David Flynn Posted December 20, 2016 Report Posted December 20, 2016 This is Fukumoto Kanemune. He is the son of Amahide. He made both showato and Gendaito. His Gendaito, are classed as lower end Gendaito. This sword being Niji Mei, leads me to believe it is possibly Gendaito. I have seen quite of few of this smiths swords, but I have only ever seen one that is Gendaito. That particular sword is owned by a friend of mine. Because of who he is, it is probably not worth polishing (if it is a Gendaito). The package is good as is. Quote
Philip Posted December 21, 2016 Author Report Posted December 21, 2016 Steve M - thanks for confirming for me that I had those those broken out correctly. Good stuff...and definitely not easy for me on some of the characters when I start looking at other examples. Will take some practice that is for sure. Brian/Bruce - that makes sense...year 0 vs year 1. That makes it easy to understand, at least for dates written in this format. David - What's the importance of the signature being Niji Mei? If I read that correctly Niji Mei essentially means that the smiths signature is comprised of the two characters of his name. Is the thought that the smith himself would have signed it rather than perhaps one of his students/underlings who may be signing it more formally on the smiths behalf? Would that be how most swords of this time period were being signed just due to the sheer volume of blades being produced for the war effort - meaning by one of his students or underlings - rather than the smith himself? interesting stuff. Really appreciate all the info on this. Great first intro for me. Quote
Peter Bleed Posted December 21, 2016 Report Posted December 21, 2016 It is easiest to understand this system if you simply remember that thee is no ZERO year. Every year gets a number and when a new era is declared, the REST of that year is "Year 1" . As I recall TAISHO 14 (which is 1925) ran until December 25 (Ho ho ho).. Pistoleros watch this closely because since Nambus are dated with a number and no kanji you occasionally find pistols dated 14.XX. These are RARE Tasiho guns and not to be confused with more common 1939 bangers. Peter Quote
David Flynn Posted December 21, 2016 Report Posted December 21, 2016 Not always, but most I have seen that are Nijimei are gendaito. Quote
Daniel Posted December 21, 2016 Report Posted December 21, 2016 I'd still say Showato but nontheless a great piece of history. Kind Regards Daniel Quote
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