Assistance request for mei on yari

[Wim V]

Hello everyone,

 

A member of our To-Ken club asked me to translate the signature on the nakago of a yari (see attached pictures please).

 

The best I can make of it is: ?善定尾吉勝作 (???? Yoshikatsu Saku)

 

However, I have no idea about the meaning of the first four kanji. Moreover, I did not find any information on a smith named "Yoshikatsu", at least not with this kanji for "Yoshi", so I have a rather strange feeling about this signature (maybe gimei?)

 

The information on the ura seems to include hiragana but is even more obscure to me :? .

 

Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Wim

[DirkO]

国善 Kuniyoshi ? (not sure about Kuni - seems to be some extra strokes on top?)

定尾 Sadao? (not sure of reading)

[Toryu2020]

My guess would be 関善定尾吉時作　Seki Zenjo O Yoshitoki saku - Second generation...

-t

[Markus]

I think Thomas is correct. It is a little odd that the character for "Saka" (坂・酒) in "Sakao" (坂尾・酒尾)

is missing. The inscription on the other side is the name of the yari I guess. I have no clue about

the beginning but it ends with "no kame no yari" (の亀之鈛).

[Wim V]

Gentlemen, Thank you for your input .

 

I believe you are completely right the mei reads Seki Zenjo O Yoshitoki Saku. I was on a false track looking for Yoshikatsu.

 

It is indeed strange that the kanji for "Saka" as in Saka-O is missing. In the swordsmith literature index I found only one reference to Zenjo Yoshitoki, which is an oshigata in Zuhan Tomei Soran. I had a look at this oshigata and I don't feel it looks very similar with the inscription on this yari, so I still have my doubts about the legitimacy of the mei on the yari ...

 

Anyway, thanks again for the insight.

[mdiddy]

Wim,

 

Here is the mei from a Zenjo Yoshitoki I had at one time that you can also compare to. I remember it has a wild gunome temper that reached the shinogi in places.

 

Best,

 

Matt