Novice Looking For Help Translating Katana? Mei. Thank You

[Kaptain_Klink]

I would just like to start by thanking you for taking your time to look at this post. My name is Ryan M. I am a novice collector and lover of Japanese craftsmanship. I have mostly taken to collecting ojimi, netsuke and prints. If that hobby wasn't time consuming enough I happened to find a katana? in a friends shop that caught my eye. I've seen a lot of nihontos which haven't interested me much. This one somehow pulled me in. I've been driven mad over the last few days try to decipher and translate the mei. The kanji is so stylistic that I am having trouble finding character matches. I have come to this wonderful group humbly defeated to request your help. I hope what you maybe able to shed light on will help to educate me in understanding these incredible blades.

 

Now onto the blade. It measures 38 inches from the tang to the point and 29 & 7/8th inches from the back notch to the point. The blade it self is about 1 inch wide. Unfortunately the blade is in rough shape. There is no rust or pits but the edge has many nicks ( some very large ). The beautiful cast iron signed tsuba that it came with had some rust but it cleaned up with a light touch of oil. Seeing this sword in a somewhat rough shape is what compelled me to buy it in hopes of restoring it to its former glory ( in well trained hands of course ). 

 

The photo attached to this post is what I assume is the makers mark. From what I could decipher the forth and fifth character refer to a resident of Sado? Character 8 & 9 is seem like Fujiwara Clan? The only mei similarity I could find for some of these marks was on swords belonged to the Kiyomaro school.

 

The date marks I had a little more luck with. I figure the first two characters are Ansei? ( 1854 ). The following 2 character are year 5? The last 3 are 8th month day? So 1859 for the date?

 

Sorry for the oriantation of the photos. I can't seem to figure out how to flip them.

 

Thank you once again for your time and opinions,

Ryan M

[Jussi Ekholm]

I think it is 長州須佐住宮内藤原清重作 Choshu Susa ju Miyauchi Fujiwara Kiyoshige saku

[Stephen]

LOL never fails ...break out the books to find it done, Thanks!! lol looking forward to blade pics

[Kaptain_Klink]

Wow. You guys work fast! I'll be able to sleep tonight without thinking of kanji. Thank you so much. I hope to one day be able to read mei as fast and accurate as you and return the favor to another novice. A few question for you two if you have the time. How did I do on the date of August 1859? What would be some good books to read on the subject of nihonto and mei? Good books on tsuba? Is there any good nihonto restorers or polisher in the midwest? Should It be polished? I will try and show some of the nicks on the blade edge in future photos.

 

I want to thank you both for your time and knowledge. I will post some photo of the complete blade in a few hours.

 

 

Ryan M

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Ryan,

You have the date correct.  Bring your sword and your questions to the show next weekend in Schaumberg (Chicago) and you'll learn so much.  I'll be at the 1st table to the right; I'd be glad to take a look for you.

Cheers,  Grey

[seattle1]

Hello Ryan:

 There is a Japanese sword show in Chicago next weekend at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield, Schaumburg, on the 29th from noon to 9, Sat. 9-9, and Sunday 9-3. People will be there from all over the US and Canada, and perhaps some from Europe and Japan. If you have the time it is an eye-opener and by all means bring your sword and talk to several folks about it. If you ask around all your questions will be more or less answered.

 Arnold F.

[Mark]

Ryan

 

for details of the show check  www.chicagoswordshow.com.

[Kaptain_Klink]

Hey guys. Once again, thank you for all of this info. This is great community that I hope I can contribute to in the future. What serendipity that there is a sword show in Chicago this weekend. I'll definitely make my way out there. Along with this sword I have 4 tsuba and a few menuki that I would love to know more about.

 

As promised here are photo's of the whole blade. The blade in rough shape but is still sharp as a razor. It's straight as an arrow and well balanced. There's some surface discoloration in places but no pits or rust. Unfortunately the tsuka and scabbard are in really rough shape. Someone didn't take very good care of it before I got my hands on it but the menuki and handle/scabbard caps are there.

 

Once again a million thanks,

Ryan M

[Kaptain_Klink]

Here is the the blades tsuba. I yet to attempt to translate it because of the madness the swords mei caused me.

 

Ryan M

[manfrommagnum]

Tsuba looks to be a cast Soten.

[Gunome]

Tsuba looks to be a cast Soten.

Not to me.

Look at the inlay, it appear to be a genuine tsuba and not a cast one.

[Brian]

What inlay? Gold colouring.

Look at the mei, that is not cut but cast in I suspect.

[Gunome]

My first impression was like yours due to fuzzy and lightening of the photos, but when I enlarge it, I do not think cast anymore, especially when looking a the second pic:

The arm of the characters is in copper, his clothes too, and just above the upper hitsu ana, there is a missing in the inlay.

Of course better photos would be helpful to refine the opinion. and of course I could be wrong

[Gunome]

Not often, but sometimes, Soten mei could be bold and not vigourous, and tagane are not so visible.

I enclose 2 tsuba photo as example.

I suspect it is the case on Ryan tsuba.

[Kaptain_Klink]

I have included better photos. I felt the same about the tsuba when I first picked it up. Apparently it had a good coating of rust that was removed by soaking it in a high quality gun oil over night. It was then rubbed with a rough wool cloth. You can see some of the pitting and rust better in these photos. One thing for sure in that it is those are gold inlays. The man holding the bird body is bronze. I was able to remove some of the black over the bronze by rubbing his face with my finger. I figure the sharpness of the mei strike marks were softened by the removal of rust. I have worked with other signed cast iron objects that have had a similar thing happen. Rust is a nasty thing! I would love to clean it further but I don't want to remove anymore detail.

 

Is cleaning rust off a tsuba considered a bad thing?

 

Ryan M

[Stephen]

Only if done the wrong way, i see the layer of rust as the culprit for the cast call, my vote is good tsuba.