Big Box, Big Story - Over My Head On The Translation

[Surfson]

Hi All.  I took a flyer on what is a beautiful nagamaki naoshi tsukuri katana that comes with a very long tameshimei (I need to take some good photos of the blade and they will be forthcoming).   Here is the box that it came in and on the inside it is a challenging translation.  There was a non verbatim translation provided with the sword, which comes out of a old US collection.  The sword itself is beautiful and signed by Settsu no Kami Nagashige, a guy that worked in the Sendai region.  Any help that I can get on the literal translation of the hakogaki on the inside of the box would be appreciated.  

 

I believe that it states that the sword was owned by Kunigaro Wada, a officer of the Sendai Han.  He supposedly gave it to Kuwayama Tango no kami Sadamasa, a ranking officer of the Edo Bakufu who came to Sendai to oversee.  Sadamasa apparently was a well regarded tameshi and performed a cutting test, referred to on the box and on the nakago.  The documentation was provided after Sadamasa died in Genroku 13, if I understand it correctly.  Cheers, Bob

 

 

[Surfson]

Any comments even, if not translation help?  Is the summary that I got with the sword close?  Anybody recognize the kao of the person who wrote the hakogaki?  Any help is appreciated.  Cheers, Bob

[Shugyosha]

Hi Bob,

 

I did have a look at this but it's some way beyond me. The first line of the first panel contains the kanji for Sendai and the last four kanji are (I think) the name you mention: Kunigaro Wada.

 

Sorry but I wasn't able to glean much more than that that made sense. I'm not able point out the kanji in this post as I'm in my phone.

 

John

[SteveM]

The writing was done in 1974 (Shōwa 49), by an anonymous writer. This is the low-hanging fruit of the script. Everything else is hard work.

The original owner (or the person who commissioned the sword), was Wada Shikibu from Sendai. Not sure about the reading of the personal name, but the other word in there Kokurō, refers to a quasi official position of elder statesman. The person who performed the tameshigiri, Kuwayama Sadamasa, executed a futatsu-do. He shows up in Guido's list of celebrated tameshigiri. As you mentioned, Kuwayama died in Genroku 13 (1700), aged 88 years old - which is noted in the writing. 

 

I can't make out what is in the two seals. The box also mentions something about 1600 goku, which is an old unit of value. 1600 goku is quite a lot.. maybe the equivalent of a hundred thousand dollars or more. I can't make out what this refers to...whether it refers to the cost of the thing, or if it is being used to somehow describe Kuwayama and his fief. 

 

On the front of the box lid:

 

桑山丹後守貞政貳ツ胴斬落

Kuwayama Tango no kami Sadamasa futatsu-do kiriotoshi

 

摂津守藤原永重刀

Settsu no kami Fujiwara Nagashige tō (katana)

 

桑山家傳来

Kuwayama-ke denrai

 

 

There is also a reference to another celebrated tameshigiri, Yamano Kaemon Eikyū. I think it is describing the contemporaries of Kuwayama. Sorry for the piecemeal work. I'm picking out things as they become clear to me. 

[Brian]

Well done Steve.

Bob, for something of this potential value or interest, it might be well worth it to get a quote from someone like Markus for a professional and complete translation. I think it would be well worth it.

[Surfson]

Thanks for this very much Steve, it's very helpful!  Brian, I agree with your suggestion and have been considering engaging Marcus in the project.  I have communicated with him in the past and will contact him when I get back from vacation.  I have been hoping that he comes to the Chicago show this year!  I have two of his books with me on vacation, and I count my blessings that we have Marcus doing such amazing work on the behalf of english speaking sword collectors.  As to the hakogaki, I realized that it had a Showa date, and have assumed that it is some sort of summary of what is written on the tang.  There is a huge amount of text on the tang and I have been trying to get some good photos of it.  I am hoping that somebody can recognize the "chops", i.e. the red personal identification stamps that are placed at the end of the hakogaki.   Can anybody read those and identify the person who wrote the text on the box?  Cheers, Bob

[SteveM]

I think the tang may be (paradoxically) easier to decipher than the box. The writing on the tang will follow certain known conventions, and I guarantee it contains some variation of the futatsu-dō (貳ツ胴) seen on the hakogaki. 

 

The hakogaki is more of a summary of handing down of the sword, rather than a summary of the act of the tameshigiri or the sword itself. If I'm not mistaken the last bit is a list of the descendants of Kuwayama who inherited the sword. Kuwayama bequeathed it to Densaburō (傳三郎) who bequeathed it to Hayato (隼人), who bequeathed it to Shikibu (織部), who bequeathed it to Ihei (猪兵衛).  

[Surfson]

That is an important piece of the puzzle Steve!  I wonder if the hakogaki writer got the story from whoever the descendant was in Showa 50?  Otherwise, aside from what is on the tang, there is a disconnect between the early story and Showa.  I really appreciate your interest and help unravelling this!   Cheers, Bob

[Bazza]

G'day Bob,

 

To me this is a VERY exciting find.  Heartiest congratulations.  Blades by any of the Nagashige line of Sendai appear to be very thin on the ground.  You may care to re-visit my 7th generation Hyakuryushi Nagashige dated 1862.  It has lots of kanji on the tang and numerous people over the 40 years I've had this sword have rendered translations.  Andrew Ickeringill has polished this sword and his writeup and summary of the kanji can be found here:

http://touken-togishi.com/hyakuryushi-nagashige/

 

It is so wonderful to have seriously knowledgeable people here on the Board to help the less knowledgeable of us to bring our finds to the wider world of Nihonto.  What a happy bunch we are...

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

[Surfson]

Wow BaZZa, yours is a beautiful sword and an informative post.  I wasn't aware of Andrew Ickeringill, but he seems to have done a great job on your sword and is a properly trained togishi.  I usually send my best swords to Kenji Mishina, who also trained with Kokan Nagayama.  I will post photos of the tang in a couple weeks and we can have some more fun with it.  Steve M. has done a wonderful job getting the essence of the translation, for which I am very grateful.  Cheers, Bob

[Surfson]

Hi All.  Well, it has been a while since we discussed this blade, the box it comes in and the elaborate hakogaki on it.  Thanks again to everybody who helped with the original discussion of the blade and its history.  We had the Chicago show a couple of weeks ago and Markus Sesko came to visit and participate in the show.  He gave a great lecture on Owari smiths with Bobby Block and Fred Geyer - it was very impressive!  I didn't even realize that I owned one (an Ujifusa which may have been discussed on the NMB some years ago), and I ended up taking another home from the show (a Nobuteru wakizashi).  It is easy to appreciate that Markus is a huge asset to our hobby and I was so grateful that he shared his knowledge with the Chicago collectors and others at the show.

 

Markus has provided a translation of the sayagaki that I originally posted at the beginning of this thread, and I am attaching his translation here for your interest.  I am also attaching some  photos of the inscription on the tang and the blade itself in case any of you want to tackle it, with the knowledge that Markus is going to have a go at it too.  As you will see, there is some corrosion which makes it more challenging.  I appreciate all comments and input in advance!   Cheers, Bob

 

NagashigeBox.pdf

 

 

[Surfson]

Here are some photos of the sword, especially the nakago, including the cutting test.  Cheers, Bob

[Katsujinken]

Thank you for updating this thread, and congratulations!

[Surfson]

Here is Markus' translation as a photo.  Cheers, Bob

[SAS]

Very nice; I really like the habaki design.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Good Lord. I wish I had a 1/10th of Markus skill...

 

Very nice blade,

[kissakai]

Robert

What ever you paid it was worth every penny

Such an important inscription and it would have been said if it remained a mystery

[SteveM]

There is a lot of interesting information in here for the aspiring translator and anyone who has an interest in classical Japanese. Hats off to Markus for the translation of the inscription on the box lid. I look forward to reading this again and learning where I went wrong. Andrew Ickeringill has done a very admirable job translating the inscription on the sword. I don't think you are likely to get a much more accurate translation than his. The name Sakaino is fairly rare in Japan, so that needs a bit of scrutiny, but I couldn't come up with a more plausible name given the sōsho inscription, so it works for me. 

[Markus]

Whilst I still try to figure out the mei, I just wanted to throw in that I saw the sword at Bob's place and it is just amazing! Very high quality workmanship and after checking it out hands on, I can understand why it must be a great cutter!

[Surfson]

Hi Steve.  Actually, your initial translation was very helpful to me and I hope you felt it was worth the considerable effort.  You mention Andrew Ickeringill's translation of the inscription on the sword.  Is that posted in this thread?  I don't see it.  Cheers, Bob

[SteveM]

Hello Bob - 

 

No worries from me. I always enjoy the challenge. This one was particularly interesting because the kanji were fairly easy to read. Much easier than "grass script", which can be infuriating. So trying to decipher what was meant when the kanji are legible is a nice change. 

 

Andrew Ickeringill's translation of the mei is available at the link above in Bazza's post, which I will re-link to below. 

https://touken-togishi.com/hyakuryushi-nagashige/

 

I eagerly await Markus's opinion on the mei. As I say, the name Sakaino (presumably 境㙒, with a seldom-used version of 野 being used) strikes me as a bit of a stretch, but I could not come up with a better option 

[Surfson]

Thanks Steve.  That's Andrew's translation of the mei on his Nagashige - I misunderstood, thinking that he had worked on the translation of mine, which is still waiting to be done.  Cheers, Bob

[Surfson]

Well, I now have Markus Sesko's translation of the inscription on the blade (see above).  There are still a couple blanks in it, so would love to hear any suggestions.  Here it is.  

 

[Vermithrax16]

How did I miss this thread!!!! Amazing!