Can anybody give an age about that Katana

[jw10]

Hello,

 

I am the happy owner of a Katana sword which was in my alsacian before my birth.. It was A gift received by my grandfather. May be from Asaka Yasuhiko while he was in a famous french military school (between 1920 and 1930).. But no certitude. All the men in my familly died before 1950..

 

I made the sword restored 10 years ago, traditional polishing and new lacing by Espace4 rue mazarine at Paris. These people said that it was a gift sword (no wonder) of good quality, worth the restoration cost.. But I learned nothing more.

 

As far as I know the mei is 信重作, and I found nothing about that swordsmith. Can sombody help me. I would like to transmit this to my children with some more information

 

Thanks for any help

 

Jacques

[Jean]

Nobushige saku - fait par Nobushige

 

17 smiths went by this mei, I did not find any corresponding signature in Markus book "Index of Japanese smiths".

 

Anyway without any pictures of the blade, no indication can be given.

[takakage]

More photos of the nakago and blade please.

[jw10]

Merci Jean, Thanks,

 

I went with your answer to the topic Swordsmithdatabase, found a lot of Nobushige mei, but no one as simple as mine. And no way to find a date..

Can it be that this mei is a kind of generic, with a lot of people sharing the same signature?

I add 3 pictures to show the astouning restoration work

 

Avec votre traduction, je suis allé sur le lien des forgerons et j'y ai trouvé des dizaines de Nobushige, mais aucun (sauf peut-etre le 3) où le mei est reduit aux 3 Kanji Nubushige Saku. Et aucun moyen de trouver une date.. Est-ce que cette siganture pourrait être celle de multiples forgerons..avec donc de multiples epoques possibles?

Je joins 3 images montrant le travail de restauration de la lame, pour moi, novice, impressionnant

 

Merci de votre aire, Thanks for your help

Jacques

[jw10]

Another picture from the NaKago (not more information on this one I presume).. and one of the Sword before restoration..

[Marius]

Those pics do not show much, sorry. But looking at the nakago and signature, I have the feeling that it is a gendai blade.

 

BTW, when asked for pictures of the blade, do not show pics of the mounting, as they are irrelevant. Try to take a few pics of the overall shape of the bare blade, a few pics of the kissaki and a few close ups of the hamon as well as some of the nakago.

 

Edit: I see you have posted a good one just when I was writing this, well done

[jw10]

May be these pictures will be more informative

[jw10]

And one picture from the Kissaki.. I thinck this is all I can do..

But I remember that 10 years ago, the people that restored the sword said probably 1835.. How could they be so precise is a mystery for me.. But this could be what you call a Gensai Katana, so a relatively new one..with respect to the age of the weapon type of course..

 

Looking forward

[Marius]

Thanks for the pics Here is my take, for what it's worth:

 

Without looking into the books, the way the signature is chiseled and the slightly sloppy yasurime on the nakago make me think war time nihonto.

 

I am not a gendai specialist, though, so only when Chris Bowen chimes in, you'll have the right answer.

 

The mounts are very low quality, sorry.

[jw10]

Why Sorry?

I thought that mounts have no value at all.

By the way, War time Nihonto, may be, but it must be the first world war to have any logic in my familly history, although all can be possible. Some facts could imply latter dates like 1932, but nothing as close as the II WW. (This is due to the Asaka Yasuhiko hypothesis, which can be false also, But no Japanese came closer to my Gd ppa as him.., if any and it could have been some commercial gift of course nothing more)

Thanks for your carefull check and help

 

Best regards

 

Jacques

[cabowen]

It is difficult to say for certain just from the photos but certainly this sword is later 19th to early 20th century. There were several smiths in the Hokke Saburo Nobufusa group in Sendai signing with a simple two character mei, Nobu X saku during the war but it would seem that this is a little earlier. Possibly an unlisted smith....Nakago is rather crudely done but the blade appears well made.

[takakage]

Too bad for the nakago jiri and yasuri mei cancelled.

 

I found such suguta and mei nobu x saku with some owari smith as nobuchika a pupil of nobutaka 6th.

[cabowen]

I have a very small mamori-gatana made in ryo-ba zukuri that is dated Meiji something and signed Nobu X (? can't remember the smith's name at the moment) from Owari so I would agree that is a possibility too....