Is it an Hon’ ami shumei?

[Jean]

Everything in the title and if the answer is yes, who is he.

 

This sword comes out of a family who had this sword when he was general under Napoleon III. Attribution to Yamato Norinaga.

[Ray Singer]

I translated this sword for someone previously on one of the social media groups. At the time I commented that it appeared to be signed 本阿弥 + KAO (so yes, it does appears to be signed as a Hon'ami shumei).

[Ray Singer]

If someone has one of the references handy which show the various KAO, it should be possible to identify whose this is. Enough of the KAO appears to be present to identify or at least narrow down, assuming it is authentic.

 

One caveat is that Hon'ami shumei were typically suppose to indicate that the sword was ubu, but that does not always appear to have been followed. Markus published a great reference on the Hon'ami which I unfortunately don't have on hand.

[Ken-Hawaii]

My best guess is Hon'ami Tadaaoki or Tadayoshi, Jean, but there's not a whole lot of kao left. The blade looks to be the right age.

[BIG]

Markus compendium starts page 60..

 

https://markussesko.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/nihontocompendium-e1.pdf

 

Best

[Jean]

Thanks guys