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Ron, I have read that pure clove oil should not be used on swords..have you ever heard this? I just did a little reading and its possible that whale oil was used, whales were hunted in Japan for many hunderds of years and whale oil is one of the best lubricants in the world. Camellia oil has been mentioned also.

Thanks Ron, very interesting, I have never used black powder so the water thing is news to me. Do you know what kind of oil would have been used..I do not know when petroleum based oil would have started to be used in Japan.

Ron or Piers....I was wondering how tanegashima used to be cleaned and do you use the same method to clean them now. I have not seen any info in this.

I have used heat to loosen old plumbing parts that were stuck together so thats a very good explanation, is heat ever used to re-patina the nakago?

Ron, now I will have to count the toes on my "Japanese Dragon" saya!! Good eyes and good info.

Keith, thanks..I will check the thread..what in particular identifies the set in the tread as Chinese...I see them sometimes listed for sale as Chinese and sometimes as Japanese..I cant seem to see a difference..is it the material..I have never seen a utensil set labeled as Japanese that was made from bone or ivory..

Nice one jean, I have a set also, this one was supposed to be Japanese, I have looked all over and can not find any more info on these utensil sets. If any one has any more info or ideas lets hear it.

In Don Cunninghams book Samurai Weapons page 26 he has one of these knife chop stix holders pictured and labeled as part of a category he calls "mijikimono" which he translates as meaning "small, readily available implements" He states that samurai etc carried a variety of common everyday implements tucked into their obi. "Even utensils such as a small knife and other implements for dining". page 27 ???????? Did the Japanese own these but not make them or is Cunningham wrong...or did the Japanese actually make and use these...

Not Japanese, Chinese Jean, do you mean Chinese as in a reproduction or just Chinese?..what are you seeing?

Dow, nice items..I do not think anyone will complain about seeing some more pics..

Piers, I have heard of Tanegashima being converted into a more modern type, have you ever seen one. Quite a while ago I saw what looked like a Tanegashima but it was a bolt action but I did not know enough about them at the time to be sure. Here is a quote from Giving Up The Gun..by Noel Perrin page 75 "Early Japanese guns were astonishingly well made.........they were retired to government storehouses for a couple of centuries.......they were brought out and converted to percussion rifles for the new national army.....still later, at the time of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904, some thousands of them were converted a second time, to bolt action rifles." He goes on to say that the American gun expert Robert Kimbrough wrote that he saw tanegashima with names and dates from the mid 1600s which were converted to bolt action rifles.

Tanegashima have followed many paths up to the present day, Eric. Many are still as they were, or have been taken back from modernization to their original look. These will all have their paperwork and stay happily within the Japanese context, registered as works with historical or artistic value. The Tanegashima stock and barrel is pretty sturdy, so with a quick lock and pan fix they were able to evolve and be pressed into service with a temporary patch measure on many occasions. All you needed was a Teppo-kaji blacksmith and the know-how. I have seen all kinds of 'modernized' locks, but bolt action, not a lot, Eric. We must remember however, that they were all smooth bore. Perhaps by the advent of bolt action, rifling was a prerequisite, so only as a last measure or as an interesting mental challenge would they be made into bolt action. It would require too much work to change it into a breech loader and add the mechanism. Japan has occasionally fallen on hard times and the family Tanegashima was pressed into service for bagging game in the mountains, I guess. I once owned a leather powder flask with remnants of blackpowder inside. The powder scoops were old brass rifle cartridges, with the edges worn on one side. What does this tell you about how late it was still in use? Piers, your right..it would be a lot of work, could have just been the stock that was used in the one I saw.

Piers, I have heard of Tanegashima being converted into a more modern type, have you ever seen one. Quite a while ago I saw what looked like a Tanegashima but it was a bolt action but I did not know enough about them at the time to be sure.

Piers, that picture explains it all, thanks

Sometimes the so called "low quality" items are more interesting to me...I cant tell you how many times I see some little item like these and wonder what it was. What exactly is a bisen, and a hayago is for storing powder?

"a women's naginata" I thought that a womans naginata was pink with flowers painted on it!

Thanks both...very good thoughts..I guess I will have to break out the old rice cooker..I have wondered what kind of glue was used way back..I recently took apart the lid of an old armor storage box which needs to be repaired and I found an unusual glue built up in the corners with paper over it helping to hold the lid together, sounds like the same stuff.

Maybe its the light or the picture but the pole looks like it was painted instead of lacquered and the mon looks a little unrefined, not picking just wondering, but it is a very nice blade...does not look like it really needs to be polished at least compared to most naginata I see, which for some reason are usually in bad shape.

Ah...very interesting Any idea why no other glue should be used?

Any history on this naginata? The pole does not appear to be old but the blade look to be in good shape.

Grey, I have a similar problem, why no other glue and any idea were one can purchase rice glue, thanks

Moss, here are a pair of side protectors for sale in Japan. Probably not quite the colors you were looking for but....... http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/view2 ... /r63805988

One more thing..the leather combat cover on the sword being discussed..its very hard to fake age on this type of cover, the one shown looks like it was soaked in salt water..I have never seen a real one which even remotely looks like that and I have seen some really worn ones. The other thing you see is the leather sometimes looks brand new with no age appropriate wear.

Ville, what were you told about this sword, and do you have close up pictures of the blade.

Keith, as for the ebay seller, did you look at his other items? Did you see how many of the same type of swords he was selling, no one has that many of the same kind for sale. Did you see that no one was bidding on his swords, thats a very good clue without knowing anything about swords at all. The shop you mentioned that has a sword for $387...that seems to be very inexpensive, on ebay the real machine made Japanese ww2 swords sell for more then that. Can you take any pictures of the sword in the shop. Without some study it is very hard sometimes to tell what is real and what is fake, I see people all the time buying fake swords on ebay for high prices.