translation help

[cisco-san]

Hello,

 

a Kiyomitsu (清光) signed blade (I have of course to check which Kiyomitsu...) has been offered to me.

As I am interested into this blade, I would kindly ask to help to translate the inscription on the paper which is attached on the Saya.

 

many thanks in advance

Klaus

[Mark]

says the blade is SUKESADA not Kiyomitsu, says Bizen Osafune Sukesada. so maybe the saya has been switched or something else is wrong?

[cisco-san]

Interesting, please correct me if I am wrong - maybe wrong Saya?!?!

[cabowen]

They clearly don't match....

[Peter Bleed]

Unlike most translation requests that I discover only after there have been a couple of responses, this thread was great fun. There was a tease, an easy discovery, then a couple of trustworthy assessments. I am dying to find out if the blade fits that saya. And I will push things ahead a bit. The saya-gaki with a date looks a whole lot better than the mei - which could have been cut with a screw driver. Or maybe, the saya-gaki writer ignored the signature and told us who he thought made the blade.

Peter

[Jean]

Another problem is the sayagaki, if sue Bizen the sayagaki should be Bizen Kuni jyu Osafune Kiyomitsu and not Bizen Kuni Osafune Jyu Kiyomitsu.

 

In sue Bizen, the smiths adopted Osafune as their surname. So for example, Osafune Sukesada Yosozamon no Jo is no longer talking about the town but he's used it as a name.

 

It is mentionned in the Nihonto Koza, in the sue Bizen section. The author mentionned that all sue Bizen swords he has seen with the mei beginning by"Bizen Kuni Osafune jyu...." were gimei.

 

It would be interesting to see counter examples, if any, in the Juyo Zufu. As it exists Oei Bizen blades without nengo in the Juyo Zufu, there are perhaps examples of sue Bizen blades with "Osafune jyu".

 

Nevertheless, It will be surprising for the Sukesada lineage, but Nihonto is full of exception.

[cisco-san]

many thanks for information