[Hand-painted manuscript scroll of different types of feather (or fletching) used in the traditional Japanese arrow making]. About mid or late 18th century.

A very long scroll (478 x 22.2 cm) with 74 illustrations of feathers, hand-painted in black, grey and white ink on thin paper. The feathers are illustrated with stripes and dots in lots of different variations. An illustration of a falcon appears at the beginning of the scroll. Some small wormholes throughout, not affecting the illustrations. One small hole at beginning and one line of text (probably a name) has been cut out at the start of the scroll, and paper has been restored. Later re-binding with some wear, housed in a modern box. Japanese arrows (Ya) are considerably longer than Western arrows. Traditionally, the shafts were made of a special kind of bamboo and fletched with feathers of larger birds of prey, like hawks or sea eagles. The feathers or fletchings (hane) are one of the most important components of an arrow, giving it stability in flight. There are two main classifications of Japanese arrows; haya and otoya. The first kind was made from feathers from the left wing and would rotate clockwise and the other type was made from the right wing and would spiral counter-clockwise. An unsophisticated but charming piece of artwork.…