Confusing mei Naoyoshi and Masatsugu?

[Ron STL]

After digging through my books, I remain confused with how this sword is signed. These photos are all I have, but they are hopefully clear enough to understand. The tachi side is clear enough: Mihara ju Naoyoshi (saku?) kore. On katana side: ko (?) Soshu (I think) ju Masatsugu. I wonder if this is a sword by the two smiths, or perhaps what I can't understand refers to Masatsugu cutting down the sword? I thought the Ko something was a town, but that doesn't seem correct. Hopefully somebody can explain what's going on here. Again, these two mei photos are all I have. No photos of the entire nakago or sword are with me. Thanks in advance, guys!

Ron STL

[Gabriel L]

I can at least confirm that 刕 is a somewhat uncommon way of writing shū, so 相刕 should indeed be Sōshū. I've only ever seen this kanji used for Noshū before myself, interesting.

 

I'm not sure that the first kanji on the sashi-omote is ko 古. To me it looks a bit more like sa 左 or similar. The left radical of the second kanji seems to be kin/kane 金 but I don't recognize the whole kanji. Will be interested to see what people dig up, I don't have the time to look further at the moment.

[Peter Bleed]

Doesn't it say "ko mei" - as in "old signature"?

P

[Gabriel L]

Doesn't it say "ko mei" - as in "old signature"?

P

 

古銘

 

Looks pretty good to me! Guess my 左 interpretation was off. And this explains the overall meibun.

[Peter Bleed]

Sure!. It says that the old signature was Sho shu Masatsuge and that it was shortened by Naoyoshi.

Cool!

[Ron STL]

Peter, you're da man! That "mei" kanji just didn't register with me, inscribed as it is on a nakago. Sounds like it could be an interesting sword. I'm expecting to see it in-hand in a day or two. Now to see who Soshu Masatsugu was...

Ron STL

[Jean]

Kiritsuke mei

[Peter Bleed]

This sword seems to have - ahhh - remarkable similarities to the blade recently discussed on the Board in a thread labeled

 

Soshu no Masatsugu? (相州住正次)

 

Signature style seems comparable, and look at the lead filled holes. Hmmmm

Peter

[Ron STL]

Where is this discussion located??? I'll search again, but I couldn't find it. I would guess it's under nihonto? The owner of this sword is not on NMB, to my knowledge, but he recently bought this somewhere locally. Hmmm...interesting! Ron STL

[Stephen]

remember the mei as well

[k morita]

Hi, Ron,

I think it's a Kiritsuke mei as Jean posted.

Would you take a close-up pic inside of a red circle?

 

If a kanji in a red circle is a kaniji " 上　" , the character means cutting down/"suriage" /shortened blade.

Naoyoshi shortened the blade.

[Ron STL]

Thanks Morita san, that exactly as the kanji is made. So I think the nakago of this sword is definitely understood now. From what I could find out from my books, neither the original smith Masatsugu or Naoyoshi, who shortened this smith were well known. Tomorrow, I will have the sword in my hands to see what quality there is in the sword. Meanwhile, I hope somebody can direct me to that earlier posting of this sword, either here or privately. That would be interesting!

Ron STL

[Peter Bleed]

Ron,

Take a look at the Soshu Masatsugu discussion by

kyushukairu

It is NOT the sword we are discussing, but see if you think it looks similar.

Forgive me for NOT knowing how to link to the page itself.

Peter

[John A Stuart]

I have a sword with the same kanji in the kiritsukemei. 於武劦江戸照吉上之 Oite Bushu Edo Teruyoshi ageru kore. John