Need help with signature on Tanto Fittings

[darbianco]

Hi, I have tried 4 or 5 different Facebook Japanese Sword groups and so far no one has been able to help with translating this signature. It is on the Fuchi of an incredibly beautiful Aikuchi Tanto by Kunikane. I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks so much in advance.

 

ps- the holes in the Fuchi are because the very thick silver Seppa has to prongs that fit into the Fuchi.

[Stephen]

Thanks bringing this over bit late now be be assured our members will take of you.

Please share the entire blade in the Nihonto section. Very lovely interesting mounts.

 

PS be sure to sign your name so members know how to address you.

[darbianco]

Here are some of other pics of the Tanto.

Thanks

Darren

[Bazza]

Ken, Ken (Mr Mantis). Wherefore art thou???

 

BaZZa.

[Brian]

I was wondering....

[Stephen]

Darren they are commenting on your mantis menuki. We have a member who collects such. Please hang on someone will help with the translation.

[darbianco]

No problem :)I love the Mantis Menuki also

[Stephen]

Pete how does the Kunikane mei stand up?

 

Mr Bleed that is.

[Peter Bleed]

Pete how does the Kunikane mei stand up?

Stephen,

Thanks for asking and I am honored to say that Darren kindly asked me about this signature. This is such a wonderful - and wonderfully complex - sword that the MEI is just the tip of the iceberg. My GUESS (and a very safe bet) would be that it is ABSOLUTELY by one of the Kunikane smiths between #4 and #12. That seems to be a consistently vague area, tho. I would bet against it being by #13 based on "penmanship." Horimono doesn't seem at all common on Sendai swords so it is hard for me to assess this engraving. Lust, lust....

This is an interesting blade and a very nice object.. Oh, and did I mention?.... Lust, lust!

Peter

[Stephen]

Now if nobody or SteveM could help with the fuchi.

[darbianco]

Just got a message from another post that suggested the last 2 characters may be Hidetoshi. Still no idea on first character and trying to confirm Hidetoshi.

-Darren

[SteveM]

囗秀寿 (somthing-hidetoshi) is a possibility. I should say the last one definitely looks like a cursive 寿 (toshi, sumi, other readings). The middle one liks sort of like 秀 (hide), but the unfortunate placement of the hole obscures some of this one kanji. I suspected 秀 at first, but now I'm not so sure. The very first slanting horizontal line is missing (or, it may have been lost when the hole was made). So I am hesitant to agree with Hidetoshi.

 

The first one is obviously some thing with a tree radical (kihen), so that sort of narrows it down to any kanji relating to tree/wood, but again I'm not sure about this one. 柳 (yanagi, ryu) is one often associated with three-kanji art names, as is 松 (matsu, shō), but this looks different from either of those. I'm away from my Wakayama reference now, but that is where I would start my search: in the art names beginning with a tree-radical kanji such as 柳 or 松.

 

Or, watch this space as maybe Moriyama-san or Morita-san or one of the other gents may come along and help out. 

[Stephen]

Thanks Steve

[darbianco]

Thanks Steve, that is good info. I appreciate it and will start with those clues.

[darbianco]

Here is much cleaner image than before

[darbianco]

I did find another Fuchi that was signed Omori Hidetoshi. Here is the signature for comparison. There is a lot of similarities between the characters.

Thanks

Darren

[SteveM]

Ōmori Hidetoshi is a 4-kanji name, 大森秀知 (with a kaō at the end). None of these is a match for any of the kanji on your fuchi, I think. 

 

Yours is a three-kanji name, ending in 寿. I now think the middle one is definitely not 秀, and I am still struggling with the first one.   

[darbianco]

Hi Steve:) I wasn’t thinking the Omori name , I was just looking at the Hidetoshi Characters which are similar but very stylized.

[darbianco]

Steve, I appreciate your time looking into this. I am a novice when it comes to translating.

Thanks

[uwe]

Quite tough....

I also think the second isn’t 秀.
Several possibilities for the first, but nothing makes sense so far....(interesting, that the left radical is very well executed but the right side almost sōsho).

[SteveM]

I looked through all the gō (art names, or "pen names" if you like) in Wakayama, but there are only two or three that end in 寿, and neither of those are a match. 

 

And, for the same reason that Uwe mentioned, the first one throws me.

[darbianco]

I new this would be a difficult one . Thanks for the the work so far

[Ken-Hawaii]

Darren, please go to your NMB signature, & put in your first name,m so it will show on all posts, per Brian's rules.

[darbianco]

Will do

-darren

[uwe]

....I´m almost "convinced", that the second character is meant to be "知"?!

[darbianco]

Is that “wa”? Thanks