Nakago Gold Inscription

[Marc BROQUIN]

Hello,

A friend of mine asked me some help to translate this gold inscription.

Many thanks for your help.

Best

Marc

[Gunome]

Hello Marc

 

Date:

meireki 2 nen 8 gatsu 3 hi (1656)

 明暦 二年八月三日

 

The rest of the mei is more tricky. maybe a cutting test mei (?)

hope it help

 

Regards

 

Sébastien

[Shugyosha]

Hi Sebastien,

 

I think you are right. . 

 

貳ツ胴

 

The first characters are for futatsu do.Two bodies...but then it's too difficult for me.

 

The seventh character following this part is 切 (cut) so as a guess the kanji above perhaps refer to the type of cut with which the sword was tested and what follows is the tester's signature and kao. But I'm only guessing.

 

Best,

John

[Shugyosha]

I got lucky with this one:

 

貳ツ胴  梅沢六左衛門 切落之 (正元?)

 

Futatsu do Umezawa Rokuzaemon kiri otoshi (??)

 

Umezawa Rokuzaemon cut two bodies with the kiri otoshi cut. Unfortunately the last kanji above the kao makes no sense to me and I think that its meaning is tied to the previous one, so I can't add anything for the last two kanji. 

 

The name of the sword tester appears in Guido Schiller's Popular Sword Testers in Saidan Mei and is listed as working in Kanbun but I guess that 1657 when this sword was tested isn't too far out of that picture, so I think it might be good.

 

Kind regards,

John

[John A Stuart]

Well, 正元 could be a name Masamoto or Shōgen etc. Of course Shōgen is also a date, but, not here. To whom is the sword attributed? John

[Gunome]

Well done !

 

[Toryu2020]

Was Umezawa Rokuzaemon's given name Masamoto?

 

or was this some smith who cut the tameshimei?

-t

[Marc BROQUIN]

Hello,

 

The only tangible thing is this gold writing. The sword is not attributed for the moment, has no paper and there is no indication in this way with the saya.

 

And of course no signature on the other side.

 

Strange and dubious for me ( as we say in french : too beautiful to be honest).

 

Best

Marc

[John A Stuart]

For sure Marc. There were many of these made to bolster the importance of the sword and add status to the person carrying it. It could have been added at any time. This would need an appraisal by someone very familiar with Tameshimei to verify. John

[Greg F]

Some blade pix would be nice. Cheers.

 

Greg

[KayM]

Hi, here's the left Mei Kanji : 貮ツ胴梅沢文左衛門切落文正兀（花押）

The reading is " Futatsu Do Umezawa Bunzaemon Kiriotoshi Bunsho Kotsu(or Gotsu) (Kao)".

 

Bunsho is a Japanese nengo 1466-1467 and the last Kanji 兀 is a bit tricky.. I thought it was 18 一八 but Bunsho era only lasted for two years. Anyway 兀 means "high, stillness, cutting legs off etc (??).

http://kanji.jitenon.jp/kanjig/3147.html

 

There are two eras written on this Nakago.. maybe this Mei could have been carved later.

Hope this will help a bit.

 

Kay M

[SteveM]

Hello Kay - John nailed it previously with

 

梅沢六左衛門 切落之

 

Umezawa Rokuzaemon Kiri-Otoshi kore - with Rokuzaemon being verified by Guido Schiller's list of sword testers. 

I also think the two Johns are right with 正元 being the last two kanji (maybe the top line of 元 has been scratched off - or, if it is in inlay, the inlay has fallen out). Maybe this is the name of the person who did the actual writing of the saidanmei - but that's just a wild guess. 

[k morita]

Hi,

I agree with Steve.

The gold inlay says 貮ツ胴梅沢六左衛門切落之正元 +kao.

Umezawa(梅沢) is a family name.
Rokuzaemon(六左衛門) is his common name,Masamoto(正元) is his true name.

 

At that time,a samurai has two names.
For example, Yamada Asaemon Yoshitoshi.

[KayM]

Hi Steve and Morita-san,

 

You are right! I misread the Kanji - 六 and others ... could have been more careful. This is a nice board for me to learn more about Japanese swords