This Sakai tanegashima matchlock arquebus dates to the mid-19th century and was made by Enamiya Saeimon, in Saku. Kanji on the underside of the barrel reads -
Sesshu ju, Enamiya Ihe’e Hidekiyo (?) Saku
Jigane kitae, so-makibari
Overall length 155 cm.
Barrel is 110 cm long, and the bore is about 12.5 mm, or 3 monme ( ball weight ), roughly about .50 inch caliber.
Stock is beautifully decoated with hand-chased brass floral decoations, berrel has a silver inlay in the same style. There is on old battle scar on top of the barrel, which could've been caused by a projectile or a sword. Stock is quite intact, with no cracks, and shows two small areas of crude repair with some resin. Part of the brass decoration on the underside of the is a period replacement with some sheet brass. Ama-ooi is missing, and the pan has had 'bugu-naoshi', i.e. a new plug, as the old pan had probably seen too much use. There is a name DOZIER scratched lightly onto the lock plate, indicating that the gun was probably a bring-back from the occupied Japan.