Tsuba and kogatana translation

[Mark S.]

The following pictures are from another military gun/surplus site and the owner is asking for help. It also gives me a chance to practice my VERY limited translation skills... such as they are.

 

Tsuba: I believe second character in mei is 'Hiro'? I thought first character would be easy to find... but couldn't. Is it an abbreviated 'Kuni'?

 

Kogatana: Am I (again) seeing Kunihiro as last two characters? The rest was a bit beyond me.

 

Thank you in advance

 

Mark S.

[Geraint]

Right so far, there are several variations on the way the kuni kanji s used. What two characters are likely to precede the mei on the kogatana?

 

All the best.

[Mark S.]

Right so far, there are several variations on the way the kuni kanji s used. What two characters are likely to precede the mei on the kogatana?

 

Thanks for the hint... after looking at a few more examples I 'think' I have the three characters above Kunihiro. Once again, like the Kuni, it seems the 'Fuji' is a bit more simplified than some of the examples I saw.

 

? ? ? kami Fujiwara Kunihiro

[Mark S.]

Both are signed Kunihiro... but in different ways (the way the kanji are engraved). Could it be the same smith made both... but signed differently? If not, what are the odds two different Kunihiro's would end up on the same koshirae? Other possibilities?

[Brian]

There were lots of Kunihiro, and the tsuba one isn't the sword one.

But kogatana mei are usually gimei anyways. Although a few were done by smiths and signed by them as such, the vast majority of kogatana mei are spurious and not really worth researching in detail.

 

Brian