanded, always a problem with casual acquisition by people who can see a way to “improve” a piece. Piers also commented that the pan lid seems to have been replaced, possibly abroad as the shape is unusual. The overall length is 20 3/8 inches (51.8 cm) with the barrel length 13 inches (30.0 cm). It is somewhat degraded due to poor treatment and storage over the ages, but it is signed and nearly complete. Although it reminds me of a Kunitomo gun, I’m not sure if there is a flash shield missing or not. It has what I consider to be a high quality lock. I have three short-barrelled Kunitomo matchlocks with internal coiled springs for the hammer, but this bajou zutsu also has an additional coiled spring for the trigger. I am surprised to not see a maker’s mark on the lock as my three guns all have a maker’s mark stamped inside. The signature is simply MORIMASA SAKU 盛 正 作 with a number SHICHI 七 on an adjacent barrel flat. The muzzle shape is quite distinctive so I hope some someone can identify the gunsmith in a book and reveal the school he worked in and perhaps the age of the gun - from my limited experience I’m thinking ca 1800?? A very exciting find here in Oz and one wonders how some of the things we see here originally came to Australia. Best regards, BaZZa. (aka Barry Thomas)

Hooooo - that IS a smile... a very benign smile... or is it a smirk??? BaZZa.

Dear Ffolke, Found this link during a post-dinner trawl: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/770889661192407860/ Some very interesting photos IMHO. Enjoy. BaZZa.

Thank you Peter. Having studied the Opium Wars at one time in my life I found this very interesting indeed. It is far less sanitised than the history book my course at the time was using, sticking in the main to "the facts ma'am, just the facts". BaZZa.

Somewhere in the vast chaos of my files I have a photo or two of a kakae zutsu by KYUBEI. This massive gun had a bore of some 25mm AND was a san ju makibari. When I find the details I'll post them, but for heaven's sake don't anyone hold their breath waiting... I had the gun in hand for a brief moment in time before it was sold elsewhere, now a very long time ago. I truly had trouble holding it due to its great weight. BaZZa.

It has been discussed at length here on NMB, though I have no idea when. Perhaps a participant in the particular thread/s can point to it. BaZZa.

Unusually (and interestingly) the decoration appears to be lacquer and not metal. The signature is of the lacquer artisan. BaZZa.

Luca said "bitter morsels are part of the learning process..." A very apt phrase that any longer-experienced collector recognises instantly... BaZZa.

Chinese?? BaZZa.

Rare, but one must also be aware of "sweating" shirasaya. I once (in my young, green daze) left a newly polished sword in shirasaya on the rear parcel shelf of my car in the sun. Taking the blade out only a few hours later it had what looked like fly-specks on the surface - rust. I take it that moisture had evaporated out of the shirasaya in direct sunlight and condensed on the blade. The message? Even inside your house take care to not leave a shirasaya-mounted blade in direct sunlight. BaZZa.

"Pillow spear"??? BaZZa.

I stumbled upon this link: https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%8A%A0%E8%97%A4%E6%BD%AE%E5%85%89&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CdR-nxP2seNOIjhsVvgKUpZ6x-1gZSiifvm0LTQ0H-CzmefgoY9RC_1Yg-2a5NYiHTfUyBAZ94pE4YT_1dMQ8I55rHaioSCWxW-ApSlnrHEX1syB6say6NKhIJ7WBlKKJ--bQRABQDpyCpexQqEgktNDQf4LOZ5xHTvn3IIkbtuCoSCeChj1EL9iD7EU2cjm81xbmJKhIJZrk1iIdN9TIRa3gZY_1dDzGAqEgkEBn3ikThhPxH6SvyRlNa-QioSCd0xDwjnmsdqEdqKmtGayGUT&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimjuS_ooPdAhUSPXAKHUucD8sQ9C96BAgBEBg&biw=1680&bih=936&dpr=1 A dreadful mess of characters I know, but it works. OF course there is modern stuff in there too, but otherwise some very interesting photos of old time (read post-Meiji) portraits. In the first row I'm wondering if the 5th gentleman from the left is Toyama Mitsuru??? BaZZa.

SAKU - don't forget the saku under KIKU ICHIMONJI... I can't read any of the other side of the tang... BaZZa.

Neil wrote: > ... since the new GST legislation took effect 1st July What is the essence of this change?? Are they now charging GST on items less than AUD $1,000?? That would catch tsuba, fuchigashira etc etc... BaZZa.

Hmmmm, despite what "people" say I find fb/Social Media is clumsy to navigate - is it just me??? I love the Forum format, but in deference to Ian I will "attach" myself to his new group. I'm running out of time in the day to follow all that I would like. Sighhhh, God please, more lifetimes for Nihonto/Katchu devotees... BaZZa.

What catches my attention immediately is to ask why is the back of the tsuba the more pictorially decorative than the front where the signature is??? "Back" being defined by the kozuka hitsuana. BaZZa.