New Member - Mei Translation help needed

[blucool]

Glad to be part of the group! I Just bought this blade and am new to translating mei. The sword is signed on both sides of the nakago. The Omote side mei is slightly obscured by rust buildup and the Ura side is even more obscured by the buildup. It looks like this rust could be easily flaked off but I am unsure if this may affect value of the blade. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, but I realize that it may be impossible to accurately interpret the signatures/date without a clear view of all characters. Thanks!!

 

-Philip

[blucool]

Picture links here:

 

 

 

 

*the arrows in the last picture are where I can see characters but they are covered by rust

[Grey Doffin]

Interesting. The characters are readable but unfortunately, they are upside down. This is something I've never seen on a real Japanese sword; I suspect you've bought something else.

Here's a chance for someone who knows more than I do to jump in and tell us that the famous Damdifino school always signed upside down. Anyone out there have better news for the sword's owner?

And, by the way, rust should never be removed from a sword's nakago except by a competent restorer, if even then. Messed with nakagos seriously decrease a sword's value.

Grey

[Nobody]

The Mei reads Suikosai Kaneaki (粹光斉兼明xx). I cannot identify the last two characters.

However, the mei was chiselled upside down. IMHO, I also suspect its genuineness.

 

FYI; Japanese swordsmiths of the Showa (WW II) era from the site of Dr. Rich S.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/kaneaki4.jpg

[blucool]

Very cool, thanks for the insight. Are you saying the characters themselves are upside down or the order of the characters is reversed from the standard? Also, is there any indication as to the age of the blade from the signatures?

 

In any case, here's what little I know on the blade. Bought it yesterday at a local antique shop and was told it was a very recent estate sale purchase and that they didn't know much else about it.

 

I have a couple decent machine made "replica" nihonto so thats really all I have to compare it too. Interestingly, it feels much heavier (but more balanced) than my machine made knock-off blade although they are almost identically sized. I don't know if it matters but I also noticed the hole in the tang looks like it was reamed or chiseled out as opposed to drilled clean.

 

Here are a few more pictures, thanks again for taking the time to reply with any thoughts.

 

 

 

[blucool]

sorry for the duplicate images ....meant to post this one. Thanks.

 

[Nobody]

The characters themselves are upside down.

As for the date, I can only identify 年 and 月吉日. They mean a lucky day of ? (month) in ? (year). So, there is no important information.

 

IMHO, it could be a fake. I do not think that the shape of the Nakago and the position of the Nakago ana are correct, though I am only a biginner.

[Brian]

Looks to me to be a possible fake too. That shape of the nakago is suspicious, and the rust looks artificially applied. The mei strokes don't look well chiselled and done as a sloppy afterthought. The machi are badly done..even if it is machi-okuri.

Odd that they would fake a WW2 smith though. Maybe it is a post war fake to sell to returning soldiers?

Can't say for certain it is a fake..but it is looking that way.

 

Brian

[BC Smith]

To me, being a total newbie the area around the ha machi and mune machi seem suspect, could be the photo, but to me it appears that the ha machi and mune machi are non existant and the angle of rust would seem to me as though the nakago has been added to the blade, could the areas mentioned actually appear like this on any existing nihonto that the gurus around here have seen?

Bernie

[David Flynn]

The tang looks like it could have been welded on

[blucool]

I can see why the rust might look bogus, at least from the pictures. It actually looks far darker in person, almost like a very dark brown paint. I tried some different lighting and I think this pic below conveys the appearance of the tang relatively well.

 

Here's a close-up in more realistic lighting

 

This picture shows what I believe to be a straight hamon which seems to run the length of the blade.

 

Area where tang meets blade, also can again see a faint hamon

[Bungo]

look at the tip of the nakago.............then compare with the Hong Kong seller's swords on e-bay.

 

milt THE ronin

[blucool]

Bungo, are you saying it does or does not resemble the hong kong sellers swords?

[Brian]

Does resemble, I'm afraid.

The sword is not a legit WW2 shin gunto. There are some odd things about this one..even for a fake. Upside down mei is not unheard of on the Chinese fakes..but I haven't seen them copy a real smith then. Could be a tang that is cut off another sword and welded on..but not really sure.

Nobody was correct in that the ana is far too low down. I think they used a picture when they copied the signature..and scribed the signature the wrong way round since the pic probably didn't show which way was up. That makes sense.

But either way..I'm afraid it is probably a fake.

Btw..what do the fittings look like? If we can see the tsuka and fittings..that will probably tell for sure.

 

Brian