Markus

Hi Brian, The sayagaki reads: BTW: Although the name of the "appraiser" is illegible, I think the kaô is not a Hon´ami one.

Hm, with a lot of fantasy and taking some of the rusty spots as strokes, the last character "could be" mura (村). But it is rather like reading in some of those 3d-pics.

So probably "Bishû Osafune"? But we might never know...

Hi John. Yes, that´s fine. How shall we post this article? Brian? Just one thing has to be remarked: It is a translation of the written form of a german lecture I held last year for the NBTHK, so it might not be that extensive it probably could be. PS: Sorry for keeping this "at thread" and lapsing into off-topic

Yes, the mei closely resembles the "Shôami Kanenori" (正阿弥包矩) depicted in the Shinsen-kinkô-meikan.

Hm, I would agree with Etchû, but would go for kotô Uda school, because the Bizen Iekuni would have signed rather with "Bishû Osafune" at prefix. But that´s just a speculation.

Hi Peter and Brian, The signatur reads:

Thank you for the corrections, Koichi-san. Too early in the morning, or better, too late at night here in central Europe

Hi Mariusz, Yes, it´s an origami issued by Shibata Mitsuo. The attribution reads:

The mei reads "Kamo-shison Sankôdô - Josui" [kaô]. 賀茂氏孫山光堂　如水 Not sure about the "shison" (氏孫) which "should" mean "descendant" (from the Kamo family), but the signature belongs to the female artist Josui, who was a student of Jochiku. Shoshin or not is another question.

Fujita (藤田).

I agree with Carlo (and of course Mr. Mishina), because Japan has a so rich repertoire on puppets in each quality class, many of them carrying swords. Most of them are of course not real swords and wooden or lacquer substitutes but It is very likely that there were some high quality dolls for the high society (served as presents and so on) where no expenses were spared and so, a real blade was commissioned too. Just some thoughts from my side.

Yes, you´re right: Fujiwara.

I think the term has not a clear definition and we should bear in mind the connotation - as Koichi-san stated correctly - that a ô-danbira or danbira stands just for a wide/broad blade, because the term "wakizashi" was yet not in use. So using this term is in my opinion a kind of getting out of the way not to use an uncommon term for that time and on the other hand, don´t go down to the last detail, i.e. describing the sword in its function "uchigatana", "koshigatana" and the like. If I had to make a description, I would probably read as follows: "Describing a wide/broad bare blade, usually in hira-zukuri, which measures from about the length of a sunnobi-tantô up to an ô-wakizashi."

I know this term from the descriptions of Shôsô´in blades, where 15 unmounted blades (musô-tô, ç„¡è˜åˆ€) in hira-zukuri (one of them in kiriha-zukuri) measuring about 1,5 shaku (54,5 cm) are described as "ô-dabira" (大ã ã³ã‚‰). As Koichi-san stated, they are very similar to Nanbokuchô ô-wakizashi in hira-zukuri and the like and rather not applied on tantô.

Sorry, my words were too inaccurate. The yasurime are of course not Kongobei and Mino as you stated. I just meant that the writing style of the character "Mori" reminds me on those used by Kongobei smiths, and not that this assumption has anything to do with the blade itself.

Still unsure but I bear in mind the similar weak, tight burt sweeping writing style of the character "mori" in the mei of the Kongobei school, like Morishige or Morimitsu.

Another guess Could also be a badly written "Kanemori" 兼盛

Yes, the written characters on the nakago look like 完 and æ — to me. I just cited how Suzuzki Takuo stated them in his "Sakutô no dentô-gihô", trying to bring more info to solve this problem. Also the Tokubetsu-hozon papers of this ken write "å®Œæ —" in the quotation of the mei. @Jacques Seems that Hisamichi was particularly fond of this kind of steel I made a quick search for the spelling, and I think it should read "Shiso". (http://www.city.shiso.lg.jp/) Present-day Shiso City is located what was once Harima Province. Although it would be interesting why Kataoka read it as "Sôkura". In my opinion, it is likely that the characters for this location could be written either with å®ç²Ÿ or å®Œæ — in those days.

My final interpretation/try for this one is: 生éœå®ç²Ÿéµé€ 之 "nama-gitae Shiso-gane tsukuru kore" Whereas "nama-gitae" (lit. "purely forged") refers IMHO to that fact that the forging was done just by the use of Shiso-gane.

There is a slightly other interpretation of the 3rd and 4th kanji mentioned in "Sakutô no dentô-gihô" (作刀ã®ä¼çµ±æŠ€æ³•, page 3-34): å®ç²Ÿ Which read as "Shiso". A brief translation of the text (it refers to a ken by Ômi no Kami Hisamichi) reads: "He made swords just by the use of high-quality steel which came from Shiso district of Harima province. For tantô, ken, or yari, inserting a shingane is not absolutely necessary. This ken was made from so-called ´Shiso-gane´, which is steel of the supremest quality and which he proudly states via the signature."

FYI: This kozuka depicts the fleeing oni Shôshitsuki (æ·ç–¾é¬¼) after he had stolen the ash of the cremated Buddha. Often, the god Idaten (韋駄天) is depicted too, pursuing the oni even into the clouds.

Ah, enlightenment on this case! Thank you for the final correction. å´©å­—ã®é”人 訂正ã«ã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã—ãŸã€‚

I think the missing xx might read just "sakana-bori" (魚彫), i.e. "is good at carving fish [motifs]" Sorry for poking my nose into everything

Probably "Enohisa / Kôkyû" (江久)