David McDonald

Dear John and Chris Thanks for the info but? Where is 晴雲山 Seiunzan located? When would the potter have worked? Would he have made swords? thanks david

Attached are two images of a sword tang. Does anyone know anything about the mountain? What is its name and where is it? An it seems to be an unrecorded smith??????? I read 龍Tatsu, Ryū 座Za, Kura 於Ni oite 晴Sei, ha, hare 雲un, kumo, mo 山yama 造tsukuru 之kore Thanks for any help david

Dear Koichi Thanks for the help I could not get my computer to type the Japanese kanji into the message board window. later david

Dear Lazyasian You might try 河Go 州shu 彦Hi 根kone 住Ju So sei shi 宗So 典ten Sei later david

Dear Frank Haynes book lists three Tsunenao H10867.0 - 1850; full sosho kanji very difficult to read H10868.0 - 1800; signed Yano Tsunenao with gold inlay seal H10869.0 - no date; Kyoto; worked in the Nara style of soft metal plate fittings. Most of the Nara school was in Edo -- see Sadanaka H07755 So most likely the third smith?? Good luck david

Dear Ivan In Hawley's book KAN 538 Lists a smith that worked in Gifu during the showa period later david

Dear Patrick You can also look at Hawley's book MUN297 later david

Dear Morita, Koichi and George Thanks for the information. I would not have guessed that as a soshu style writing. And George it will be interesting when that page in Japanese is translated to english. later david

Dear Morita, Chris and George Great information. Thanks George I tried to find the page on Ohmura’s site but could not. It a Japanese page? Morita the second kanji in Miyakono jo does not look like the one you Used. Is there a reason? Thanks again. Later david

Dear All I am trying to translate a signature from a blade dated Showa ju hachi nen -- 1943 Below is what I think I know so far 日 向Hyuga province 都(To, tsu, kuni, miyako) ? 住ju 井上Inoue 善?Yoshi 友 Tomo 作saku If thing go well there should be an image attached. Seems to be a unrecord smith who might be related to Yoshihira a Hyuga smith worked 1930 to 1970 (hawley YOS1303, Toko Taikan p762). Any help would be great. later david

Dear Mizuta Signature looks like Yamato no Kuni ju Kanenaga and there are a couple smiths that are from the Tegai group early 1500's that might work? They signed Seishu Unrinin ju Kanenaga tsukuru then a small group in the 1300's period both Tegai and Senjuin group. I found no oshigata in my books that would help. good luck david

Dear Yimu and all I see Murasada 村貞 but I might be dreaming. The mei does look shallow but that might be the photo's. It would be interesting to hold the blade and look at it. Maybe the new owner will send in some better images. later david

Dear Morita Thanks I spent 6 hours yesterday trying to find this mountain. Living in Montana (we have a few mountains here) I thought it would be easy. Thanks again david mcdonald

Dear All I am working on a translation of a katana dated 1944. And the following is what I think I have so far 於x x山麓 ni oite ? ? yama no fumoto so the sword was made at foot of some mountain 源宗光作之 minamoto Munemitsu saku kore wo Does anyone know anything about this smith or can anyone read the name of the mountain. Or did I make a mistake??? thanks david mcdonald

Dear George As Chris said this is the NTHK-Yoshikawa shinsa. And from what I was told I got the impression that blades with star stamps 'might' be treated as weapons like other gunto's so one should be very careful in sending a star stamped blade to Japan. I think that the 'shinsa' papers would not be traveling with the sword and a star stamped blade might be viewed the same as a seki stamp. -- hope this helps And just to muddy the waters it sounded like not all swords with star stamps would get papers. So some star stamped blades may not be traditionally made???????? Again just passing along some thoughts as I drive back home from the show. 22 hours on the road!!! As Chris said I thought that that a gunto would be sent back to the owner and not broken up but I thought that the group should know what was said. I have not tried to send a star stamped blade to Japan so do not know what would happen but from what I heard -do not think I would take the chance. All it takes is one person in Japan that receives the blades to not like WWII weapons. Both blades were well made swords. david

Dear All Today at the San Francisco NTHK shinsa there were two star stamped swords that were papered Kanehide dated 1943 and Katsukiyo dated 1944. I was told that if a star stamped blade was sent to Japan it would be broken up as a weapon -- so even with papers you would NOT want to send to Japan with the star stamp. Also I was told that there are oil tempered star stamped blades that would not get papers so it is all in the blade not the stamp. later david

Dear All Fuller has a note of a Hatrtori Masahiro with thickened blade tip Takayama (prison forge) Masahiro --- Hattori Masahiro Hattori Masahiro -- not know if this is the same as the other two. So MY guess is there is one Masahiro that had more than one person do the signing???? Just a thought david mcdonald

Dear Majorkonig49 Looks like No濃 shu州 Seki関 ju住 Hattori服部 Masa正 hiro広 saku作 A WWII smith later david mcdonald

Dear Arnaud Date looks to be 大 Tai 永 ei 二 or 三 ni or san (2nd or 3rd) 年 nen (year) 二 ni (2nd) 月 gatsu (month) 日 hi (day) As Ian stated Taiei is the period that started 1521. So this sword might have a date of either 1522 or 1523 on one day in the 2nd month. You can take this email and print then set the kanji next to the nakago and see what you think. Good luck and have fun later david mcdonald

野 No 口 guchi 清 Kiyo 宮 miya Noguchi Kiyomiya Maybe the smith listed in Hawley - KIY280 working in Seki around 1935 later david mcdonald

Dear Brian and all Attached ( I hope is an image where I have posted the kanji by the image) the 'go' kanji looks ok and does match Hawley lists (8th gen YOS 403 & 9th gen YOS 404). I did not find a reference to the 8th or 9th generation in either Nihonto Meikan index or Toko Taikan. Even though Hawley's book does have mistakes he had lots of books to look at so I would guess there might be a 8th or 9th generation listed somewhere with Tango no Kami. I am having the same problem also - kind of - I have a tachi signed Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi where the nakago looks very shinshinto/meiji/taisho/showa and was hoping to find a late generation that signed Tamba no Kami. (again I will post an image I hope) Not sure if this helps with the wakizashi but seems to happen often with Japanese swords. I just finished researching a smith Ashu ju Fujiwara Nagatsugu (27 7/8 inch with 6 inch nakago) found a note in Hawley NAG 128 working around 1688 and in the Nihonto Koza a note that tere were not smiths working in Awa province. Good luck in your search Eugene later david mcdonald

Dear Eugene You might try looking at Tango (no) Kami Yoshimichi. There are around 11 generations (Tamba no Kami Yoshimichi) from Yamashiro starting in the mid 1600's. Hawley lists the 8th and 9th generation using the Tango no Kami. 8th gen 1818 9th gen 1828-48 丹Tan 後go の(no) 守Kami 吉Yoshi 道michi good luck david mcdonald http://www.montanairon.com/