Tyler Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Hello all! appreciate any help in translating a Japanese sword that my Great grandpa brought back from WW2. Ive always been fascinated with its history and finding out how old it is. Ive done quite a lot of research on the characters on the blade but haven't been able to get very far. Thanks for your time! There is a small blade that is attached to the mounting itself, the characters on this small blade are illegible to me. Then, there are the characters on the main blade itself along with one on the bottom of the tsuka. Tyler Wood IMG_4166.HEIC IMG_4165.HEIC IMG_4164.HEIC IMG_4162.HEIC Quote
Nihonto Otaku Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Hello! Tyler, i will be glad to do the translation for you. But could you please convert your picture files into JPEG files please? Although HEIC files can be downloaded and then viewed in PC, I can't view HEIC pictures directly on the webpage. And I prefer to just view the pictures on the webpage. Thanks for your understanding! AL Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 I'm not waiting! Here they are: 1 Quote
uwe Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Probably “藤原守行” (Fujiwara Moriyuki)... 1 Quote
Nihonto Otaku Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 7 hours ago, uwe said: Probably “藤原守行” (Fujiwara Moriyuki)... agreed, according to the third picture from Bruce. The inscription in the first picture from Bruce has been grinded down too much to be read. 1 Quote
uwe Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Yep, the Kogatana is very hard to read. I imagine to see “守” and “藤原”, but it’s pure guesswork. Maybe you can try another angle for the light source Tyler?! Quote
Geraint Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Dear Tyler. Welcome to NMB. Your blade appears to have an out of the ordinary shape. Could we have a picture of the whole blade out of the mounts please? All the best. Quote
Tyler Posted September 30, 2020 Author Report Posted September 30, 2020 48 minutes ago, uwe said: Yep, the Kogatana is very hard to read. I imagine to see “守” and “藤原”, but it’s pure guesswork. Maybe you can try another angle for the light source Tyler?! I will work on getting some better images with a different camera. Thanks for the help! Quote
Tyler Posted September 30, 2020 Author Report Posted September 30, 2020 11 minutes ago, Geraint said: Dear Tyler. Welcome to NMB. Your blade appears to have an out of the ordinary shape. Could we have a picture of the whole blade out of the mounts please? All the best. I'll try and upload a few more pictures of the entire blade today. Thanks! Quote
Tyler Posted September 30, 2020 Author Report Posted September 30, 2020 Here are a few more pictures. Sorry I only have my phone as a camera right now so not the best pictures, but hopefully a little more visible then the others. Thanks! Tyler Quote
Geraint Posted September 30, 2020 Report Posted September 30, 2020 Dear Tyler. The new photographs help. So here we go! You have a wakizashi which is in unokubi zukuri form with an o kissaki, a bit unusual. The mounts are OK but not spectacular. Some pictures of the tsuba would be nice. The signature is Fujiwara Moriyuki which would suggest a smith of the Bungo Takada school of around 1661. (That is of course assuming that the first character of the name is Mori.) There is a possibility that this is a gimei or fake signature blade. The papered examples that I have seen have a very different way of cutting the yuki kanji. Not to worry, it's still an interesting blade. Lots to learn here and hopefully a member near you who can look at the blade in hand for you and tell you some more. Welcome to the wonderful world of Japanese swords! Enjoy! All the best. 2 1 Quote
Tyler Posted October 2, 2020 Author Report Posted October 2, 2020 On 9/30/2020 at 11:48 AM, Geraint said: Dear Tyler. The new photographs help. So here we go! You have a wakizashi which is in unokubi zukuri form with an o kissaki, a bit unusual. The mounts are OK but not spectacular. Some pictures of the tsuba would be nice. The signature is Fujiwara Moriyuki which would suggest a smith of the Bungo Takada school of around 1661. (That is of course assuming that the first character of the name is Mori.) There is a possibility that this is a gimei or fake signature blade. The papered examples that I have seen have a very different way of cutting the yuki kanji. Not to worry, it's still an interesting blade. Lots to learn here and hopefully a member near you who can look at the blade in hand for you and tell you some more. Welcome to the wonderful world of Japanese swords! Enjoy! All the best. That is really interesting! Thank you so much for the information. Tyler Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.