Dated Beyond Nengo?

[doomsdaymachine]

Is there any precedence for smiths dating to a period, but beyond when the period was? Confusing...an example might be better.

 

Gentoku lasted from 1329 -1331. That means there should be Gentoku 1, Gentoku 2, and Gentoku 3, right? What if something is signed, with no question, Gentoku...lets say 7? That's well beyond Gentoku, and I believe even beyond the next period.

 

Is this a thing? Or maybe a forged signature and date by someone who didn't know when Gentoku ended?

[Ken-Hawaii]

I've seen that, too, & just assumed that the writer screwed up.

[Bugyotsuji]

There seems to be a little leeway, e.g. if a smith planned to complete the blade in Gentoku 4, but the Emperor died in the meantime after it had been signed. Anything beyond that is strange, surely, and more than just a simple mistake.

 

Forgers will often deliberately include a little secret indication of their 'work'. 

 

You have to consider other possibilities, such as that someone for some reason carved Gentoku 一 (1), which never existed, so someone else later added a stroke and changed that to 七 (7), which might be a more acceptable 'mistake', etc.(?)

[DirkO]

It's also the fact that if a new nengo started, that it wasn't known immediately throughout Japan. However, this would only account for small errors, by a year or so.