Yoshinaga? Odd character in Mei?

[stirling]

I just inherited two swords from my grandfather. He was a Marine in the Pacific in WWII and stationed in Nagasaki for six months during the post-war occupation. He brought back a Nambu Type 14 pistol and two swords. One sword is a NCO type 95, although it's black, (possibly painted?). The other sword is a wakizashi, (20.5"). It has a gunto tsuba and katana length saya. I'm unsure of the age of the koshirae. In the 90's, my grandfather wrote a letter to a fellow marine in Japan who translated the mei as "Hizen Kuni Yoshinaga". This appears to be the case, but I'd like confirmation, especially for the last character, since it doesn't look exactly like "naga". I've done a lot of research already. "Hizen Kuni Yoshi" looks perfect, so that should narrow it down. Some internet research points to YOS595. I consulted a 60's edition of Hawley's and came across a Meiji era Hizen smith named Yoshinaga. Hawley listed that smith as "YO 410" and the notes said "Same as GO 4". GO 4 is Gozaemon. The Nihonto Club website has contradictory information and lists the Kan-ei era Yoshinaga with a first name of Gozaemon. I'm not sure if that's bad information or if Hawley had later corrections than the 60's version I consulted. I've asked a Japanese friend for help in translating. He said the last character could be a shorthand version of naga, but it's not one he's familiar with. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Geraint]

Hi Brad.

 

Gets pretty tricky quite soon, this game. Your translation was right, Hizen kuni Yoshinaga. There are several characters for Naga used in swordsmiths signatures and several generations used this mei. Images of the rest of the blade would help members comment. Certainly looks interesting.

 

All the best.

[stirling]

Thanks.

 

Here's a picture of the full tang and another showing the hamon.

I can take more pictures if necessary. Just let me know which parts to detail.

 

 

[cabowen]

Nice sword, congrats....

[Brian]

Yes..looks good.

Can we have a close up of the habaki? Seen many variations of habaki decoration, but this one is new to me. Lots of work.

 

Brian

[stirling]

I'll try to get a better picture of the habaki and the other parts later tonight.

[stirling]

I've added a photo album rather than attachments.

A couple good pix of the habaki in there.

 

A couple odd things I noticed:

- The same is cracked on one side and has been painted silver.

- The seppa and fuchi were modified to match the curvature of the tsuba's hitsu ana.

 

Is there an explanation on why the naga character was made this way? Is it an abbreviated form or personal style?

Any educated guesses on the time period of any of the parts and which Yoshinaga this is?

I can only find reference to 4 Yoshinaga smiths from Hizen, (YOS569, YOS595, YOS596, GO 4). Are there others this could be?

[Geraint]

Hi Brad.

 

I can't narrow down the generation of this smith for you but there are five generations listed in Hawley from 1624 to the 1700s. The later ones Hawley lists as signing simply Yoshinaga but the five character mei is a trait of Hizen smiths, and many others, so perhaps best not to assume that this restricts it to just the few. You may find it impossible to narrow this down unless you can compare the mei to one of the smiths via an oshigata in one of the reference works which I don't have but I am sure someone here will have.

 

The crack in the same is almost universal if you mean the vertical slit. It is the join where the same is wrapped around the core of the tsuka. Regular horizontal slits are also common where same has been cut and matched from smaller pieces, the join often under the ito.

 

The shaped seppa and fuchi, seppa seem to be silver foiled by the way, are designed to make it possible to draw one of the two implements stored in the saya, the kodzuka or kogai. I can't see from your images if there is a corresponding pocket in the saya for either of these but the shape of the ana cut in the tsuba usually suggests a kogai. Lots of references to sword mountings around, have a search on here.

 

All the best.

[stirling]

Thanks, Geraint.

I've learned a lot in the past few weeks, although I'm not completely new to katana/nihonto study. I never thought I'd have a chance to own one, though. I'm having fun researching it, certainly.

Interestingly, I just found that the habaki pattern looks like it could be the mon of the Ryuzoji clan.

Anyone else have any comments or opinions on this wakizashi?

[omidaijo]

Hi Bradley,

 

Thanks for the email (email requesting info on Yopshinaga)

 

Well done on getting a Hizen sword, and sending it for shinsa.

Unfortunately the NBTHK has been pretty rubbish the last few years and is upsetting everyone with Horyu appriasals... happened after Tanobe left.

I have a couple! The best bet these days is to get Tanobe to write a sayagaki ..... !!

But if your sword is not in polish and shirasaya, and in Japan, and a dead cert, forget it.

 

I would say the signature is fake as it has the 'cocked ears' to it. Little flashy arrows at the corners of the kanji that add a bit of panache --- but totally unlike the masters work. It also has a very chippy signature so done in the last 100 years or less. I see a lot of these styles and wonder if the same man was doing all of them.

 

I took a look at my database just to be sure/out of interest, and found nothing similar that was genuine Yoshinaga.

Yoshinaga 1st was a horimonoshi so his work is superb. Subsequent generations that I have (all mixed up) bear little resemblance to your sword. So I can't add anything other than my initial thoughts. Sorry but Gimei (99.9% sure).

 

You need to get some oil on that nakago whilst you sill have one!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[cabowen]

The shinsa team's inclination was fake as well- they didn't quite think the ha was Hizen work but when they couldn't find any reference examples they decided to play it safe and went the horyu route.

[KarlPeterSmith]

Funnily enough I was just looking into YOSHINAGA (and his son YOSHIMASA) and I recognised the characters on this blade as the same person who signed for 1st Gen TADAYOSHI on numerous blades. The HIZEN character at the top of this thread is quite famous.

 

The YOSHI character is definitely NOT that signed by YOSHINAGA... but those flashy arrows are part of head of the school YOSHINOBU's handwriting... YOSHINOBU. Yoshinobu seems to be teaching his son Masanaga... who is asking... "Father, how do I write Masa-naga?"

 

The three commas from NAGA do look like the early writing of Mune-naga... and Munenaga teaching Yoshinaga was a possibility; which I ruled out due to the top 4 characters being those used by YOSHINOBU. 

 

The experimantal last character looks like an honest exploration of finding one's own name when signing.

 

"Father... Masanaga just looks sillly. Next week I'm signing MASAHIRO." - Masanaga

"Shut'up and keep chiselling... we have 10,000 of these to make." - Yoshinobu

 

[Note: A late Masanaga+Yoshimasa (as the 'kuni' is similar) daimei - is ruled out as the HIZEN character shows it to be by the upper generation]

 

"I know nothing" - Karl.

[Kronos]

1) Stop bumping 2 year old threads.

2) No one cares.

[Stephen]

10_4 to that John Henry!!!!