Antique Japanese hikeshi banten, fireman's coat. Made of layers of cotton fabric and stitched in the sashiko quilting technique. Fires were common in Japanese urban areas due to the dense population as well as construction material (primarily wood and paper). Fire brigades were made up of samurai class (buke hikeshi) as well as common class (machi hikeshi). Their primary goal in containing a fire was to tear down the surrounding buildings so the fire had no more fuel...

Antique Japanese hikeshi banten, fireman's coat. Made of layers of cotton fabric and stitched in the sashiko quilting technique. Fires were common in Japanese urban areas due to the dense population as well as construction material (primarily wood and paper). Fire brigades were made up of samurai class (buke hikeshi) as well as common class (machi hikeshi). Their primary goal in containing a fire was to tear down the surrounding buildings so the fire had no more fuel...

Antique Japanese bajo jingasa, lacquered military hat for a high-ranking horseman. Carved of wood with an upturned front rim and rounded dome. Decorated all over with intricate shell inlay in black lacquer. The underside is lacquered red with four hooks for chords. On custom metal stand...

17th Century Japanese Samurai Sword Katana

It is 27.2 inches (69.1 cm) long by 1.7 inches (4.4 cm) wide and the blade is 20.6 inches (52.3 cm) in length by 1.1 inches (2.8 cm) wide. It is 1.5 lb.

It is missing a handle. The saya has stains, surface wears, and scratches. The blade has rust, flea bite chips, oxidation, and surface wears and scratches (as seen in the photos).

Our Guarantee: We stand behind all of the items that we sell...

Ni-Mai do complete armour, (tosei gussoku), the helmet (kabuto) of the hoshi suji bachi type (visible rivets) with 62 lames. Signed inside the bowl but illegible. Tehen in gilded and chiseled copper. Maedate with demon head (oni) and gilt lacquered wakidate. The mabizashi and the 5-lame shikoro are made of black lacquered iron. The menpo in brown lacquered iron and mustache is of the ressei type. The teeth are silver lacquered. The gorget (yodarekake) of 4-lame...

Antique Japanese gunbai, war fan belonging to a high ranking samurai officer. Made of lacquered wood with shell inlay and with 2 large cut outs. This fan would have been used to shade from the sun and to signal troops. Though this shape of fan was not used as a weapon, it could have come in very handy in battle and there are legends of samurai heroes fighting with nothing but their war fans. The art of fighting with a war fan is called tessenjutsu...

A rare example Japanese zunari kabuto (samurai helmet) made all of iron with a mixed metal (gold & silver) design of a dragon amongst swirling clouds. The eyes and whiskers of the dragon are inlaid gold and it's body coils all the way around the hachi (dome). The mabizashi (visor) is edged in bronze and decorated with more wisps of clouds. The underside of the visor shows traces of original red lacquer. The shikoro (neck guard) has five layers and shows traces of black lacquer...

Antique Japanese Yokohagi Okegawa Dō samurai armor of the Edo Period (early 19th century). The kabuto (helmet) is of 64 ken plate construction with a dramatic maedate in the form of a dragon fish flanked by cresting waves. As the story tells, the gods took notice of a koi fish who was trying to swim up a waterfall, rewarding its perseverance by changing it into a dragon...

Tsuba in cut iron, details inlaid in solid gold. The characters are excessively in relief, thickness of the tsuba 4.8 mm and 9.6 mm for the characters. Diameter: 76mm. Decor representing Jô and Uba with their broom and rake under a pine tree. This refers to the legend of 2 lovers who, united for life, were very happy and together became very old. They died the same day at the same time. Their spirit lives in 2 old pines, one in Sumi-Yoshi and one on the beach of Taka-Sago. On full moon evening...

Japanese iron cut sword guard in silhouette of pagoda and houses in a tranquil lake landscape. Some details inlaid in gold. It feels like a long way from war. The carving is of very good quality which is not always the case on this kind of tsuba which most often are less well executed. The reliefs are very deep which gives a beautiful relief but requires more effort. The style seems to be that of the Soten school. There is the artist's signature which should tell us precisely about the date and...

Solid gold, silver, shibuichi and sentoku inlaid shakudo tsuba. The setting presents us with a Japanese warrior slaying an enemy wearing foreign armor that seems to be Chinese or even Mongol. This could be a reference to the attempted invasion of Japan by China Mongols in the 13th century. The tsuba bears the signature of Yoshiaki who was one of the greatest artists of his time. He was excessively copied throughout the 19th century, the tsubas bearing his signature are innumerable and the real w...

Cut iron tsuba. Mysterious motif where two spades appear which should represent spearheads or swords. The tail of Japanese dragons is sometimes depicted in this way. The decor is simple but very elegant. The carving as well as the finish are very neat. Difficult to date with precision. Probably from the Edo period, maybe earlier. Wide: 79mm Thickness: 5mm Good condition

Tsuba in shakudo decorated with a floral basket flown over by butterflies. Inlays (Taka Zogan) in solid gold, in fact the flowers are not in gilded copper as usual but in cast solid gold. The nanako background is particularly regular and deep. The artist used gold of two shades, a pure yellow and a pale yellow probably due to the addition of platinum or silver. Anonymous despite the excellent quality. Japan 19th century or before. 76x4mm

Very large iron tsuba representing a man riding a giant boar. This illustrates the story of a hunter who to defend his lord during a hunting party jumped on a boar, rode it, sat upside down and stabbed it to death. This brave hunter was called Nitan No Shiro and the action took place around Mount Fuji. The tsuba is in hammered iron, the drawings of the hunter and the boar are incised with a chisel, the hat of Nitan is inlaid in sentoku (copper) some details are in gilded bronze or gold. On the...

Japanese sword hilt (tsuba) in gold damascened iron (nunomezogan). The metal is finely cut with dragons pursuing the sacred pearl in the Namban style. The pearl is pierced and contains a small movable ball. Japanese work beginning of the 17th century Edo period. Dimensions 72x5mm Good condition.

Cut iron tsuba. Decor of dragons and sacred pearls. Inside the beads, tiny iron balls are mobile. The style is called Namban. This kind of tsuba is little represented without however being rare. But the model presented here is exceptionally of excellent quality. Indeed the blacksmith has cut out his pattern excessively finely like an iron lace. We do not know of a model with such thin wires cut at the extreme limit of the constraints of the metal. Japan early Edo about 1700. Dimensions: 65x2m...

Japanese rare and unusually beautiful short matchlock rifle. The wide iron barrel is inlaid with a dragon in silver with raised golden eyes. The handle is lacquered black and decorated with gold lacquer kuyo (nine-star) mon crest, which was used by more than one family including the Katakura and Matsukura samurai clans. This mon appears again inlaid in silver around the mouth of the rifle. Made by one of the Kunitomo, specialized gunsmiths to the samurai.
A long kanji inscription on the un...

Rare maedate (frontal element of the Japanese helmet) representing a Ho-oh (phoenix). The bird is in cut, embossed and chiseled copper. Red oxide patina, gilding and silvering. Metal maedates are very rare and almost always made of iron. The most common, without much interest, are made of wood. This one is an exceptional model in terms of material, quality, interesting subject matter and the shape elegantly occupies the allocated space. Before I found out, this poor Maedate was crucified on a wo...