Translation Help Please. Tell Me Where I'm Going Wrong

[adventurer_900]

Hi everyone, I am trying to learn how to translate a mei. Its very difficult when you have no one to point you in the right direction. I have been looking at the attached mei and the nearest that I can find is Uda Kuni ? ? Ko Shō.    I am obviously completely wrong. Would someone please be kind enough to break down the mei and tell me what it should be. I got the Uda from some Kanji flash cards and the Kuni, Ko Shō from Vol 2 of Hawley's Japanese Swordsmiths. Your help and instruction would be greatly appreciated.

[Stephen]

last two kunimune  

[Katsujinken]

This is a great resource for deciphering mei: https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kanji/kanji1.htm

[Stephen]

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 1st gen., Eitoku (永徳, 1381-1384), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗), first name Uemon no Jō (右衛門尉), according to tradition the son of the 1st gen. Uda Kunimitsu (国光) and the older brother of Kunifusa (国房), it is also said that he was the younger brother of Kunifusa or the son of the 2nd gen. Kunimitsu, there

– 447 –

are tachi and tantō extant, the jigane looks “sticky” and appears as itame mixed with mokume and ji-nie and shows a tendency to masame, the hamon is a suguha, a suguha mixed with ko-midare, or a slightly undulating notare, always in ko-nie-deki, 

 

saku

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 2nd gen., Ōei (応永, 1394-1428), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗), first name Saemon no Jō (左衛門尉), there are tachi and tantō extant, tantō measure about 27 cm, have a normal mihaba and no sori, the jigane is a dense ko-itame with ji-nie but also uzumaki-like mokume areas can appear, some blades show masame, the hamon is a suguha-hotsure with kinsuji, the nie are rather fine, the bōshi is ko-maru

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 3rd gen., Hōtoku (宝徳, 1449-1452), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗), works in the style of the 2nd gen., wazamono

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 4th gen., Bunmei (文明, 1469-1487), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗), according to tradition the son of Uda Kunitomo (宇多国友), priest name Kōshin (光心), we know katana and rather small tantō which measure around 21 to 24 cm, the latter are in hira-zukuri, have an iori-mune and uchizori, the jigane is a slighty standing-out itame mixed with masame and ji-nie, the hamon is a suguha or an ō-midare in ko-nie-deki, also mura-nie can appear, we also know some hira-zukuri ko-wakizashi which measure slightly over one shaku (30.3 cm), this Kunimune also engraved kurikara dragons and ranma-sukashi and is regarded as an excellent tantō smith, wazamono, jō-saku

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 5th gen., Meiō (明応, 1492-1501), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗)

KUNIMUNE (国宗), 6th gen., Tenbun (天文, 1532-1555), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune” (宇多国宗)

KUNIMUNE (国宗), Enpō (延宝, 1673-1681), Etchū – “Uda Kunimune saku” (宇多国宗

 

 

 

[Toryu2020]

Stephen J

Did you want help reading this mei or were you asking how to read mei in general? There are simple rules to follow that will help you navigate signatures.

1. most often the last two characters are the smiths name - often these are the easiest two to translate.

2. Saku 作 tsukuru 造 to make or manufacture - these two if you recognize them come after the smiths name. sometimes accompanied by 之 kore (this).

3. Kuni 国 when it is not part of a name means country (province) often the two characters before this are the place name.

4. Mamori 守 when it is part of a title is read "(no) kami" the two characters before fore this are usually place names. and this brings up rule five.

5. many kanji have more than one reading you will have to play around with combinations sometimes to get to the answer.

 

I think if you have Hawleys and the book Japanese Names you have a huge head start. If you sussed out Uda you could go to Japanese Names and find that it is a place name, you then look at the last two as a personal name and start looking for names that start with Kuni, koku. If youve sussed out Uda you could go to Hawleys to find that it is a pretty large school of makers, you then start looking at this school in particular and you should find Kunimune is the name of a number of artists. Thats how I would approach these problems.

 

and as has been pointed out you can go to the NMB Kanji pages for lots of good info...

-t

[adventurer_900]

Wow. It seems that I wasn't to far out. Just that last kanji. I broke it into two when it was just one. I have gone through Hawley's again and have found the kanji (page 10 column 1). I also noticed that he lists SIX different kanji for "mune". Not easy but I think that I'm learning. Now have to work out which generation.   

Thank you all for your help.

[Stephen]

Wow is right!

[Bugyotsuji]

Stephen, no need to be so hard on yourself. That Mei is not for the beginner, and the top of the last kanji is actually written too 'narrowly', making it difficult to grasp too close up! In this case it looks better seen intuitively from a distance. You are doing just fine.

[Bazza]

So reminds me of when I started tackling kanji 50+years ago!!  Stephen, the next hurdle is to remember that some signatures on genuine Nihontou are false, i.e, not the person who purportedly made the sword.  Also, the sword may not be of the age that the signature, if false (gimei), points to.  Welcome to the rest of your life...

 

BaZZa

[velinxs]

Hey, did you ever get your sword identified/verified ? the mei on my grandfathers sword looks very similar.

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26554-need-some-help-translating-mei-grandfathers-sword-any-help-would-be-appreciated/