Lordd_Humungous Posted May 12 Report Posted May 12 I write fiction and have played with the idea of a short story centered around a samurai having his swords re-mounted in new koshirae in the mid to late Edo period, only I haven't found sources on what this process might have looked like for any samurai from any area, status etc. If anyone knows of any books, sites etc that give some information about the topic I would love to see it Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 8 hours ago, Toryu2020 said: https://nihonto.com/nakai-koshirae/ Just - WOW! 3 Quote
Bazza Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 GASP!!! I see the cursed silver fish activity. The world is fortunate that the papers have survived for us. BaZZa. 1 Quote
Robert S Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said: Just - WOW! If anything, Bruce might be guilty of understatement . The combination of the exquisite work in each of the pieces with the accompanying documentation, including artist's sketches, must be completely unique... and priceless. And the cherry on the cake is that the previous owner was Linus Pauling. I mean, talk about provenance! 2 Quote
Brian Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 Wow...just wow. Doesn't get any better documented than this. Incredible history there. 3 Quote
eternal_newbie Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 Truly living up to the lofty title of "Tokubetsu Juyo" (Especially Important) in every sense of the words. 3 Quote
Shuko Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 We are all lucky that such a complete linked set of old documents has survived together with all the exquisite items created to make the wakizashi and koshirae and has been carefully translated in English for us to enjoy. 2 Quote
ROKUJURO Posted May 13 Report Posted May 13 19 hours ago, Lordd_Humungous said: I write fiction and have played with the idea of a short story centered around a samurai having his swords re-mounted in new koshirae.... Hi Jackson, it is a very good idea to gather some authentic information BEFORE starting to write! Generally, that could be quite an adventure as the different parts of the KOSHIRAE were made by different craftsmen. In olden times, the SAYASHI would take care of the woodwork only and leave the lacquer work to another expert. Often the metalwork was divides among artisans, so the TSUBASHI would just do the TSUBA and leave other TOSOGU to other metalworkers. The raw TSUKA was sent to a TSUKAMAKISHI for finishing with SAMEGAWA and TSUKA ITO. In case you wanted to expand on this subject, you could even go as far as to the making of a SAGEO on demand and a new HABAKI! 1 Quote
Lordd_Humungous Posted June 19 Author Report Posted June 19 On 5/13/2026 at 5:34 AM, ROKUJURO said: Hi Jackson, it is a very good idea to gather some authentic information BEFORE starting to write! Generally, that could be quite an adventure as the different parts of the KOSHIRAE were made by different craftsmen. In olden times, the SAYASHI would take care of the woodwork only and leave the lacquer work to another expert. Often the metalwork was divides among artisans, so the TSUBASHI would just do the TSUBA and leave other TOSOGU to other metalworkers. The raw TSUKA was sent to a TSUKAMAKISHI for finishing with SAMEGAWA and TSUKA ITO. In case you wanted to expand on this subject, you could even go as far as to the making of a SAGEO on demand and a new HABAKI! I haven't put pen to paper yet, I do try to read authentic sources before trying to capture a time period (I at least made sure to get through Japan at War: an Oral History before starting on a story called "Gunto Naoshi" for example) and so far this thread has provided a better source than I could've asked for! Quote
Lordd_Humungous Posted June 19 Author Report Posted June 19 Though I think for the sake of streamlining the process for the reader, I'll likely have a merchant sit down with the samurai, look at his sword, then essentially walk him through a catalog of different koshirae options in person, with the basis being the merchant is in connection with every artisan for every part of the remounting process. Quote
ROKUJURO Posted June 19 Report Posted June 19 Sounds good! Reading is the first step of writing! EIJI YOSHIKAWA: MIYAMOTO MUSASHI and many others are waiting for you! Whatever you do, let quality be your guide! No one will applaud you for an obviously hastily written story! Quote
Toryu2020 Posted June 19 Report Posted June 19 Typically the polisher is at the head of an atelier that includes all the necessary artists - he sets the price and guides the customer thru his choices for each stage of work. The other artists then negotiate with the polisher for their piece of the project… Quote
John C Posted June 20 Report Posted June 20 8 hours ago, Lordd_Humungous said: I'll likely have a merchant sit down with the samurai Jackson: If I can offer my two cents, in terms of the tone of the meeting, it helps to remember that of the 4 official classes set forth by the tokugawa shoganate, the merchant class was below samurai. The meeting, while professional, may be a bit one sided. John C. 1 Quote
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