Higo? Mei Translation Help

[Hidas]

Hi All,

 

Looking for some help with this Mei as I'm struggling to recognise most Kanji.

 

I think the Omote starts with Higo as the first 2 Kanji (肥後?) to mark the province and the final 2 Kanji on the Omote are Saku Kore ( 作 之?) -  , and the Ura ends with Month 月 ?

 

Any help translating and identifying dates or swordsmith would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Will

 

[uwe]

Will,

 

your date (nengo) seems to be "皇紀二千六百二年九月日" (Kôki nisen roppyaku ni nen kyu gatsu hi). It's the imperial dating and reads "a day on the 9th month 2602" = September 1942 if I'm not totally off?!

 

Mei not finished yet...

[Hidas]

Hi Uwe,

 

Thanks for looking at this, it's really helpful to see how you have interpreted the kanji and begin to see the style of writing.

 

I'll keep looking at the Mei and hopefully make more sense of it now.

 

Thanks

[SteveM]

肥後金剛源鋳王作之

 

Higo Kongo Minamoto Chūō saku kore. 

 

Not sure about 鋳王. I can't find any similar signature on the internet. Could be the smith is claiming some lineage to Kongo Hyōei.

Well-cut signature and date. 

[Hidas]

Thanks Steve, that's really helpful.

 

I thought that might be the first 2 Kanji for the smith but was not confident at all.

 

I'll take photos of the blade and fittings to see if I can find any more info on it, would the military sword forum be best given the date of the blade?

 

Updated Translation:

 

 

Thanks,

Will

 

[uwe]

I was struggling with the “鋳” also.....and still do so 🤔

[cisco-san]

Hello,

 

never seen such mei....but very well cut.

Would like to see additional pics from the blade

 

 

[Hidas]

2 hours ago, uwe said:

I was struggling with the “鋳” also.....and still do so 🤔

 

Me too... I'm a complete beginner so have spent the last couple of weeks trying to find mei in a similar style and failing!

 

45 minutes ago, cisco-san said:

never seen such mei....but very well cut.

Would like to see additional pics from the blade

 

Hi Klaus, Thanks for the comment, I'll post pictures of the blade on the forum as soon as I can get some good ones.

 

I've edited the images tone and contrast etc to make the cuttings more obvious in the photos but they do seem to be deep and well defined compared to a lot of others on here, is there anything that can be read into that in terms of the smith or school? or is it just their unique style? they almost seem to join up the lines in the kanji which I imagine would be hard to do with the tools available.

 

Thanks

[Toryu2020]

There is a Kongo-eki in Higo...

-t

[k morita]

Hi.
The mei Tetsuō(銕王) was a pen name of Moritaka盛高(RJT smith)in Kumamoto .
Thanks Hidas for the pic.

[cisco-san]

Hello,

 

from Markus book:

YASUHIRO (靖博), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Kumamoto – “Minamoto Moritaka” (源盛高), “Kongōbyōe Moritaka Yasuhiro” (金剛兵衛盛高靖博), “Kōtei-bukotsu Mina-moto Moritaka” (皇敵無骨源盛高, about “against the unrefined enemies of the Emperor/Empire”), “Tetsuō” (鉄王), “Jingūji Ryōsai” (神宮寺良西), real name Moritaka Yoshio (盛高良夫), born October 30th 1908, he was a late smith smith from the lineage of Chikuzen Kongōbyōe Moritaka (盛高), he signed first with Akihiro (煕博) and changed his name in 1927 to Yasuhiro, 1933 he learned the art of jūmonji-yari (十文字鎗) forging from Enju Tarō Nobushige (延寿太郎宣繁), gō Tetsuō (鉄王), kihin no retsu (Akihide), First Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)

 

 

[Hidas]

17 hours ago, k morita said:

The mei Tetsuō(銕王) was a pen name of Moritaka盛高(RJT smith)in Kumamoto .

 

Thanks K Morita - that was really useful, I searched for Minamoto Tetsuo and found another sword with a slightly different mei but a very similar style of carving:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/item/85976960_wwii-Japanese-army-officer-s-sword

 

 

Quote

WW2 Japanese Army officer`s sword in military mounts. Blade is signed "Higo Minamoto Tetsuo saku” & dated "Nisen Roppyaku ni-nen Hachi-gatsu hi (a day, August, 1942) Tetsuo`s real name is Terada Yoshimitsu, born in Feb.,1910, lived in Minamata city, Kumamoto prefecture, studied under Moritaka Yasuhiro, made swords during WWll time and after the war as a Gendai smith. Scabbard is metal and in good condition. Lock mechanism works fine. Sword measures 39 3/4" inches long in scabbard. Blade measures 26 1/8 Inch from tip to the notch in habaki and is perfectly straight.

 

As above it is signed Higo Minamoto Tetsuo Saku which seems like a good match? and they studied under Moritaka Yasuhiro - who Klaus has kindly provided more information in an earlier post.

 

However searching for Terada Yoshimitsu brought up another sword from this Forum: 

That sword is dated to 1981 which is much later than other swords I've seen though.

 

In the thread Joe (SwordGuyJoe) was able to provide more info on the smith:

 

And a reference from Markus Sesko's Index of Japanese Swordsmiths:

 

After all that I'm not 100% certain on who the smith was, whether it was Terada Yoshimitsu or Moritaka Yoshio or another separate person?

 

They were born just 2 years apart but the younger studied under the other which I imagine is a close age range for student and smith but might be common for all I know.

 

Thank you Klaus, Uwe, Thomas, Steve and K Morita for all your help.

 

[cisco-san]

Hi,

 

not sure what exactly you mean (might be because of my English knowledge) but your blade is made by Moritaka Yoshio and was forged September 1942.