translation help

[jason-douglas]

thanks in advance!

 

[Gabriel L]

Hello Jason,

 

First, to save our necks:

 

 

Now, for the mei. I'm putting it in spoiler tags because I think you should try part of it before seeing the answer. I'll give some hints on that below.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

一文字源天秀鍛之

Ichimonji Minamoto Amahide kitau kore

Amahide of the Minamoto clan / Ichimonji tradition forged this

 

 

Hints: go to the Nihontō Kanji Pages by Rich T. and take a look at the "common kanji" section. In particular, the last two kanji (which you can see are slightly smaller and separate) are on that page, and so is the fourth kanji. Now, the first three kanji are very familiar to nihontō students, but you may not recognize what they mean just by using that site; however, if you look carefully at this page, you should be able to find them. The sixth character is hiding out here. So is the fifth character, but it has a different reading here than is listed there; I'll give you a freebie on that one and let you know it's read as "Ama."

 

That's enough handholding, give it a go! But if you have trouble, don't be discouraged, it takes practice.

 

Cheers,

 

—G.

[GregD]

Any pics of the blade?Most of the swords ive either owned or seen by him are oil tempered but folded and have some interesting hada.