wdjensen123
32 Cal.
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- Jan 16, 2007
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Hi there,
I have just gotten a Japanese Matchlock (Tanegashima) and am researching it. Here are my current results.
The barrel is signed in archaic Kanji letters: Sasshu (Satsuma province, now modern Kagoshima prefecture) Juu (resident of) Tiara (family name) Yoshinori (first name) Saku (made this).
The top of the barrel has the mon / kamon / family crest of the Watanabe family (three circles with a rectangular bar beneath). It is the more rarer form of Watanabe clan. Three cursive silver inlays of Kangi letters might say: Shu (Lord) Ichi Yo (or possibly dai, ro, etc). I can't find him listed anywhere. He was the one to have the gun made.
I found a Yoshinori swordmaker working 1716 in Satsuma. Swordmakers sometimes also made matchlocks, but not conclusive. The archaic style of the letters dates it about 1580 - 1800 period.
Satsuma Tsutsu (matchlocks) are typically worth about $2900 if intact. They are the matchlock variety that closely follow the original matchlock that entered Japan in the 1500's. Tanegashima island is in this Sasshu (Satsuma) province in the south tip of Japan. This Satsuma barrel seems to have been married to a "newer" stock ca 1830, and the lock parts are numbered like the Numbered Tohoku type guns. The barrel has hallmarks of Edo period Satsuma manufacture. Curiously, there is no provision for pinning the barrel to the stock, I guess the barrel was just banded to the stock, or was unfinished.
Sincerely,
Bill Jensen
wdjensen123 at hotmail dot com
I have just gotten a Japanese Matchlock (Tanegashima) and am researching it. Here are my current results.
The barrel is signed in archaic Kanji letters: Sasshu (Satsuma province, now modern Kagoshima prefecture) Juu (resident of) Tiara (family name) Yoshinori (first name) Saku (made this).
The top of the barrel has the mon / kamon / family crest of the Watanabe family (three circles with a rectangular bar beneath). It is the more rarer form of Watanabe clan. Three cursive silver inlays of Kangi letters might say: Shu (Lord) Ichi Yo (or possibly dai, ro, etc). I can't find him listed anywhere. He was the one to have the gun made.
I found a Yoshinori swordmaker working 1716 in Satsuma. Swordmakers sometimes also made matchlocks, but not conclusive. The archaic style of the letters dates it about 1580 - 1800 period.
Satsuma Tsutsu (matchlocks) are typically worth about $2900 if intact. They are the matchlock variety that closely follow the original matchlock that entered Japan in the 1500's. Tanegashima island is in this Sasshu (Satsuma) province in the south tip of Japan. This Satsuma barrel seems to have been married to a "newer" stock ca 1830, and the lock parts are numbered like the Numbered Tohoku type guns. The barrel has hallmarks of Edo period Satsuma manufacture. Curiously, there is no provision for pinning the barrel to the stock, I guess the barrel was just banded to the stock, or was unfinished.
Sincerely,
Bill Jensen
wdjensen123 at hotmail dot com