Mysterious label translation help

[pcfarrar]

I recently picked up an interesting mumei wakizashi and underneath an old export label on the shirasaya I found this label.

 

Can anyone help me with a translation? I think it says Ikeda ... presumably its an attribution to a smith.

 

Thanks,

 

Peter

[Bungo]

looks like previous owner's name and address.

 

milt

[pcfarrar]

I think the 4 kanji on the left might be the attribution of the sword as the shirasaya also has the remains of sayagaki saying Ikeda ... the rest is worn off.

[Bungo]

I can read the owner lived in Kumamoto.......

but we need Nobody san to translate the whole thing.

 

milt

[Ed Harbulak]

If the smith's name was Ikeda you might want to determine if the blade is a gendaito. Ikeda was the family name of the Yasukuni smith Yasumitsu. Before using the name Yasumitsu, he was the 10th generation Kazumitsu. Might be an interesting blade. See page 186 in Slough's book.

Ed

[Bungo]

my opinion ONLY........not all Goto are kodogu makers. As a matter of fact I still remember this cute babe named Goto in O-Weekly years ago.......

 

milt

[Paul Martin]

Kumamoto ken, Amakusa gun Sakase Kawamura 3-800

Mr Ikeda Buntoku/Toyonori

 

Hazarding a guess...

[Nobody]

Though the translation has been almost done, here is the answer.

 

熊本縣天草郡坂瀬川村 三、八００ – Kumamoto-ken Amakusa-gun Sakasegawa-mura 3,800

池田豊穂 – Ikeda Toyoo (Toyoho)

[Bugyotsuji]

Though the translation has been almost done, here is the answer.

 

熊本縣天草郡坂瀬川村 三、八００ – Kumamoto-ken Amakusa-gun Sakasegawa-mura 3,800

池田豊穂 – Ikeda Toyoo (Toyoho)

 

So, Nobody, you are leaving open the suggestion that the number 3,800 might be a price, rather than a house number (3-800)?

 

Are you also allowing that the person(addressee?) could be either a man or a woman, thus no 'Mr'?

[Nobody]

This is only my guess.

 

The writing shows the address and name of a previous owner.

The number may be the person's address number and that is 3800. It is possible that the number is written as 3,800.

The person may be a male, but there is no character which corresponds to "Mr." in the context.

[pcfarrar]

Thanks everyone for the help. Looks like it wont be an easy ticket to figuring out what the sword is

 

Anyone have any idea on what the sword might be? It's definitely shinto, has masses of tsuba wear just above the original mekugi-ana. Slightly suriage, deep tori-sori, the hamon is suguha in nie and the jihada appears to be nashiji.

[pcfarrar]

I'm going to bring back this old post from 2007 as I'm still not sure what the sword might be and would value some input.

 

Ko-nie based suguha with tight ko-mokume jigane. I wondered if it might be Koto maybe a yamashiro den?

[Eddie]

my opinion

 

shinto

 

hizen province

 

done in yamashiro tradition

 

sorry does not look koto to me.

 

regards Ed

[pcfarrar]

A previous owner believed it to be Hizen but I was never convinced.

 

It does have some similarities to this Tadayoshi at Choshuya:

 

http://world.choshuya.co.jp/sale/sword/ ... /index.htm

 

However I wouldn't call the jigane konuka on my sword. Also the overall shape and nakago are not really Hizen in style.

 

A friend of mine has a Bungo Teruyuki wakizashi with a very similar ko-mokume jigane. I did wonder if Bungo was a possibility?

[Eddie]

hi Peter,

 

A dense ko mokume hada also known as konuka hada is a common trait of shinto hizen swords, like yours.

 

Umm if you have the connoisseurs book of Japanese swords, go to pages 246 to 248 and read hizen province, the tadayoshi school. i think you will find a description that matches your sword. lots of kantei points towards shinto, hizen province, tadayoshi school.

 

That would be my pick, what do other members think????

 

Ed

[pcfarrar]

I own two papered Hizen swords so I can directly compare them with this sword. As much as I would like it to be Hizen the jigane looks different.