Again A Tough One

[Higo-san]

Dear all,

 

I am trying to figure out part of an inscription on a sword that currently resides at an auction house. Maybe someone can help? There comes a Saku Kore afterwards.

 

Many thanks,

 

Chris

[IanB]

Chris,  A very difficult one indeed. There seems to be odd strokes either omitted or added. I am surmising the top character is GO 五　(which Koop and Inada 'Japanese Names and How to Read Them' states is sometimes written without the top stroke). The next looks as if it could be TOSHI 稔 and the last could be a variant of 爪 TSUME (see Koop p.170). I am not convince but it is an attempt.

Ian Bottomley

[Higo-san]

Thank you Ian,

 

My best guess was 丁五拾戈 or ーノ五拾戈 - however, that does not make any sense... this could either be a name or some phrase emphasizing the nice season or the good quality of the work.

 

Best,

 

Chris

[Peter Bleed]

I'm not sure what it says, but I bet it has 5 layers.

P

[Ray Singer]

If that last kanji were an abbreviated form of 歳 (sai) I would think this read 'go ju sai' (at the age of 50). I'm almost certainly misreading this, but just a thought...

[Peter Bleed]

I've changed my mind. I agree with Ray

[John A Stuart]

This weapon is made of fifty layers, Goju cyou hoko saku kore 丁五拾戈作之   to me. John Edit, I added the 'saku kore' Chris mentioned.

[Peter Bleed]

so do I get partial credit?

P

[John A Stuart]

Well I could be totally wrong and it is a name. ?? John

[Higo-san]

Thank you very much for your assistance, John and Peter and Ray (who also gets a partial credit )! Just one thing: I can see the gō for five but I cannot see the fifty.

[John A Stuart]

This; 五拾; go, five 五 and ju, ten 拾 (old way) 5x10= 50 John

[Higo-san]

Got it now - thanks, John!

[Toryu2020]

I am inclined to go with "gojusai" but looking at John's rendering and the last character "hoko" seems more correct.

 

John how would you translate the cho?

-t

[Higo-san]

Doing some further research on the first two(?) kanji (see picture below), I accidentally found an old reference source explaining that the old writing for „sai“ is 才. That means that Ray may have hit the correct nail.

 

Regarding the first (two?) kanji, this may be a reference to the so called heavenly stems.

[John A Stuart]

Now I'm getting confused. 丁 means 'leaf' among, cake, block, street, and as the 4th heavenly stem Tei. In Chinese among other things it is a surname "Ding". I looked for it as the surname Cho (Cyou) in the swordsmith indices and found nothing. Cho Gojisai or similar really would be odd, yes, no? John

[Higo-san]

I think we are safe regarding the translation „goji sai saku kore“ (五拾才作之) - made at the age of fifty. My best guess regarding the „丁ノ“ part of the inscription would be that this gives us an indication as to the exact year that person was fifty years old.

[John A Stuart]

If we had the junishi along with the jikkan it would be more conclusive. John

[Higo-san]

John, I am afraid that there is nothing but the mekugi ana above the jikkan...