About me
My name is Richard Turner and welcome to my blog. I am a collector of kodôgu, primarily, older items which mostly at the moment centre around Ko Gotô and Ko kinkô kodôgu and Muromachi, Momoyama and some early Edô jidai iron sukashi. In regards to early iron tsuba, my main focus is on the various tsubakô of the Ôwari district but I also have a strange passion for Kô Shôami tsuba and am always keen to talk to others about this as well as share idea’s and discuss purchases and trades.
I am also a mad golfer, enjoy keeping and breeding Chiclids (Tanganyikan), gardening, most music and film. I live in Australia and am just a sprightly 51 years old.
I can be contacted at kodogunosekai [at] gmail.com
(replace the [at] with an @ and close the spaces)
Thank you for visiting.
Richard Turner
リチャードターナー
MemberーNTHK 日本刀剣保存会
Pictured left, your’s truly holding a hoko made by Yoshihara Kuniie to be dedicated to Ise jingu
the hoko you are holding is what? looked up hoko and said it was forked club of some kind. also generic for several Okinowian weapons — bo [did some training] sai [ kata form only] kama [some training]. numchuk [nothing]. oar — Musashi used it once it is written in famous fight.
anyway … you get to hold the neatest stuff
Hello Doug. The term Hoko was given to me by the polishers. Not being as much a sword guy, I am unsure of it’s origins. It was very much like a large Ken to my eye and was being presented to a shrine in Tokyo at a celebration.
Rich
Hello Richard,
Would you help me to understand question about nikubori. I do not see main idea (nature and unlike similar methods) of this hori. Especialy han-n., maru-n., naka-n., usu-n. and atsu-nikubori.
Thank you very much,
Andrei
It is a very important point for Maki-e in this period is that they invented Nashiji (sprinkling gold powder to make the surface look like the skin of pears) for both of Heavy Nashiji and Thin Nashiji. And we also need to note that Kanagai or Kirigane (gold flakes cut and pasted on the designs) were used the first time. Muromachi period is an important period of Maki-e history since the Maki-e had more new techniques and better materials and Maki-e had become much popular encouraged by the regime which produced two great Maki-e shi hired by the Shogun. And they are Koami Family and Igarashi Family. That owing to these two Families, all Maki-e shi’s and craftsmen’s social status and financially independence were elevated should not be overlooked.
Thank you Jeff, that is excellent information. Just the sort of thing I love to see go up here. Was it in relation to any particular item ? it would be great to see the comments posted in relation to those.
Cheers
Rich
Hello,
IIt is true that the school did Shoami tsuba where the outer rim of another metal? I argue with a man who says that, but I have a tsuba.
Thanks
Hi Alice, yes, it is called a fukurin. It can be made of shakudo, which is most common, or sometimes iron, and also other metals. However it is not restricted to Shoami tsuba.
I saw the tsuba, where part of the bent at right angles to the main plane. May be this is a Kawari-tsuba of the Edo period. Why are these tsuba were made?
Thank you
Can you show me an example ?
Good afternoon,
Sometimes the signature of a tsuba-shi placed in a gold plate – style tandzaku. When there was a fashion for these signatures in the Edo period? What other fashion solutions you know?
Hi, I think was most common in the Edo period, though kinmei were not so common. urushi mei were more common, particularly, shumei or red lacquer mei.
Rich
Hello,
About namban – are convex wan-tsuba and tsuba in the form of the Christian cross also namban-tsuba? Thanks
Christian motifs have appeared in several different tsuba groups, including Nobuie.
Rich
Jeff
It is a very important point for Maki-e in this period is that they invented Nashiji (sprinkling gold powder to make the surface look like the skin of pears) for both of Heavy Nashiji and Thin Nashiji. And we also need to note that Kanagai or Kirigane (gold flakes cut and pasted on the designs) were used the first time. Muromachi period is an important period of Maki-e history since the Maki-e had more new techniques and better materials and Maki-e had become much popular encouraged by the regime which produced two great Maki-e shi hired by the Shogun. And they are Koami Family and Igarashi Family. That owing to these two Families, all Maki-e shi’s and craftsmen’s social status and financially independence were elevated should not be overlooked.