firebee1976

I could use some help in clearing up the mei on this tsuba. I'm thinking the character on the left might be a poorly etched attribution to the Aoi school and the character on the bottom right has me thinking it might be a poorly etched masa or suke. The middle character on the right has me baffled and I can't even begin to translate that because I haven't come across that character yet. I was thinking the top character on the right might be province in a poor etch, but I'm not sure. I really wouldn't be surprised to find out this was chinese, but it's a nice tsuba and a few of the characters look familiar. Any help I could get with a translation on this mei would be appreciated. You can take a look at the picture here and thanks for taking the time to help me out. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=72023828&albumID=2712667&imageID=50568746

Well... The "no kami fujiwara" is kind of leading me to believe that it might be Kagemitsu, but that's only because I've been recently doing research on a different kagemitsu blade that was rusted up pretty good. The nakago of this blade is definitely in better condition than the nakago I was dealing with though. Could it be Kashu Ishikawa no kami fujiwara kagemitsu or Kashu Kanewaka no kami fujiwara Kagemitsu? I'm just basing this on some recent floundering I've done. I'm also led to believe this because it looks like it only has one mekugi ana and the nakago looks very similar to the other blades I've seen from this particular school during that particular time period.

Wonder if that was a Muramasa blade:shock: Also... Their's a reason we were given two hands. This illustrates the importance of using everything we were given.

Repros like this certainly makes me understand why everybody's so skeptical of the new people, such as me, that are getting involved in the Nihonto community. This also makes me understand why the market's so depressed. It's kind of hard to buy or sell items when stuff like this is out there. :?

Again... I want to thank everybody for the help they've given me with identifying this blade. Their was a consensus here and among the people that I e-mailed that the blade was forged by Kagemitsu of the Kaga province. Their are two smiths named kagemitsu that are from the Kaga province. Based on the mei and what the blade looks like, I've concluded that this particular katana was made by the kanbun period kagemitsu... not the earlier kagemitsu that forged blades in the Kaga province around the mid-late 1300s. Again... Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the help guys... I'll try and figure it out from here.

I found this at a pawn shop over in Eugene and I'm thinking about buying it, but I want to know more about it. Can anybody help me with some of the translation on this mei. I'm new to translation of kanji and this blade is rusted, which makes it ten times harder for me to try translating. I've sent this to a couple of dealers and collectors, but they had a hard time offering any thoughts on identification, so any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. You can look at the mei here http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=72023828&albumID=2712667&imageID=50148274

Well, I got a better look at that wakizashi and it is what it is. There was only one mekugi ana, the fittings were retarded paper thin brass fittings and there wasn't any signature on the nakago. On the brightside... It does appear to be real ivory. I talked to the lady about giving it up for 200.00, but she has to talk to her husband about it. I guess we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the input guys... That helps me out a ton. I guess I'll have to go back and check that blade out some more.

I never got to take a good look at the blade, so... I should probably make the guy take the blade apart and get a better look at the blade, take some pictures and get some more input on it. The guy's only charging 300.00 for it, so I didn't expect it to be a fantastic blade, but at the same time... the guy doesn't know anything about the wakizashi, so I thought it might be something to look into. You never know when you'll find a diamond in the rough. Maybe if I'm really lucky... It'll be a semi-decent blade remounted in the tourist crap. I know it's unlikely, but it doesn't hurt to check it out.

So... I've been perusing the antique shops around Eugene and I ran into an interesting setup. I wasn't able to get a good look at the nakago, but the wakizashi appears to be a smallish aikuchi style setup with a tsuka and saya that's made out of ivory and has imari style decoration? Unfortunately, the saya is a little damaged about 6-7 inches from the koiguchi. I've been looking around to find something similar and see if the price the guy is asking is semi-reasonable, but to no avail... I can't find anything. Has anybody heard of or seen anything that resembles what I'm talking about?

Oops... I was looking at all the wrong things all the wrong ways. Like I said... I'm still pretty new to this. However... I'm still guessing it's not shin-shinto because I can't find a Fujiwara Kanenaga that would do shin shinto work. However, there was a smith named Fujiwara Kanenaga from the mino province in the Kanbun period during the mid-late 1600s, which I believe is shinto period. The only other Fujiwara Kanenaga from that area I can find was a showa period smith, but he was a seki smith, so it doesn't make much sense for him to make a kozuka, unless it was just a hobby piece or something. Hope all of this helps you out.

Well... I'm relatively new to nihonto and I absolutely hate to dissapoint people, but this is probably Showa-To period. Most of the smiths on record from the Gifu province, which is the only place a Kozuka could be made at the base of Mt. Kinka and on the banks of the Nagara River, are smiths from the Showa-To period. Mind you... I'm extremely new to Nihonto, so I could be wrong, but from what I've seen and what I understand, this kozuka is probably from the Showa-To period.

Hello... My name is Brian Todd and I'm pretty new to the Nihonto scene. I've always had an interest in martial arts, eastern philosophy and history, but I never thought I'd get this into Japanese arts and the arts of the samurai. My involvement with nihonto happened purely by coincidence. One of my friends makes arrowheads and he wanted me to build a site for him. We got to talking about the site and as we talked... the premise for the site evolved into buying, selling and consigning "savage" artifacts, art and antiques from all over the world. I'm still in the process of setting up the site, but the initial setup should be complete pretty soon. Anyhow... I live in Florence, Oregon... It's on the coast just west of Eugene. I live with my girlfriend and we have a baby boy on the way. I used to work in construction, but I've been laid off ever since the economy tanked this last January and good jobs are hard to come by in a small town. Now I'm creating my own venture with my friend and we're looking to develop our own business, which is, basically, going to be a brokerage of artifacts and antiques. I also work part time for a restaurant and a hotel, but that's that. Not very interesting or exciting. Otherwise, I'm interested in golf, MMA, the Seahawks, playing texas hold em' and pretty much anything else that's recreational or entertaining. That's about it for me... Nothing too exciting.

Thanks Ted.... I just started studying on translation, so I'm going to have my fair share of trial and error. Haha... I see... The bottom markings indicate which province the smith is from... Beautiful. That helps a ton.