help with translation on late 1600's tsuba?

[mercierarmory]

Hello everyone,

This is Mike and I am new to the forums here. I have been a sword collector for 10 years or so, but have primarily collected European weaponry. I have always had an interest in Japanese swords, but was intimidated due to my lack of knowledge about them.

Well, my dream has come come true and was recently offered 2 swords for a very good price. One is a WWII officers sword signed ando kanemoto and the other is believed to be a mid to late 1600's era sword. Both of these were authenticated by a friend who is big Japanese sword collector in Nebraska, but I don't want to bother him with this request.

I am wondering if anyone can assist me with the translation on the tsuba. Since I am quite new to Japanese swords, I am having a lot of trouble trying to match up the kanji. Also, if a translation is possible, can it be determined what it dates to?

 

Can anyone help me?

 

Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

To start the ball rolling I think I am seeing 英直 Hidenao or è‹±é“ Hidemichi as the Mei on the left.　The school on the right should be obvious, but I'd need to hit the books.

[Nobody]

I am also unsure about the mei, as my guess does not hit any actual name in my limited sources.

I think that the Mei could be 英隨 (Eizui or Hideyuki?) on the left and art name on the right could be ç«œä¸ˆå­ or æ»ä¸ˆå­.

[Ludolf Richter]

Hi,I had already posted this reply,but it did not show up!In the Kinko Meikan on page 48 these Kanji are taken for an artis named Teruyuki.The same one is now called Eizui in the new edition of the Kinko Meikan (shin-san Kinko Meikan)on page 39.He was a Kinko-artist of the 19th Century,so the maker of your (probably much older one) Tsuba may not yet be recorded in the standard books.Ludolf

[Guest reinhard]

It's just a wild guess, but telling from the size of the hitsu-ana, this Tsuba is probably of very large dimensions (?). Together with the somewhat eccentric design, it makes me think of a work made during later 19th century, eventually made for export (Hama-mono).

 

reinhard

[mercierarmory]

I thought I would post 3 quick photos of the sword (I don't have a full photo of the sword itself) for those that are interested.

 

Mike

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, if no-one else can add to this, I will follow Nobody's example and stick my neck out a little further than I really should...

 

The reading of the school on the right hangs very much on the first character, which has unfortunately been chewed up a tad. The second character too, contains one more stroke than it 'should'. Use of the imagination produces this in my mind: é¾ä¸ˆå­ Ryu-jo-shi (?) With no knowledge of schools or artist studios, I cannot do any more than offer that.

 

Having just posted this and then gone back and read the whole thread again, I notice that Kochi san had already offered this above. Apologies!!!

[Pete Klein]

This I believe is work of the artist Ryubunshi Teruyuki, ç«œæ–‡å­ è‹±éš¨ , Haynes 09665, Satsuma Province, died ~1825 - 75. "Some sources say there were two generations of this name, but others claim that all these names belong to a single generation. Unfortunately we have no additional information".

 

The work is of the latter eighteenth to nineteenth century, not earlier. This is a classic example of where if you look at the motif you can see the inspiration for the 'Art Nouveaux' Movement of Europe which emerged after the introduction of Japanese art there in the eighteenth century.

[mercierarmory]

Thank you for the effort Pete!

 

We had a chance on Thursday to give the tsuba a closer look and hit the books and were able to verify the Teruyuki part. I was not aware of the rest and appreciate the extra information!

 

Mike