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Jean, the Haitōrei_Edict was post Edo period and had to do with the abolishment of the special rights previously granted to samurai, as far as I know it has nothing to do with merchants owning wakizashi.

Jean, some people here have this view, I myself have never seen any actual evidence showing the validity of this statement, do you or anyone else here know of any actual proof that wakizashi were not typical to samurai during the Edo Period, or maybe I am not quite understanding you. Are you saying that a wakizashi may have possibly have been owned by a merchant and therefore not the exclusive property of samurai as in the case of katana and longer swords.

Start a "Nihonto Message Board" Pinterest site and link it to the forum, if a few interested forum members would add images from forum discussions to a Pinterest image gallery this would be a good alternate advertising method for the forum. This is a great way to share knowledge and information with people from around the world who may not know about the forum. Along with sword related images, articles and books can also be stored and shared on Pinterest, here is an example from my Pinterest board. Glossary of samurai armor / weapons related terms and reference material. https://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/glossary-of-samurai-armor-weapons-related-terms-an/ My Pinterest board is not exclusive to nihonto related images and information but here is a link, you will get an idea of the possibilities. I currently have over 3600 people who watch my board and the images and information I post are copied and reposted by people all over the world. If you are serious about getting the word out about the Nihonto forum and Japanese swords I know of no better way than Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/

There are not any features on this item that can even be remotely called Japanese.

Someone paid a lot of money for an item that had a couple of horrible pictures.

Slightly updated.

What Jo has done is truly remarkable, he has put the slightist crack in the formally impenetrable wall that has surrounded the study and research conducted by the Japanese members of the Japanese Armor Society. I am not sure exactly how or what circumstances have set this new outreach program in motion but Jo has obviously spent a lot of time and effort over the years to get things to this point and anyone with an interest in the subject of Japanese armor should support this effort. Hopefully this will lead to a cross cultural exchange of knowledge in the future, unfortunately language and culture barriers keep this a one way exchange for now.

Brian, I was going do what you suggested but the images would not transfer, I keep getting this message (You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community.) Does this mean that every image would have to be downloaded and then uploaded? When I did a preview the images show up fine but I can not save them to the post.

Jason, due to the high cost of shipping large and or heavy items, buying from Japan can be expensive, smaller items will be much more reasonable. I would recommend Kelly Schmidt for those who want to buy more expensive items from Japan but would prefer to deal with someone who speaks fluent English. Kelly is Canadian I believe and he lives in Japan. He can ask sellers questions for you, bargain, bid and reship any won items. If you find the item yourself he charges a %15 fee (6000yen minimum per item) in addition to local shipping and international shipping fees. I have purchased several expensive and delicate items through Kelly over a several year period without any problems. schmidt_araki@yahoo.co.jp

Thanks Piers, as fastidious as the Japanese are about labeling every part its hard to imagine that this ring was overlooked.

Piers, any luck with this ring, there must be some name for it, this is a commonly seen part.

Giles, I am sure that this is a reproduction, there are no signs of age or use.

Compare the one from Aoi (top) against one from another Japanese dealer (bottom).

Piers, real kusarigama are very rare and usually expensive, look for hand forged chain.

Piers, I thought that "Jin" referred to war as in jingasa (war hat) and jinbaori (war coat). Kirishima Matsugorō with a sickle on a bamboo pole, by Kaisai Yoshitoshi hitsu, from Biographies of Modern Men (Kinsei kyōgiden)' (1865 - 1866).

Malcolm, how were the prices? This looks like what I see being called kaga style hanbo, the leather edging on the bottom edge makes me thing it is from a Hosokawa armor.

Brian, I added the rectangular sling hole to your version of the chart, as for "flash pan hole" how about "hizara-ana"?

Thanks Piers, I was not sure if they were the same, what about the ring underneath near the trigger?

Is there a term for the rectangular slot in the stock and the metal ring on the butt as indicated by the red arrows?

At the same time he should be given the credit he deserves for being just about the only Japanese national who makes any attempt to communucate his knowledge to Westerners, something which appears to be frowned on by some in the Japanese matchlock collecting communuty.

This may be of some help (or possibly confuse you).

Brian, are you sure that there is no way to add a "like" feature to the forum? This looks good, thanks.

Ron, something like this? http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/origi ... 4e9f28.jpg

Here is another Japanese percussion method that fired from the center of the barrel.