opinions on Saneo mei please

[Mark]

I am trying to research the mei on a katana I have. The blade is in poor condition so seeing the work in the blade is difficult, it does have a gunome temper that could be correct for the maker. Saneo seems to have changed his mei a lot during his career. I did check and his age does seem correct for the date made (age 62 in 1865), but that would have been available to someone faking the mei. I found a number of reference oshigata but as the mei style changes it was hard to find ones that were like mine. The closest seem to be in Zuikan Tomei Soran on page 167, I included a picture of the sword next to the 2 oshigata. Does anyone have additional oshigata done in this style? I would be interested to hear any opinions on the mei (good or bad - I am not thin skinned). This maker is Kiyomaro's older brother so there is some upside if it is genuine and would be worth restoring, but being a "big name" I realize there are probably a lot of gimei.

 

Thanks!

 

Mark

[takakage]

Hi,

A very strange rust on your nakago, a rust just behind the mei .......As if a mei was erased and a new one add.

 

You can look the nihonto koza too (410/411).

[Mark]

Patrick

 

thanks for the reply. I had checked the Koza but those example show his more "grass script" type mei, he used a number of different styles of signature from very flowing to the more traditional kanji, I am trying to find more examples of the traditional style like on my sword. The show has not been cared for, it was in trashed gunto mounts (they were nice at one time), the nakago looks to have had older rust and it may be the vet tried cleaning it a bit (he scratched the blade trying to clean it making it hard to see the hada). Looking at the nakago from the mune there is no trace of narrowing (as I might expect if a mei was removed), I think the condition of the nakago is just poor due to the care it received (or did not receive).

 

Thanks again for the look, I enjoy trying to research things

 

Mark

[Ken-Hawaii]

Mark, how about a few good photos of the rest of the sword? A number of us are interested in the Kiyomaro school, & I would rather depend on the attributes of the blade than on just the mei for identification.

 

Ken

[Grey Doffin]

Hey Mark,

One advantage of having my website is an awesome, if transitory, library. 2 Oshigata from Kiyomaro Taikan.

Grey

[Mark]

Grey

 

Thanks! any chance the taikan mentions what period or date etc those examples came from? Great books to have for reference

 

Mark

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Mark,

Neither blade is dated and if the text mentions anything about when they were made it will take someone who can read Japanese to tell you. That isn't me.

Grey

[Peter Bleed]

Mark,

Great challenge. Thanks.

I am getting here late and I have NOT gotten my books out. But doesn't this say that he was 62 - - when he made this?

Peter

[Mark]

Peter

 

yes it says that. It matches his age the year it was made

 

 

Ken,

 

sorry I missed your comment. I can take some pictures but there is not much to see, the blade is beat up and someone tried to clean it and managed to scratch it up badly, you can see the temper in the right light but other than shape I am not sure there is much to see

 

 

mark