Had anyone been able to translate this?

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

I think some of you may have seen this little sword as well whoch had this unique Saya making it look like some sort of lizard skin had been used on it. The blade appeard to be a Mino (?) Koto blade to me. I would have said around 1350 - 1450 (?).

 

Anyway, the seller seems to have sold the blade meanwhile and ended the auction early.

 

I had tried to take shot at its inscription but had neither luck nor success with it.

 

Thus I'm curious if anyone had been able to translate the Kanji? I would love to know what it said. For me it was too rusted to clearly identify them.

 

Also it's a pitty that the Saya was so damaged and the Fuchi and Kashira were mismatached as the Kashira itself had been nice.

 

Best wishes,

 

Peter

[bdgrange]

He closed the auction "to take time evaluating the piece". He says has rec'd other offers and advice. You can e mail him and he will discuss the treasure.

I think that the "orikaeshi" mei might be an insertion from another piece.

The metal looks different from the nakago it is inserted in. It was not uncommon for these things to be done. In any event shinsa in Japan is likely to be very conservative.

The owner swears it is folded over and not just inserted. The pictures do not necessarily support this.

This may show up again but with a slightly higher reserve.

 

regards

Bill Delagrange

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

Hello Bill,

 

thank you for your thoughts. I was more interested in teh Koshirae of this item than the blade itself. However I noticed that the F/K were a mismatch and that the Saya was probably too damaged so my interest quickly decreased.

 

Furthermore the seller claimed to have had people from Japan clall him who thought his blade was worth 100k and that it was 1000 years old ...

 

Well, bei humble two cents if that if anyone thought this piece to be worth 100k he probably would not have told that unless he had no interest in buying it. But then again why would he won't to call him then. Moreover being a novice of the Japanese sword I don't think that this look like Heian periode ...

 

last but not least I fully agree that the iron looks very different ...

 

But I'm still wondering what the Kanjis are supposed to say. Nobody?

 

Regards,

 

Peter

[Nobody]

The mei could be Yoshifusa (吉房) with my 2 % certainty.