muromachiman Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 Hi , is it possible to get some help with the translation of a signature? I can't make it out, and unfortunately this picture is all I have to go by... any reply's are much appreciated!!! Quote
Drago Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 That's Katakana and upside down. It's a bit difficult to read, but I think is says クハツラウ (kuhatsurau) which makes no sense to me at all. If you have some chalk try dusting it into the "signature". It should become more legibly that way and take a photo again. Btw. That's a lot of red rust, that's not good. Quote
Veli Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 Hi Mike! Weird, looks like upside-down katakana, something like クハツテク. I am not able to translate, however. Since it is written with katakana, the word is of non-Japanese origin. Veli Quote
muromachiman Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Posted January 22, 2013 Hi Veli and Tobias, thank you both for your feedback. Unfortunately I don't have the blade in actual hand so i can't take any better pics or reduce the red rust. The mountings appear to be authentic WWII and the blade looks to be traditional Japanese folded, any thoughts of what it might be? Really doesn't look like a typical Chinese fake. Here is 3 other pictures I had, it might be better. The first is another shot of the Mei Quote
Drago Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 Odd how thinks always look different when you compare upright and upside down... Anyway, I'd stick with クハツラウ (kuhatsurau) or perhaps クハツテク (kuhatsuteku). The tsu seems to be the same size as the other symbols, so not kuharrau or kuhatteku. Really, this makes no sense to me. But then again, this might be some other language written with katakana. The blade looks real enough, but it probably is nothing traditionally made. Quote
Markus Posted January 22, 2013 Report Posted January 22, 2013 It is actually the name of a certain bird, found in Kaibara Ekiken´s 1709 publication "Yamato-honzô" (大和本草): I add the pic from the book below. The katakana-noted name of the bird is "ku-ha-tsu-te-u" (クハツテウ), although I am not sure about the actual pronunciation (kwatto?). The additional info says "tsugumi species", whereas "tsugumi" is a Naumann´s Thrush. Cute, I´ve never seen such a rare bird´s name on a swords tang before. Quote
muromachiman Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Posted January 22, 2013 Thank you again Tobias, and also Markus for your recent addition to the post. That seems odd, I've never seen a signature of a bird before. Has anyone seen this on a blade or has this ever been recorded before? Judging from that I would immediately mark it off as fake since I've never come across anything similar. Any expert regarding this matter would greatly be appreciated. Thanks again to everyone so far! Quote
Markus Posted January 23, 2013 Report Posted January 23, 2013 @Mike: I see it the other way round. :D It would be quite weird to fake a sword and then inscribe the name of a certain bird which is maybe only known to the readers of Kaibara Ekiken´s publication or a serious bird lover. I doubt that a (Chinese) forger is familiar with that term. Maybe the former owner of the sword had some time and connected whatsoever with that bird. Maybe he was as mentioned a bird lover and spotted one abroad during WWII on a special, to him memorable occasion? The pics look at least decent and do not scream "fake", as Tobias said. Quote
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