Edo Period Corner Part II

[Bugyotsuji]

https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%8F%93%E5%AD%90%E5%9E%8B-461983

 

I can see now where you are coming from, Malcolm.

[Brian]

No idea. The Japanese were not huge into ping-pong 

[Bugyotsuji]

(Brian! Very good. Hago-ita though has a long history, from Heian!)

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/羽子板#/media/File:Kusakabe_Kimbei_152_Girls.JPG

 

The answer to yesterday's quiz can be worked from here, for those who like mathematics:

(Oh, and the faint sword connection is that these were often hidden in the koshirae.)

[Baka Gaijin]

   

 

Without letting the feline out of the portmanteau, they came in two sizes and there were 80 parts involved in both cases.

 

You can bank on me to be discrete.

[Bugyotsuji]

Malcolm, you're a card. The important numbers were 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16. Also 250, 500 and 一貫 Ikkan 1,000.

We can define the dates of this to somewhere between 1830 and 1870.

 

PS For another hint, check out the sumi brushwriting on either side.

[Brian]

Very cool. Yes, seen them hidden in tanto rarely.
Nice.

[Bugyotsuji]

And that really brings us to the clearing. The smallest common coins for everyday use were the Mon copper or bronze cash, and the largest denomination for calculation purposes was the Ryo.

 

One gold Ryo Koban　一両小判 was worth 2 'NiBuKin'二分金, or four 'Ichi-Bu' 一分 (either gold or silver), 16 gold or silver Shu朱 (8 gold nishu kin 二朱金) or 4,000 Mon文.

 

I have heard it said that a samurai could carry these small gold or silver coins or nuggets hidden about him, which could be changed for lowly Mon coins for everyday necessities.

 

The black ships turned up off Uraga in 1853. The Bakufu decided to build 'Odaiba' an artificial island with fort cannon emplacements in Edo Bay the following year, and the workers were paid 250 Mon a day, ie in the newly-issued (1864)One-Shu silver rectangular coins.

 

The tray which I found in an antiques market is divided into 80 spaces each side.

*One side is 5 Ryo's worth, i.e. 80 Isshu Gin coins, @16 every two rows (= One Ryo). (cf One Shu, a day's wages @ 250 Mon.)

*The other side is for 10 Ryo's worth, 80 of the smaller gold 2 Shu coins, each worth 500 Mon.

 

Since we know when the coins were issued and in circulation, and these little silver and gold coins were probably the most useful denominations above the 1 Mon, 4 Mon and the Tempo 10 Mon, it must have been used in a financial clearing office of some kind.

[Bugyotsuji]

Here is the mathematics behind it.

 

The little 2-Shu in the frame above is worth between 35 and 70 USD today depending on condition and rarity apparently.

[Baka Gaijin]

Spot on Piers!!

 

Puts Odaiba into a whole different perspective.

 

I suspect you may have touched upon something most Bakumatsu Edokko and present day Tokyoites weren't and aren't aware of....

[Bugyotsuji]

Oops, yes, that reminds me Malcolm, thanks, the silver coins issued to the workforce were nicknamed ‘Odaiba Gin’ or Odaiba silvers.

[Baka Gaijin]

I may have some similar items in the stock room, I'll check tmw.

[John A Stuart]

I have a little collection of these monies, with chart, including some various Tsuho. Scroll down a bit John

http://www.johnstuart.biz/new_page_12.htm

[Bugyotsuji]

A sweet collection and chart. Many thanks, John.

[Baka Gaijin]

A selection of coins:

 

 

[Brian]

Nice! Do you sell, Malcolm?

[Bugyotsuji]

Brian, too late, he's just assured me that he will be donating them to the famous Bugyotsuji Foundation.

[Baka Gaijin]

Sorry chaps, sold yesterday afternoon.

 

However, I will keep you both posted by PM when more come to light.

 

Now about that box full of Teppo at the back of the stock room...............

[IanB]

For the weekend at the Japan Day bash in Manchester I took a stag-horn mounted  tanto with a drawer for coins instead of a blade. There is one illustrated in the book on Edo tanto koshirae that is identical, except that mine has carved antler feathers as menuki whilst the illustrated one has coins.

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

Recently my brain started seeing associations concerning specifically red and black lacquer, perhaps the two most common colours, with a history going back thousands of years throughout the Far East. Think eating bowls and armoured parts like Kabuto, hanbo, etc., often red inside and black outside. (Granted you do also find quite a lot of opaque or semi translucent lacquer used for protecting a variety of materials, e.g. washi paper, leather, iron, etc against the weather.) Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the people choose the colours according to some deep aesthetic sensibility, or did they find them in nature?

The question of why these two colours for lacquer seemed to answer itself one day on a walk near here. See photograph 1, with luck.

Opening a small Christmas present early I discovered a red and black lacquered koshirae for a Tanto or kogatana (perhaps), with a wood tsunagi blade inside. This reminded me of a red & black set of armour which I saw at the Japan national armour convention held in Okayama at the Prefectural Museum this year. See thread:

https://www.japanesearmorsociety.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=354

This set of armour belongs to the Takahashi City Museum of History and Art, and the colour combination had at that time immediately reminded me of Italian, perhaps Vatican armour. The plate below said '17th C'. Photos 2, 3.
 

[Bugyotsuji]

And photos 2 and 3

[John A Stuart]

The earliest stable pigments for urushiol were earth based, iron oxides. So, red and black. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Haha, John, so the answer is never quite so simple, more a compound answer, a 必然 'hitsuzen' rather than 自然 'shizen', a necessary occurrence, the inevitable coming together of disparate factors, rather than a simply natural one.

[John A Stuart]

Or yoko 僥倖 John

[Bugyotsuji]

Had to look that one up!

[Gunome]

Hello,

 

Thanks for sharing, I also have a black and red saya in a tanto that has kaga fitting in shakudo & shibuishi.

I first thought the bi-coloration of saya was to match the kojiri, but thanks to this post, I discover there is another explanations.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Mmmm.... nice koshirae, and I like your Kaga connection idea, Sebastien.

 

PS My little red & black one above is a Tanto, I confirmed today.

 

PPS Oh, and I lied about the Christmas present. Since there are none under the tree, or there weren't any last time I looked, I decided that this little koshirae could be a prezzie to myself.

 

But wait!

Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call yesterday to say that a friend was holding a gift for me and when could I come round. My wife said, "oh yes, that will be お歳暮 Oseibo for the New Year, some 海苔 nori or ham perhaps. Today I went to collect the article, and was handed a beautiful Wakizashi koshirae. 'In thanks for past services rendered'! Wow, what an Oseibo!

 

This is great as I have been hit by a string of financial disasters this year, mostly of my own making. This guy, who is directly descended from a general in the Sengoku Era and should be a Daimyo himself, suddenly decides to reward me for helping him link up with a Tanto made and signed specifically for his forebear by Katsumitsu. This ancestor lived in a castle north of Osafune at the time Katsumitsu forged it, and his forebear actually appears on a horse in one of those Sekigahara byobu screens.

 

Now all I have to do is find a blade that fits, and drill a new hole in the Nakago!

[Bugyotsuji]

PS Maybe this was not an Oseibo, but a Christmas present, in honor of the Emperor’s birthday today?

[Guest]

Very interesting koshirae Piers.

 

Is that a third suspension ring on the Kojiri?

 

Also the himo linking the tsuka and saya is a neat twist..........

[Bugyotsuji]

Malcolm, ya got me! There is a hole for a lanyard through the tsuka, and then two rings, one on the kojiri as you say, but what for?

 

The koikuchi/habaki fit is a little loose, so it is now away being shimmed. Temporarily I had put the himo through the saya ring to stop them falling apart.

 

The reverse-screw mekugi in the tsuka is typical bakumatsu or later. Most of the metal work, fuchi kashira, kojiri appears to be some form of shibuichi with high silver and copper content. It brushes up to a good dark sheen.

 

My sword-appreciation Sensei mentioned that he had a tanto that might fit exactly, in for a new habaki fitting. The owner has decided to give the blade some proper TLC. I told him to mention this koshirae to his customer and suggest a marriage.

[TETSUGENDO]

Fine koshirae Piers,  if the marriage happens.... please post pics of the happy couple!

 

Cheers,

    -S-

p.s.- Best Holiday wishes.