Help with Mei on a Toyokaway Nakago, Please

[Bruce Pennington]

Hey guys,

Would someone be so kind as to translate this mei for me? It's on one of those post-war Toyokawa/Tenshozan sourvenir blades.

 

{dang! Brian can you delete that "y" on Toyokawa in the title?)

[ROKUJURO]

Bruce,

the photo is tiny! To make help easier, please provide a bigger one!

[Bruce Pennington]

Let's see if this is better:

[Bazza]

Jean,

 

Hate to say this as you might think I'm trying to teach you how to suck eggs, BUT, if one opens the photo and presses Ctrl  + it enlarges the given image.  I've done this quite successfully with this image and off-hand even so I can't read (i.e., translate) it...

 

BaZZa.

 

EDIT: Bruce, better, but it needs to be clearer as well!!!

[ROKUJURO]

Barry,

thank you, I didn't know that. I'm not a hero when it comes to computers.

The second KANJI might be HARU. The photo is indeed not well focused, but that has not much to do with my inability to read the MEI. 

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks guys. Kiipu, over on Warrelics, postulated "Inaba":

 

"The characters could be 伊奈波 [inaba]? Below are some links that might assist in the kanji identification.

 

Kai gunto katana sword for review

http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_159156486668813&key=371030782602e51f9316b570f87aa6a3&libId=kb5kkemf010009p9000MAh83lmn2f&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fjapanese-militaria%2Fhelp-mei-toyokawa-sourvenir-nakago-please-767397%2F&v=1&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fjapanese-militaria%2F&opt=true&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.militaria.co.za%2Fnmb%2Ftopic%2F31436-kai-gunto-katana-sword-for-review%2F&title=Help%20with%20Mei%20on%20Toyokawa%20Sourvenir%20Nakago%2C%20Please%3F&txt=Kai%20gunto%20katana%20sword%20for%20review%20-%20Military%20Swords%20of%20Japan%20-%20Nihonto%20Message%20Board

 

Arsenal Stamps.

Arsenal Stamps. - Page 14 - Military Swords of Japan - Nihonto Message Board

[Kiipu]

Below is the link to the War Relics Forum discussion.

"Help with Mei on Toyokawa Sourvenir Nakago, Please?"

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/help-mei-toyokawa-sourvenir-nakago-please-767397/

 

Below is the correct links from the post above.

"Kai gunto katana sword for review"

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/31436-kai-gunto-katana-sword-for-review/

"Arsenal Stamps."

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-14?do=findComment&comment=305733

[Bruce Pennington]

Below is the link to the War Relics Forum discussion.

"Help with Mei on Toyokawa Sourvenir Nakago, Please?"

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/help-mei-toyokawa-sourvenir-nakago-please-767397/

 

Below is the correct links from the post above.

"Kai gunto katana sword for review"

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/31436-kai-gunto-katana-sword-for-review/

"Arsenal Stamps."

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-14?do=findComment&comment=305733

Just a follow-up - after searching several of these, I'm quite comfortable that this is in fact Inaba. It's in the "cursive", and that's why it's harder to see.

 

Neil (IJASWORDS) sent me a clear picture.

[Kiipu]

Neil (IJASWORDS) sent me a clear picture.

 

Thank you for the update Bruce and to Neil for providing a better picture.

[k morita]

Hi,

Maybe it says Inaba 伊奈波　.
But it's very unskillful characters.

[Bruce Pennington]

Hi,

Maybe it says Inaba 伊奈波　.

But it's very unskillful characters.

Thank you Morita-san. Very small, and shallow too. I don't have enough examples of these blades, made as souvenirs after the war, to compare mei, but this isn't up to the normal appearance of Tenzoshan mei on the blades made during the war.