Need assistance with mei translation

[Utopianarian]

I know part of the mei says Bitchu kuni ju nin. I can’t make out the last character

[Peter Bleed]

Neither can I

 

[ROKUJURO]

George,

please try again with better photos! The NIN might prove to be a HISA.

[dkirkpatrick]

Looks like Hisanaga

 

 

 

 

Doug

[Ray Singer]

Agreed that the first few kanji do look like: 備中國住人

There would be at least one kanji missing past the kanji below junin. SUE (for example, part of Suetsugu) looks close but there is an extra stroke that would seem to eliminate that option.

 

備中國住人末次

[Utopianarian]

Thank you all for your input. Here is a little clearer pic of the mei and a pic of the overall shape of the sword which might help to place maybe the era of the blade

[Utopianarian]

Sorry here is blade upright

[Utopianarian]

Pic

[Ganko]

Appears to have a Nambokucho shape, quite desirable if it is.

[Bugyotsuji]

There was a Kamakura Aoe Nagatsugu smith who signed 備中国永次 for example, and at least two 永久 Nagahisa from the same area, one Ko-Aoe and the other Eisho. (Assuming of course that the character we see is 人 and not 久)

[Utopianarian]

HisaMune might fit too idk or munetsugu

[ROKUJURO]

With the new photo I agree with Ray. It does look more like NIN, not HISA, and one name KANJI seems to be missing. 

When making photos of a blade, try to show it with the tip upwards.

[Nobody]

I guess the last kanji may be 秀 (hide).

So, the mei may be 備中國住人秀・・・

 

BTW, the ebay seller says the last kanji may be 宗 (mune) or 末 (sue).

Ref. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Signed-Japanese-Katana-Sword-Pre-1600s-Koto-Period-WW2/283619426397

[Brian]

George, are you the seller, or interested in purchasing it?

[Utopianarian]

It caught my attention and wanted to learn more about it. I had the seller send me a few extra pics including the overall pic of sword I posted of bare blade. This seller doesn’t seem like the typical eBay monkey that pumps out junk buffed blades. The location shows Jacksonville Alabama. I live in a Southern California. Like many here on the board like to see what’s out there. As you all know 99% of eBay is junk sifting thru for something. Most know what they have if it’s significant and that reflects in the inflated prices you usually see. The occasional blade that’s interesting worth looking at which is rare does on occasion happen. We all know which ones to stay away from

[Utopianarian]

Would you define this as Genroku-shintō-sugata or something more reminiscent of Nanbokucho or Muromachi

[Utopianarian]

I think the last character is 利 Toshi. Part of it looks shaved off on the end of the nakago mune side where it tapers thinner. So I am guessing Toshitsugu 利次. I actually purchased the blade off eBay. I will get a better idea when I can evaluate it in hand. I think it was worth the gamble for a possible Nanbokucho Aoe school blade.

[Utopianarian]

Not too good a pic but has that nie look on hada like the top of a lake that just froze over. Also the ha hada line. The seller sent me these pics so I’ll have to see when I receive it

[Utopianarian]

Crickets... I think it’s time for me to exit stage left folks.

[Blazeaglory]

Post allot of pics when you receive it. From naked tang to tip.

 

We're just fickle over quality photos haha

 

Rest assured, everyone is still very interested in seeing the blade in hand

[Utopianarian]

Sword just arrived in mail. The end of the mail tube the sword was in was destroyed. The only thing holding the sword from falling out was a piece of tape. Anyways I just snapped a quick picture before I left for work of the hada and grain of the sword. I think it does sort of have an Aoe school look to it. I will post more pics when I am off work and have more time. BTW we are being inundated with Covid pts here at the hospital (West Coast). Seems like cases are increasing on the West coast now.

[Utopianarian]

Measurements: Nagasa 69.3cm sori 1.6 cm moto-haba 3.17 cm saki-haba 2.22cm Kissaki width 2.22cm Kissaki length 4.13cm nakago nagasa 17.46cm moto-Kasane 0.67cm Saki-Kasane 0.47cm. Sugata koshi zori leaning toward tori zori. Hada tight forged crinkled texture with tightly forged mokume hada with some areas of sumi-hada, tight noi-guchi,nie-deki, ji-nie, utsuri, hoso saguha. Iori mune. Small area broken off tip. Hard to get visual of boshi and type of file marks on nakago. kaki-nagashi on both sides that run into the tang and runs up the blade and stops just before the yokote.The nakago is cut off missing some of mei. Signed katana mei side. It does appear to say Bitchu kuni junin mune probably missing tsugu. There was a Bitchu smith in the late 1500s that signed Bitchu kuni junin munetsugu but the sword seems to appear Aoe by the characteristics. They say first judge the sword before the signature. There was an Aoe smith in the Nanbokucho period named munetsugu but signed without junin on one of his signatures. Do you think it’s possible that smith’s sometimes signed differently with sometimes adding junin or slightly altering how they signed.

[SteveM]

It doesn't look like Mune to me. Moriyama-san above mentioned it looks like Hide 秀, so I wouldn't ignore that suggestion. Piers suggested 永, and that was my first impression also. Hide and Naga seem more plausible than Mune 宗. I would chase down those two avenues first. A cursory search on the internet didn't turn up too much for me, though. I think if you want a definitive answer you'll have to get it to shinsa somewhere.  

[Utopianarian]

Thank you Steve!! I will look into those options as well.

[Utopianarian]

Sumigane

[Utopianarian]

Last night finally got the chance to spend more time taking a closer look at blade. I turned the lights off and used a small penlight and saw a neat hologram like or 3D type of utsuri above Hamon. One type of utsuri appears and when I would move the angle of light source another would appear and the original one I was looking at would disappear depending on the angle I was moving. I looked it up and believe it’s called Dan utsuri. One utsuri layer looks darker and wavy or midare and the other is lighter misty white that looks more straight in appearance. It’s almost impossible to capture it in a picture. This is the only blade I’ve ever handled and owned that has this feature and very excited. I think I will use Jimmy Hayashi from SanFran for the full polish on this one. This blade does have all the features of an Aoe school blade.

[Jussi Ekholm]

It is very interesting sword George. Unfortunately I think your pictures are too close up and bit blurry as I cannot see details well, can also be my eyesight and current condition of the sword.

 

Will be nice to see the sword if you will have it polished in the future.

[Utopianarian]

Here is about the best pics I can get at this present time

[Utopianarian]

Sumigane is hard to get in pic. The blade is healthy with lots of meat (niku) no core steel showing. Here is the best I can get to show example of what I think may be sumigane

[Utopianarian]