Exceptional Japanese Kunitomo Short Matchlock Rifle, Edo Period

DescriptionRare exceptional Edo period Japanese 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 underside of the barrel reads: 常州土浦住国友藤九郎　久行 Jо̄shū Tsuchiura ni sumu Kunitomo Tо̄kurо̄ Hisayuki Kunitomo Tо̄kurо̄ Hisayuki of Tsuchiura, Hitachi Province (Jо̄shū is another name for Hitachi Province, which is now in Ibaraki Prefecture. The name Kunitomo Tо̄kurо̄ appears in an entry in a spreadsheet on the Kunitomo Gun Museum website with a date of 1669.)The shorter line says: 国友久行 Kunitomo Hisayuki (Hisayuki was most likely another name the gunsmith used along with Tо̄kurо̄.)Three gold inlaid characters near the dragon read: 晴夜月 Hareru yo no tsuki “Clear night’s moon”. (There is a piece of calligraphic waka poetry in a museum with those 3 characters as the title and the reading of Hareru yo no tsuki is given there.)Age: Edo Period circa early 1900’sDimensions: 23″ long