Lots To Translate

[chrishimself]

My father has had this sword my whole life and we've never gotten any clear translation of any of the characters that appear on the tang. The side with 7 characters is surely a location, artist, date, etc...? I have no idea where to begin with the other side with so many characters. It may require a sharper image.

 

Any help getting started is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

[SAS]

One of the Kunisadas?

[Kronos]

Side one:

井上和泉守國貞

inoue izumi no kami kunisada

 

Don't have the time or ability for side two...

[Shugyosha]

Hi Chris,

 

I think that some larger and clearer photos of the kanji on side two might help - that and the assistance of one of the native Japanese speakers on the Board. 

 

An alternative would be to contact Markus Sesko who has written a number of books on Japanese swords and who offers a translation service: http://markussesko.com/

 

The signature is one of a number used by two smiths, father and son, both of whom are very well regarded (the second is Inoue Shinkai) but as a result very often faked and a translation of the longer inscription might shed some light on whether or not the signature is genuine. 

 

This article might also be of interest: http://www.nihontocraft.com/Izumi_no_Kami_Kunisada_mei.html

 

Best,

John

[Dojikiri]

Hi All,

It looks like a Tameshigiri dated Tempo 9.

 

Alan

[Shugyosha]

Mmm...maybe if everyone takes one kanji...

[chrishimself]

Thanks for the insight, everyone. I'll get some high quality images of the other side and post them tonight.

[SteveM]

As Alan said above, it is a tameshigiri mei, or cutting test inscription, dated from Tempō 9 - 1838. This test was carried out in the Senjū area of Tokyo. Sometimes these are also called saidan-mei.

The test cutter looks to be from the Yamada lineage, which is the celebrated family line of test cutters. You can find a list of the Yamada group and others at the link here http://www.jssus.org/nkp/tameshigiri.pdf (thanks to Guido). 

 

The first/given name of this particular test cutter seems slightly unusual because it has some extra kanji that I wouldn't expect, but this isn't really surprising or particularly suspicious. 

 

right line

天保九歳囗囗囗於千住山田朝衛囗囗囗囗囗五三郎吉利

Tempō Kyū Nen (using toshi instead of 年) ? ? ?  Oite Senjū Yamada Asae ? ? ? ? ? Gosaburō Yoshitoshi

 

left line

There are too many illegible kanji in there for me to make an attempt at translation, but I'll throw this here and perhaps it will inspire somebody to fill in the rest. 

囗囗誠次連囗囗断囗土尺人會？陽臣？浦川氏親負人囗氏勝負明察

 

For the sword itself, I think this is the son, in other words, this would be Inoue Shinkai's mei before he started inscribing as Inoue Shinkai. If I'm not mistaken, the father didn't use 井上 in his mei. So, if genuine, this is a sword from one of the big names of the Shinto Era. Alas, as John says, the more attractive the artist, the greater the temptation to fake the name. If it is a genuine Inoue Shinkai, and the cutting test is genuine, it ought to be a very, very nice artifact to say the least. Would need pics of the sword to tell. It is possible that the sword signature is forged, but the cutting test signature is genuine. I highly doubt it would be the reverse (i.e. a real sword signature with a faked cutting test signature).  

 

You can read more about Inoue Shinkai and his father and their signatures here

http://www.nihontocraft.com/Izumi_no_Kami_Kunisada_mei.html

[Shugyosha]

Hi All,

 

I think that this is Yamada [Asaemon] Yoshitoshi who is listed in Markus Sesko's book on the development of tameshigiri on P. 326. The oshigata there is dated Tempo 8 so contemporaneous with this tameshi mei. He also seems to have done a number of tests at Senju...

 

I haven't got time to transcribe the mei now but will have a look in the morning if I can get my head into gear and it might help.

 

Best,

John

[Shugyosha]

I've had another look at this and would suggest the following as (remote) possibilities:

 

First column, after "toshi" I think I can just about make out 十月日 - logically their should be some continuation of the date but...

 

Further down the first column: could this part incorporate two names? I think I can see 吉昌 and there was a Yamada Asaemon Yoshimasa 山田浅右衛門吉昌 working in Tenpo (from Guido Schiller's list of popular names in saidan mei). But I'm guessing...

 

Second column: First two characters might be tai tai (太々) referring to the test cut across the chest below the armpits. Does 太々試之 equate to "tested this with tai tai"?

[chrishimself]

I've gathered some better images of the engraving and the sword as a whole and attached them here. They are also available here. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/chrishimself187

 

Thanks for all the time and effort in getting come clarity on this. Very interesting.

 

Some history of how the sword came to us: My father's cousin bought it from a soldier who returned from WW2 with it. My father then bought it from his cousin about 30-40 years ago.

[Kronos]

Looking at greater detail of the mei it seems gimei to me and not a match for shinkai, however as Steve says the cutting test could be real even if the signature isn't. It does look like a very nice blade none the less even if gimei.

[Stephen]

Chris 

 

Many examples of the smiths name is out there, really not our place to make a call of shoshin or gimei; It looks to me to be a fine sword, worthy of full polish. Remember Lords did order a big name smith for good luck or to show off his day and age  bling. Id have it sent to  shinsa. best none after a professional polish 

[SteveM]

Thanks to John above, I think I have the rest figured out 

 

right line

天保九歳十月一日於千住山田朝衛吉昌世焠同苗五三郎吉利

Tempō Kyū Nen (using toshi instead of 年)　jū-gatsu tsuitachi Oite Senjū Yamada Asae Yoshimasa niragu/namasu, dōmyō Gosaburō Yoshitoshi

1st October, 1838. Yamada Asae Yoshikichi tempered, same name Gosaburō Yoshitoshi

 

If I'm right about the word niragu/namasu above, then this seems like a collaboration where Yoshikichi performed the cutting test, and Yoshitoshi re-tempered the sword. I'm curious as to why the name is just Yamada Asae without the final 門 (mon) on the end. Note that the date could also be the 2nd of October - I can't exactly tell if the kanji is 一 or 二. I suspect it's October 1st as that seems to me to be a more auspicious day. 

 

left line

太々試之速裁断穿土尺余會陽臣浦川氏親負大森氏勝負明察

 

I will forgo the layman's attempt at translating the kanbun style, but John is correct in that this is a Tai-tai cutting. 速裁断 would be "instantly cut".

The others are opaque to me, except for the two names at the end Urakawa and Ōmori, and the final four kanji 勝負明察 (victory judgment). Perhaps there was some wager on this sword between the Urakawas and the Ōmoris, with the Ōmoris winning?

 

Anyway, pure speculation from me. Hopefully someone with a better grasp of saidanmei will chime in.  

 

Edit: note that 6th and 7th generation Yamadas (Yoshimasa and Yoshitoshi) used 朝右衛門 instead of 浅右衛門. Both would be pronounced Asaemon. In any event, the mei on this sword is missing the 右 as well as the 門. I think its slightly strange, but considering the length of the saidanmei it seems highly unlikely that someone would go to the trouble to fabricate such an elaborate engraving, and then forget to include two crucial kanji. More likely there is some other explanation for the truncated name. 

[chrishimself]

Thanks for all the effort in translating. It's much more insight than we've ever had before. I think it's worth a professional polish and authenticating/appraising so I'll be looking into it.

 

Thanks again. Every one of you are awesome.