Bugyotsuji

Steve, Nobody is somebody around here! He has phrased it in such a way that it is impossible to be sure whether that is a four character name or a combination of name and number. These four characters could be read from left to right or right to left, changing it totally. 二 can be a number (2) or part of a name, as in Shoji above. ロ can be the sound 'ro', used a as a counter, (イ,ロ,ハ = 1,2,3) or it can be kuchi (a mouth), i.e. part of a name, etc. So, with no other context it could even be 2 Oda (Ro) for example, if some rank, or bunk, or cabin is meant. So there are various possible readings depending on what the original writer meant. With no other context, Nobody's answer is the safest.

It's not a monkey but Gama Sennin as Colin says, and they are not flowers but sasa (low- growing bamboo leaves) and a pine tree. One typical depiction of pine trees will show a variety of pine with rounded needle bunches.

And some folks might say “I’m deeply sorry!” …when they are not really sorry at all. (Poor attempt at a joke. I’ll get my hat and coat.)

Actually that $20,000 may include the cost of replacing some fabric on their shrine float.

This Ōdachi has just come up for polishing. At the Goryo Jinja in Nara, they have a JPY 3-million yen cloud/crowdfunding event through October. 御霊神社クラウドファンディング | 御霊神社 (amebaownd.com)

The owners of the website should be questioned about these differences. There does seem to be little consistency regarding how deep is 'deep'. Perhaps as you say, it means 'relatively deep for its time'. I saw a blade yesterday with deep sori. It is of course possible that whatever Japanese they are feeding into the translation machinery, such as やや (yaya) (somewhat, slightly, to some degree) comes up with a variety of alternative English words each time.

正茶 三茶 Surely that second Kanji is not 粟… Neither of these make much sense to me, but just to get your ball rolling! Help!

Jussi, the Japanese sentence says roughly that “the nakago features in the ‘Kōtoku Oshigata’, but the actual object itself has never been seen.”

Two people asking this question now! I once had a blade by this smith and probably did my search among Japanese sources, mainly on the internet. I found contradictory material and ended up somewhat confused, tracking across the changing names. For this reason I wrote, this will be a 'fun' search! I probably searched through various Meikan too. This Aoi Art auction page (for example) shows a '3rd Generation' wakizashi, from around Kanbun, and they say there were 13 generations of them from the start of Edo, but the NBTHK paper shown below that says, for the same blade, like yours, 後代 'Later Generation' Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro. 輝広の初代は慶長頃で作品は極めて少ないが、 本作は3代目が作ったものである。 その後も13代までの間一門を継続する。 AS21594-脇差：播磨守藤原輝広作(3代) – 日本刀販売の葵美術 (sword-auction.com) Perhaps Aoi makes this assumption from the overall shape of the blade, i.e simply 'Kanbun Shinto'.

Agreed! But you have to start with what you’ve got, and then work from there. Yos143? https://nihontoclub....ovince_value&sort=..

Your primary concern is to establish the validity of the Mei. Has it been added later, for example? Can we see the outline of a different, erased Mei underneath? Why is the character 住 (living in) not included? Etc.

The papers tell you only that the smith is Harima no Kami Fujiwara Teruhiro (later gen.) I believe this smith changed names and titles so it will be a fun search!

Start with the above date "Ryakuo 4" (alternative reading Rekio 4) and work from there.

Please see the answer over on your Kantei thread, Walter.

暦応四年 神力加錬 千手院 源吉廣　Ryaku-o　４、 Shinryoku Karen (Tempered with the power of the gods) Senju-in Minamoto Yoshihiro From here: 美 WA133 鎌倉 南北朝期 暦応四年 神力加錬 千手院 源吉廣 日本刀 ／登録証付 H zy(刀、太刀)｜売買されたオークション情報、yahooの商品情報をアーカイブ公開 - オークファン（aucfan.com）

From the printed form and the handwriting, the Kantei is Chinese. That does not mean it is automatically bad, but you need to do some more research.

If it bothers you, do not buy it. Was it done to deceive??? If not, why? A rabbit warren. Many people will offer their opinions on the reasons for Shinto or Shin-Shinto shortening, but such a blade will never satisfy you more and more. Probably less and less, until you are bored or disgusted, unless the work is so stunning that the critics are all blown away like flies.

And from the British Museum’s Netsuké (although the one on the left may be a Chinese medicine doctor’s help).

Yes, I like it! "Paradox embodied".............. two birds with one stone, the best of both worlds, perfect balance, any more (?)

There were two or three smiths using these Kanji characters. Both readings are possible, although sometimes people will refer to one specific smith with the alternative reading to distinguish him from the others.

Colin, thank you.

The video is in this thread. Search function works.

What the man said!

Fujiwara Kinju, as Ray says; the same 金重 Kanji are also sometimes read with their alternate reading as Kaneshige.

There was a very good video on Japanese axes posted somewhere on this site just recently, well, a few months back.