Two Kane... Mei To Ponder

[Ron STL]

Looked a some swords today and found two mei that are puzzling me. The first mei, in a gunto koshirae, is rather interesting. A light weight, narrow katana with very  narrow hoso-suguba hamon which appears intact. The mei is small and reads Kane--- (possibly Kanetomo). If Tomo, there is a stroke missing. Interesting old sword, katana-mei, which if mine, would consider polish and shinsa. The other mei is on a wakizashi which shows some interest. Another Kane--- the simple looking second kanji puzzles me, at this point. As to the first sword, "if" Kanetomo, I see one such smith from mid-1300s but the sword is not robust enough (my opinion) to come from that period. Would love to see some thoughts on these two Kane---- smiths if only to confirm the correct reading of both. Help much appreciated. 

Ron STL

[Ray Singer]

The first may be 兼房 with some strokes too worn to read clearly.

[Peter Bleed]

Ron,

You have an adventurous sword life!. When I looked at the first sword I saw KANETORA and I went to the books. And there was one (!) but he was MUCH to recent for this sword. - which is a tachi, right.

I have no clue on the other one - but it doesn't look very promising, either...

Thanks for the conversation.

I sure wish that I lived within commuting distance of St Loose.

Peter

[Ron STL]

Yeah, Peter, wish you were closer. We two old timers could have some fun up here! The mei is not tachi-mei which shot down what the sword looked like (very, very optimistically)...ko-Bizen. Yes, I realize that's unlikely but the sugata did remind me of that when I first looked at it. Ray, I did look into Kanefusa, altered by wear, but just can't see that there. I'll dig around tomorrow, the hoso-suguba should give me some direction. Of course KANE always makes one think "Mino." Interesting puzzle.  Ron STL

[BIG]

First Kaneshiro ( son of Kanefusa); second Kanemori...

 

Ron hope not completly wrong...

 

Best

[Ron STL]

Still unsure of these two mei. As for 1st Kanshiro, I haven't found an oshigata of his me, so until then... The second mei which looks so simple still seems unfound. Tried Markus but no reply yet. I'm sure at this point that both blades are sue-koto and no better. Will let you know if anything real definite comes up. Thanks. Ron STL

[Ron STL]

Sort of a late follow-up on these mei. I did ask Markus about these and he said the first is Mino, Kanefusa Tenbun era. The other is Kanehide, also Mino and of Tenbun era, 1532-1555. Ron STL

[Peter Bleed]

Ron,

Thanks for this follow up. The FUSA seems right. The HIDE  is a bit more challenging...

P

[Ron STL]

Interesting side story on the gunto mounted Mino Kanefusa. A local friend, primarily a high end uniform collector, advertises regularly land occasionally pulls out sword but other than the military appeal, knows little about the actual "blades." The Kanefusa was one of five he found and asked for help on the lot. He only had interest in the gunto mounted Kanefusa; I ended up with the rest. (No treasures to get too excited about.) A ruminate of a tag intrigued me, so I researched it via Google. Turned out the sword was gifted by a Japanese doctor to a Lt. General who was instrumental in the development of the Atom bomb. Apparently the son, who also achieved Lt. General, sold the sword back in the 1990s to a fellow I once knew  (now deceased). Great provenance which made my friend happy. Of course I preached to him to preserve the "blade" since it was sue koto and interesting, but may not get any attention until some future collector has it. Not related to this topic but I thought it was an interesting story to go along with the Kanefusa. Amazing how these century old swords continue to travel. Ron STL