Shugyosha

Hi Ben, If you take Simon's comments to heart and really decide that it is of no interest, then I'll gladly re-home it for you. I'm assuming the origami doesn't mention a generation. Does Tsuruta san mention a date/ nengo period as that might give a clue as to the generation. Best, John

Hi Matt, Kasuga Daimyôjin (春日大明神): The numinous unit of the associated kami and buddhas/bodhisattvas of the Kasuga-Kôfukuji multiplex, Nara. and Hachiman Daibosatsu (八幡大菩薩): The god of archery and war incorporating both elements from shintô and Buddhism. From an article by Markus Sesko on Sue Bizen horimono: https://markussesko.com/2013/10/24/some-thoughts-on-sue-bizen-horimono/ I'm just off to look up "numinous". Best, John

Maybe Unshu (Izumo) ju Naga[?] Saku?? These are the kanji for Unshu 雲州. Best, John

Even older swords would have a polish from time to time, so it was possible to have a koto sword that was properly polished and sword testers had their own methods of fine-tuning a blade's edge beyond that produced by the polisher (Markus Sesko on tameshigiri). Also, presumably there was some incentive to check that a narrower and thinner sword wasn't going to let the user down when needed? Or maybe it was just the case that the prisons had got a bit crowded and it would be fun to check whether Great Grandad's famous sword was all it was cracked up to be. Another factor would be marketing: if you have a system for testing swords and the endorsement of a family of sword testers that a modern sword was equal in cutting ability to an old proven blade, the it's easier to sell swords. There was a close link between one famous smith (can't remember the name offhand) and the Yamada family who tested a number of his blades and one of Kubikiri Asaemon's own swords was by him. As regards sword making techniques - utsuri, a fairly common feature in koto blades, especially Bizen swords was pretty much non-existent in the shinto and shin shinto period - the Ishido school were pretty much the only ones producing it with any regularity. So some of the finer forging techniques had gone missing. There's some interesting related articles on Danny Massey's website - the Suishinshi Masahide one highlights durability issues with shinto and shinshinto blades. http://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html http://www.nihontocraft.com/Aratameshi_Nihonto.html http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nihonto_cold_weather.html Also, Markus Sesko's book on tameshigiri is well worth a read. Best, John

Duh - should have got this. "Sujikai".

Hi James, The school is Owari Seki and the Kanbun period started in 1661. So it puts it in the province of Owari around the middle of the 17th century. It's not attributed to a particular smith, though that there are six seals on the paper suggests that there weren't too many doubts amongst the shinsa panel about the attribution if that helps. There's some info on smiths working in Owari on Shoshin's website: http://www.sho-shin.com/shinto-owari.html Best, John

Hi James, Reading from right to left: 1st column - Paper number: 309 2nd - Meibun - suriage mumei 3rd - Forging pattern - mokume 4th - Hamon - Gonome 5th - Boshi - notare komi 6th - Nakago - 2 mekugi ana - Yasurimei - I'm struggling with this bit - sorry. 7th - Comments - Owari Seki, around Kanbun. Best, John

That's a nice pick-up! There's a similar one here on Aoi with a Kyo sukashi attribution: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsuba-mumei-kyo-sukashi-hanabishi-mon

Hi Andrew, Sorry mate - not a clue as this period isn’t my thing, but it does suggest that it’s something more than standard issue. Maybe the guys in the military swords section can help? Reposting it there might get a result. Does it have a blade or just fittings? If there’s a blade I’m sure they would like a look at that too. Looks like a nice pick up, enjoy! Best, John

Hi Andrew, It's this kanji 賞 - Shou = prize or reward. Best, John

Hi Chris, I think it's a certificate issued by Shibata Mitsuo. The overall description is: Tsuba, mumei, Heianjo. Best, John

You'll have plenty of choice there then! If you need help from time to time I don't mind doing that, in as far as I can, - maybe for the price of a small donation to NMB. But if you are basing a decision to spend money on the results or you need stuff that is time critical then you are better off looking elsewhere. There are way better linguists on the board than me. Feel free to drop me a PM if you don't get a better offer.

Matsumoto Masahisa It might say something else in Chinese though...

Hi Peter, I hope that I'm wrong or at least that you haven't spent your money on this - I strongly believe that it's a fake. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Best regards, John

The year takes the characters from the Chinese Sexagenary (60 year) Cycle: 壬戌 - Mizunoe - inu - water - dog = 1982. Details of how the system works can be found here if you are really interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle Best, John

Hi Richard, I'm struggling with the photograph of the mei so take what follows in that context. I think I can make out 東 then there's a kanji I can't make out and then maybe 門. There were several smiths working in Bizen in the early to mid 17th century signing with 東多門兵 "Azuma Tamonbei" as part of their signature and it may be one of those. The work styles of these two might fit with the hamon I can see on this sword (From Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan): MASANARI (正成), Kan´ei (寛永, 1624-1644), Bizen – “Azuma Tamonbei Fujiwara Masanari kore o saku” (東多門兵衛藤原正成作之), “Bizen no Kuni Okayama-jū Azuma Tamonbei Fujiwara Masanari” (備前国岡山住 東多門兵衛藤原正成), real name Azuma Tamonbei (東多門兵衛, the family name can also read Tō or Higashi), gunome-chōji, suguha with ashi, we know blades from the Kan´ei to the Keian era (慶安, 1648-1652), chūjō-saku MASATSUGU (正次), Manji (万治, 1658-1661), Bizen – “Azuma Tamonbei Masatsugu” (東多門兵衛正次), “Bishū Okayama-jū Azuma Tamonbei Masatsugu” (備州岡山住東多門兵衛正次), “Azuma Tamonbei no Jō Fujiwara Masatsugu” (東多門兵衛尉藤原正次), real name Azuma Tamonbei (東多門兵衛, the family name can also read Tō or Higashi), son of Azuma Masanari (正成), itame, gunome-midare mixed with chōji, chū-saku Best, John

Hi Tom, Here comes the hail Mary: 伯耆? 廣賀 Hoki ? Hiroyoshi There were a bunch of guys signing like this working from the mid 15th to the mid 17th centuries so it might be one of the koto smiths as per John's post. Just to emphasise, this is a very long shot and, even if I've read this accurately which I seriously doubt, the value of kinpun mei is dependent on the knowledge and bona fides of the guy doing the writing. The examples of nakago jiri that I've been able to find don't match this they are more kurijiri but I'm not sure that the one on this sword is necessarily original as it has clearly been shortened at some point and the closeness of a couple of mekugi ana might suggest that adjustments have been made to make it fit a koshirae rather than the other way around. There is, however, a slight curvature to the ha side of the nakago though, which seems to be present on the original part of the tang on Tom's sword. I've added a couple of examples, though it's a small group so maybe not representative. I'm not sure if this adds up to anything other than get a better opinion than mine. Maybe someone at the New York sword society can help - perhaps not too far from where you are in New Jersey. Good luck and let us know the outcome, John

或遭王難苦 臨刑欲壽終 念彼觀音力 刀尋段段壞 Having found the last four kanji and googled the above magically appeared. It gets a lot of hits so I think its fairly well known and linked to Bhuddism. I don't have time to do a proper translation now but I think it hints at the sword being used to gradually break down ignorance and bring about enlightenment.

Bizen Kuni Osafune... Best, John

Alex, You need to stop using Google translate - what you are writing makes no sense in English.

It looks like junk to me.

Bang on the money...

Sergei, This isn't rocket science - it can be a bit tricky but you can handle it. Spend an hour reading around how to count the strokes in kanji and how the radicals work and it will give you the nuts and bolts. After that just try to do a couple every day - the Aoi website is good as the items are described in Japanese and English so you can take a stab and then check and correct yourself. Have fun!!

I read that the 2nd and 8th months were considered auspicious by sword smiths because of the way the numbers are written in Japanese: 二 八 They imply something being cut or cloven horizontally and vertically. Is that just apocryphal?

Hi Peter, It has been a while but I found an entry in an old book which I think is of a tsuba by the guy who made yours signed "Yamashiro Ju Fujiwara Kiyonaga with Kao" (photo attached) and the corresponding entry in Haynes. I think that might solve our respective mysteries. Best, John