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Sendai Zutsu mebbe?


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Dear Friends,

Please allow me to show images of a gun in my collection - and in so doing beg the expert help of this community.

The overall appearance of this gun makes me wonder if it might be a "Sendai zutsu". But, the the barrel which is very rusty seems to have a mei to" Eshu Kunitomo Minamoto Shige somebody else"

Please advise!

Peter

Sorry, My images are too big - and I am a slow learner!

Edited by Peter Bleed
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Peter, can I get back to you on this? (I am about to leave the house.) A sweet little gun. :thumbsup:

 

The general appearance is of an Iyo gun in Shikoku. Usually their guns were made by Sakai smiths, but yours is (unusually perhaps) made by a listed Kunitomo smith. The full name is readable, rest assured, but before committing here I would prefer to double-check the Romanizations of all the Kanji in context. (That is what will take the time!)

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Piers,

Well, gee. I patiently tap my toe. I saw in this arm a rather flat design, with a pierced trigger and a pan that looked a bit forward so I wondered about a Sendai connection. It is also impressive to me how little overlap there is between  swordsmith and gun smith names. Those Japanese!

Peter

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Will be home in about three hours, Peter!!!

(Funnily enough, I have just been handling a short version of your gun.)

 

Finally............

江州国友源重郎允雄

Spoiler

Go-Shu Kunitomo Genjuro Mitsuo

The 8th generation from Gen-uemon of the Keicho era, Genjuro Mitsuo made various guns, 2-Monme, 100-Monme, dated for example Bunka 10. The 2-Monme is recorded as being part of the Matsumoto Castle Armoury. (Said to be a disciple of the famous Kunitomo Ikkansai.) 

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Well, Piers cracked it in fine fashion. I have encircled two areas which differs from a Sendai zutsu. 
On a ”true” Sendai, the Kaiguchi (match holder) is very elongated. The locals calls it a horse face.

The little plate at base of the Hibasami  (forgot the proper name) is drop-shaped on a Sendai.

Small but important details when looking for the origin of a matchlock.

On a sidenote; there were several gunsmith families working in and around of Sendai during the Edo period, that signed their work with Goshu Kunitomo...

I guess the Kunitomo pedigree, was so important, that even after the family relocated to Sendai, they continued to sign their work with the famous village of Kunitomo.

 

Jan

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The little upright feature on the left is called the ibo-kakushi or wart-guard/screen. They *tend to have different shapes by area, as Jan says, with Iyo having a diagonal, forward-falling top facet. Iyo back sights tend to be a solid rectangular box, whereas Sendai's are stepped.

 

Your 'rather flat design' is true, and does make things difficult. If anything, Iyo are the flattest of the lot, though Satsuma long guns also seem to be rather featureless at a distance. The loop 'pierced' trigger is also a common feature between Sendai and Iyo, although Sendai will often have a trigger guard too. The decorations, if present, and the choice of wood have very different feelings.

 

At a glance, Sendai long guns (to me) have a more solid appearance, whereas Iyo-zutsu seem altogether lighter and less substantial.

 

*'Tendencies' is probably the safer way to go as confusing exceptions to the rule will pop up all the time!  

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Peter, it is a pleasure, and refreshing to find someone on the inner track, zeroed in on the actual details like this. It sounds like you have a bad case of :wub: ...

 

PS Maybe one day after normality returns we can all meet up in Sweden or Japan or somewhere and go over a collection or two together.

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