Mei With Crane Mon?

[Frederik M]

hello all

came accross this nice and beefy waki.

it had a crane mon (or maybe smith logo?) under the habaki.

signature seem like a 17th century smith (likely a good one given the quality of the blade).

did you already come accross such a mon on a blade?

thx

Fred

[Shugyosha]

Hizen Kuni Ju Nin Omi Daijo Fujiwara Tadahiro. Not sure about the other side.

[Shugyosha]

Sorry - I'm on my phone and the pictures are quite dark..

[Fuuten]

I don't think i've seen this before. Chrysanthemum sure, crane no.

[Ken-Hawaii]

John, always show a photo of the entire blade - the sugata is the very first thing to look at!

 

Ken

 

[Jean]

Funny, I would have said a crane too... Like the tsuba at NMB head front

[Frederik M]

maybe Tadahiro 2 then?

i guess it could be a sign that it belonged to a samourai family?

[Brian]

Photos brightened a bit

[Frederik M]

with a few more pics

so what are your thoughts? is it a mon?

Fred

[SteveM]

Interesting mark, interesting inscription. I've never seen the crane emblem on a sword before. It is a kamon, but I don't know if it has some other significance here on the sword. Here are some families that use the "crane-in-circle" kamon. 

http://www.ippongi.com/2009/01/15/tsuru/

 

The inscription on the reverse side to the Tadahiro inscription is also interesting. Looks like it says

囗宝來山作　(something Horai-san saku)

I can't make out the first kanji - it reminds me of 挫, but the kanji on the sword is different. Horai-san is the name of a shrine, and so my guess would be that this sword was made near, or somehow connected with Horai-san shrine. Maybe the crane motif is also connected to the shrine.

http://houraisan.com/

[Frederik M]

thx steve. very interesting

[SAS]

I have seen that emblem on a tanto once at Benson's house. You might shoot him an email.

[Frederik M]

who is benson?

[Stephen]

http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/index.html

[Frederik M]

thx