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Waiting patiently Piers.

Well since my original post I have found a few more images of these very rare armors, here is one that recently sold in Japan, I was hoping nobody would notice it so I could afford it but no such luck, it sold for a rather high price and will probably not be seen again, I would describe this as a kusari tatami dou gusoku as it is a portable folding armor much like the karuta and kikko tatami dou gusoku. I looks like it got a lot of use and although its not pretty seeing items like this expands our knowledge of the subject. Just a few years ago it was common to hear people say that the samurai did not make and use full suits of chainmail (kusari) armor and with the exception of Ian's book it was nearly impossible to find any images online to counter that statement, now its a different story.

Justin, it may be greed with some people but with so many people doing it I have to wonder if there is more to it, maybe a complete lack of interest in their own samurai history and a lack of understanding on how we in the west view their history, if it was pure greed why not at least try to ask a high price on the complete matched armor before breaking it up, it is known at least in the west that a matching armor is worth more than the individual parts. I was looking a the Japanese Wikipedia site and was really amazed at how little information there was on samurai armor and weapons as compared to the English and even the German Wikipedias. Japanese Wikipedia http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%98%B2%E5%85%B7 German Wikipedia http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie: ... C3%BCstung English Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:S ... _equipment

You have a good eye John, its certainly not an "art sword"!!!

Whether samurai for the most part wore completely matched armor is an interesting subject, my observations on armors I see for sale coming from Japan are that there seems to be many more high grade matching armors for sale than lower grade armors. It is not unusual to see completely matching mid to high grade armors and it is very rare to find completely matching low grade and ashigaru type armors. What is perfectly evident is the fact that many people who have armor for sale in Japan today have no problem breaking up completely matched suits of armor without even first attempting to sell the complete armor. I see armor after armor being sold by the piece. A very strange and disturbing turn of events. Right now I am watching a completely matching very high grade replica O-Yoroi armor being sold in pieces without any attempt to have sold it whole first, this is a very costly and from what I can see very accurate copy of an important historical armor that anyone who has an interest in samurai armor would love to own and it will be forever just some individual pieces scattered around the world.

Ian, so possibly an umajirushi type item with posts for some type of ball, gourd, flag etc, that makes sense as there seems to be many variations, some quite unusual. Here is a good source from the Samurai archives. http://forums.samurai-archives.com/view ... sc&start=0

Piers, Morita san and Ian, thanks for the help, it is very much appreciated as always. I have searched everywere and can not find a term for the tassels, I suppose "uma agemaki" will do. to differentiate from the yoroi agemaki. As for the other item I was thinking yari saya at first but the socket is to round and on close inspection there are 2 small rods projecting out at a 90 degree angle, I would expect to see only one support rod on a sashimono pole and no rods on an umajirushi. if both rods were used to support some sort of banner or flag then there would be two at 90 degree angles to each other, I will have to check some prints to see if that 90 degree configuration was ever used. Anyway it does seem to be some type of finial for a flag pole.

I recently purchased this old wooden box that had gone unsold for quite some time, the price was rather low but unfortunately for the seller they did not take very good pictures and it was hard to see exactly what they were selling. I took a chance that the items were horse related agemaki like tassels and when they arrived thats what they were. The box has some writing on the inside of the lid and I am hoping that it has some relation to the contents. There was another strange looking item inside the box also which I am not sure of. Any guesses on what the hairy brush like item is? I am still looking for the correct name of the tassels also.

You sold one of your tanegashima? This has to be good!!!

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This umbari has the same sort of scrawled look I think.

Thanks to everyone for the information on this exhibit, if anyone happens to go see it I would appreciate any detailed images of the horse related items if possible.

Thanks Piers, I have never seen these pictured before, its always nice learning something new.

Two items associated with the collection of heads that were at one time were probably quite common but now almost impossible to find are the kubi oke (head bucket) and the kubi bukuro (head bag). George stone in his book mentions both items along with the kubikuri with pictures of a kubi bukuro and an unusual kubikuri.. http://books.google.com/books?id=J5Pgap ... oki&f=true The Rock Hill Herald - Feb 18, 1921 has an article on the kubi oke http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 27,1712834 And here is a picture of a kubi oke that supposedly held Taira no Masakado's head for untill it was destroyed during ww2. http://english.tsukudo.jp/treasure-backet.html This is the only other image of a kubi oke I know of.

Piers, do not think we are not watching just because we do not comment, in my case I always enjoy reading all the postings here, often I am traveling and I can see the posts, I just cant get add comments through my phone!

Both nice examples of whats available for sale outside of Japan, I remember Brian and at least one other forum member mentioning that they were possibly looking to purchase one eventually.

I saw this tanegashima listed and thought I would post a link for those that have expressed an interest in owning one. http://www.mlagb.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB ... 1318894581 http://s1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... Matchlock/

This is a fascinating subject in its self as blades signed in this manner are not considered to be gimei. I have always wondered how these dai mei blades were differentiated from gimei blades when being sold and at shinza. http://meiboku.info/mei/types/index.htm Dai Mei:This is a signature of a smith which is chiselled on a nakago by his family or students, with his permission. It is regarded as a genuine signature. Dai Saku Mei :Swords made in a smith's style by his students with his permission were often signed personally by the smith. This is called dai saku mei and is regarded as genuine.

I rarely notice tsuba but this one made me stop and take a look, maybe that was the intention of its creator.

I posted pictures of this wooden sword awhile back and there was some controversy as to what this item was since it has sword type fittings including kurikata. I just found a quote which offers an explaination as to how these types of bokken-bokuto could have been used. Classical weaponry of Japan: special weapons and tactics of the martial arts, Serge Mol http://books.google.com/books?id=ZzIXkF ... nbo&f=true

Piers, this is the best I could get it, sorry.

I found this, any help?

Thanks Keith, some good pointers, as for the age, my question was what signs someone with out a huge amount of nihonto knowledge would look for that would point to a blade being a tachi, age would be a good indicator but being able to figure out age would take knowledge of even more characteristics.

Here is a perfect example of the type of blade I was talking about in the first place, obviously old, unsigned, being called a tachi, can anyone with some knowledge of the subject point out any identifying factors which would show this blade to be a tachi as opposed to a uchigatana or just a daito. Since this is a current ebay auction I am not looking for a discussion on the merits of the blade just information on what would or would not identify this as a tachi, thanks. Japanese Sword Tachi Yamato School Kamakura period 74.3cm http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Sword- ... 645wt_1032