David McDonald

Dear Sebastien I agree Masayuki and the kanji you posted. I found a couple of notes to Hamano school smiths that were named Masayuki. Good luck david mcdonald jswords@mcn.net

Dear Koichi Thanks I would not have found this smith. later david

Dear All A Showato or gendaito katana at 25.5 inch in shingunto mounts The following are my thought but I can not find a listing yet for this smith. Any help would be great. Image below david 1. ? 2. 小Ko, O 3. 孝taka, maybe Do 藤Do see G& F #138 Endo Ichimonji 4. 俊toshi, maybe hiro 広Hiro as in Masahiro list #670 oshigata 276a,b 祐Maybe Suke see G & F #700, Oshigata 214 5. 則Nori 6. 作Saku (made)

Hi ]関Seki --- is a town in Mino province 住Ju -- means while living at 森Mori -- a family name (last name) 俊Toshi - Toshiharu would be the art name if the smith that made the sword 冶Haru 作saku - made A sword made in the 1940's. If you have other questions please ask. We are all learning some just have been learning longer that others. It's all ok. later david

Dear David I see Kikuhide for the first sword see Hawley KIK3 a Seki smith work period around 1935 the second one I found a note that works Kunihiro a 2 character signature in Sosho script, used Na stamp and possibly the same smith as Kataoka Kunihiro Not sure but a start. Good luck david

Dear Scott and Brian Here is what I see 関Seki 住Ju 森Mori 俊Toshi 冶Haru 作saku later david

Dear Gilles I see the date as Keio (1865) shi (4th) nen (year) good luck david mcdonald

Dear Tom and Morita Thanks. So I think that is Kōfu in Musashi province AKA Bushu? 江Kō 府fu 住ju later david mcdonald xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Yes, it's 江府住 _________________ Morita 念ずれば花ひらく　

Dear All I am trying to translation information on a umibari. I found a umibari on p244 of Nihonto no Soe Kogatana by Suenaga (I hope I have this right). I will include a image of the info from the book and the kanji that is on their umibari and will include an image of my umibari (if needed I can post bigger images of smaller parts of the kanji). My umibari has most of these kanji but not all - I think! Any help would be great. Their Umibari has Right hand side 豈 – Kai (gai) 好 -- kō 多 – ta 馘 – kaku (kyoku) 王 -- Ō 家 -- ke 禦 – gyo (fuse) 侮 -- bu 置 -- chi 安 -- an 干 -- kan 載 -- sai Left hand side ? -- ? 名 -- myō 赫 -- kaku 古 -- ko 干 -- kan ? -- bo ? -- ? ? -- ? 想 -- sō 蕨 --ketsu 武 – mu (bu)

Dear All I can not make out the place name on this tsuba. Any ideas? 正 -- Masa 義 -- yoshi ? 舟maybe? Shu 住--ju thanks david mcdonald

Dear Steve For a PC using windows 1. Turn on the Japanese kanji on your computer if you need help you can find directions on the web. 2. I then type the kanji into a word doc. Enlarge the kanji to about 48 dpi and type in the romanji (spelling??) at 20 dpi 3. Take a screen shot (prt sc) and then I paste into a new Photoshop window. crop out unneeded white and save as a jpg. 4. Import your image of nakago into a word doc and then the image of the kanji. 5. move to where you want them and then group the two images. I hope this helps. later david mcdonald

Dear George If you have any questions I might be able to add to what I wrote in 2000. Good luck. David McDonald Collector of Japanese Swords and Old Iron PO Box 265 WEB page - http://www.montanairon.com Sidney MT 59270 email - jswords@mcn.net 406-482-3243 evenings I do tsukamaki (wrapping of sword hilts)

Dear Morita This is great. Thank you very much. If someone is studying this smith then I have large image files that I can email. I will be in Japan this summer and would like to take you out to eat--or beer-ru if I have that right. That includes anyone else in Japan on this Board. I will be in the Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka area most likely in July for about 2 weeks. more info on this in the "The Izakaya" section of this Board. Thanks again david

Dear Mark I looked at the following in Hawley's for Nobu X for the following X's Haru　could not find the kanji Nao　直 nori　法 tomo　友 yoshi吉 (and a couple other kanji for yoshi) yuki幸 And only found Hawley NOB591 as a good possiblity Yamashiro (junin) (Fujiwara) Nobuyoshi see TK490 and S205 for oshigata. I am not at home so can not check. Good luck david mcdonald

Dear Truett H I see Noshu Seki ? ju Kaneyasu So made by the smith Kaneyasu (not sure about yasu) while living (ju) in the town of Seki in the Mino province (Noshu) 濃州　関　?　住　兼安 later david

Dear All I am having trouble with a translation for the smith Ozaki Nagato no Kami Tenryushi Fujiwara Masataka I see (but am not sure) 於讃陽高府天龍子吾藤原正隆慎造之 Ni-oite Sanyō Takafu Tenryushi Go Fujiwara Masataka shin tsukuru kore 安政十二年十一月吉祥日 Ansei jū ni nen jū ichi gatsu kisshō hi Not sure if I have Sanyō Takafu right or what it is. Also not sure of Go Let me know what you think Thanks david mcdonald

To add to what Mark has 関藤原義尚作 I hope this helps later david I read Seki Fujiwara Yoshinao it looks genuine WWII, it is a Showa stamp. not traditionaly made _________________ Mark Jones nixe@bright.net

Dear John I think the second kanji is ju So Seki ju Sako Nobumitsu saku? But I looked in John Slough's book and he has Seki Sukemitsu Nobumitsu saku 関祐光信光作 This signature is listed as Nakirishimei later david

Dear Vladimir Bykov 1. KUN1897 1658 -- Hoshu takata ju sansaemonjo kuniyuki Yamashiro daijo fujiwara kuniyuki 2. KUN1898 1661 -- Bungo ju yamato no kami fujiwara kuniyuki see shinto-hen p251 -- does not seem to match your sword's signature 3. KUN1899 1954 -- Hoshu hita ju honsho kuniyuki saku bungo hita ju tosho kuniyuki saku see TKp226 -- this does seem to look like your sword's signature but it is a small image. Does your sword look gendai? later david mcdonald

Dear David Flynn Not sure if this will help but here is page 204 of Gendai Toko Meikan Does not seem to have a Yoshimori?? But in Gendai Toko, kinko, shokuho soran p134 there is a listing of a Yoshimori and in Hawley YOS1326 is a listing of a smith working in Miyazaki 1963 and a note for TK762 later david

Dear Rich I think this is Raigo 雷除 see Iga kami fujiwara Kinmichi godai (5th generation) I found a listing for him in a kogatana book. This should be Hawley's listing KIN53 around 1751 later david

Dear all Very interesting. Thanks Learn something new ever day on this site. later david mcdonald

Dear All I am doing some research on ancient kanji and came across these menuki. That were on the nihontoantiques site. Nice site by the way. They are on a sword that was sold see http://www.nihontoantiques.com/fss454.htm And were described as "The menuki are a fine quality gold with shakudo of ancient kanji design. " I have seen these type of designs before but was wondering if there is anyway to translate or a list of the kanji?? There must be a list of these archaic characters. Any thoughts of idea would be great. thanks david mcdonald

Dear Ken many of the kanji can be found but the smith name is hard on this sword. The following is my thoughts good luck david mcdonald

Dear C. Lewis I can both make new copper seppa and have many old ones that might be the correct thickness. email at jsword@mcn.net if you want more information. later david mcdonald -- thanks grey