Tanagashima Translation Help

[Dusky]

Hello!

 

I picked up a beautiful Tanagashima for my girlfriend's father. I was wondering if anyone here could help me translate the maker and anything else on it! Appears to he a little larger than 45 cal. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Hi Kyran,

You have come to the right place. Congratulations on finding this gun. It is a typical smoothbore matchlock (Tanegashima-style) long gun from the Choshu Han in southwest Honshu, Yamaguchi Prefecture today. There are several striking stylistic features which tell us this at once, particularly those you have highlighted in your photography.

 

The signature is "Kagoya (gunsmith House of Kagoya) Daisanzaemon/ Daisozaemon/Daizaemon/Daisanemon(?) Saku" (Just double-checking the possible readings of his personal name characters).

Kagoya Dai Sanzaemon...（best guess?）+saku.

籠谷台三左衛門 作 (made by) a smith from Sakai (Osaka today), where most of the Choshu Han guns were made to order.

Although not dated, we can assume mid- to late-Edo, before the advent of percussion locks when most of these original Choshu locks were adapted and updated. In fact in my experience it is not so easy to find an original example. There are however a couple of temporary fixes that someone has thought necessary to perform on your gun. By the way, did you take the breech plug out, or was it missing anyway?

 

That is the main body of information, while I try and double check how the smith would have said his name. 

[Bugyotsuji]

PS The alphabetic ク 'Ku' mark at the bottom left of the barrel would be the smith's private internal message mark indicating a part, lot or batch number, etc. Maybe repeated inside the 'shinchu' brass lock.

The two characters on the facet to the right of the long signature state that the barrel is of steel-banded helix construction, 巻張, 'makibari'. (winding/binding)

 

雷紋　雷文　卍紋

The serpentine and trigger guard on Chōshū guns are done beautifully in Manji Raimon Zōgan inlay.

[Dusky]

Thank you for the wealth of information, it did have the breach plug, however it was easily removed by finger and a little loose. My Girlfriend's father wants to fire it which I find a bit sketchy to do as its such a beautiful and historic piece. Risking it is not wise. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Kyran, I have been shooting these for over 20 years, but if your (future father?) is going to use real lead shot, then I would advise having the barrel checked over first. Generally Tanegashima were built real sturdy, but a look down the bore should tell you if previous owners cleaned the thing properly in past ages. Many are hideously pitted internally! If it's in good condition, and you follow a ritual of cleaning before and after firing, there should be no problems. Naturally if you want to be 100% safe, then not firing it at all, or firing with blanks to start with could be the sensible way to go.

 

If the *square-headed 'bisen' plug screw is a little loose, then a good trick is to wind some thin cloth (or kitchen towel) around the screw before inserting, in order to get a tight fit and prevent internal blow-back. It took me a while to figure out a good system for two of my regular guns which are also a little loose. Each time I check later to see how far the burnt powder has worked its way back along the packed threads, usually less than 50% of the way.

 

(*Tazuke-Ryu guns on the other hand tend to have a round-headed breech screw, meaning they do not have to line up with the edges of the socket in the butt, and will always therefore slot in.)

 

PS I have an almost identical example of a Choshu gun as yours, so if you need a reference as to the pan lid/cover, or ramrod, for example, I'd be happy to post a pic or two. Sawada Taira has a couple of pages of illustrated explanation about Choshu guns, but the book 日本の古銃 Nihon no Furuju is in Japanese.

[Dusky]

Unfortunately the bore is internally pitted, I had to take it apart and carefully cleaned it with big bore 45 pads which are extremely soft, used a good natural oil. Its a square plug with a hole in it, so presumably a brass pin runs through it

Edited July 4 by Dusky

[Bugyotsuji]

If you mean that the head of the Bisen screw has a hole through it, that is the hole for insertion of a special iron 'bisen-nuki' pin for screwing and unscrewing it. Brass would bend too easily. If you like I can post two or three original examples.

 

There is a way of relining the bore for competition shooting which involves inserting a thin-walled metal cylinder to create an inner lining. I am sure this would be easier to do within the USA today than over in Japan where regulations make anything weapons-related more than just difficult.