Sayagaki assistance

[Brian]

Hi all,

I was emailed the following yari sayagaki with a request for any possible assistance.

I am not sure how much of it can be made out due to the dirt, but perhaps if anyone has any ideas on the visible kanji?

 

Brian

 

[Markus]

Hi Brian,

 

The sayagaki reads:

 

 

保昌五郎貞宗作

Hoshô Gorô Sadamune saku

壹尺二寸五分

isshaku nisun gobu (~ 37,9 cm)

貫鐵

kantetsu (lit. "piercing/penetrating iron", probably the name of the yari )

安政戊午十二月

Ansei tsuchinoe-uma jûnigatsu (Ansei, year of the horse [1858], twelfth month)

乙丑

kinoto-ushi (not sure what this date should mean at that place, but the closest

dating of this kind would be 1865)

 

 

BTW: Although the name of the "appraiser" is illegible, I think the kaô is not a Hon´ami one.

[Nobody]

I totally agree with Markus about the reading.

 

More precisely for the date, “安政戊午十二月乙丑” means Ansei 5th year, 12th month, 24th day. And that is equivalent to Janualy 27th, 1859 in the Gregorian calendar.

[Brian]

Markus,

Excellent work, thanks very much. Your grasp of Japanese really is superb. I assume this attribution would be wishful thinking.

 

Brian

[Markus]

Thank you for the praise but I was just the first with replying

(Although I was not aware that the (乙丑) referred to the 24th day.)

[reinhard]

Hi Moriyama-San and Markus,

 

A simple question about "kantetsu" from someone not perfectly familiar with Nihon-Go: On-reading "KAN" just meaning 8 1/2 pounds, combined with (on-reading) "TETSU" meaning steel, sounds more like a unit of measure than a name to me. The same characters can be read (kun-reading): tsuranu(ku) (i.e. pierce, perforate) and kurogane (i.e.iron). Supposed that on- and kun-reading should not be mixed within one expression: which one of the two translations is the more likely: measurement or "war-name"?

 

reinhard

[Nobody]

I also think that Kantetsu means piercing iron and it may be the name of the yari in this case.

The name sounds good. And it is also suitable name for a yari. I will not deny the possibility of some measurement, but the term is rather strange for that meaning and sounds bad to me.

 

 

Supposed that on- and kun-reading should not be mixed within one expression .......

BTW, this rule is not so strong restriction. There are many terms which commonly consist of On-reading and Kun-reading.

[John A Stuart]

An example would be the 'Toshiro' of another post, yes? John

[Markus]

sounds more like a unit of measure than a name to me.

 

Yes, I know the meaning as a unit of measurement too but then, I expect the "kan"

as a suffix like XXX-kan. Such a unit (like ryô for example) sounds not familiar to me as

a prefix so I had chosen the lit. meaning of "piercing, penetrating".

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

Could it be 貫徹 (meaning realization)?

[Markus]

Hi Jacques,

 

It´s definitely "tetsu" (鐵), the old kanji for (鉄).

[Brian]

I have just been sent these pics, which are the papers for this yari.

Can anyone shed some light on the basics here?

 

Brian

[Markus]

Hi Brian,

 

As you/we have expected, its not a Hoshô Gorô Sadamune.

 

The NHTK attribution reads: "Den Heianjô Nagayoshi"

mei: ubu-mumei

kitae: dense itame-hada

hamon: suguha with ashi

bôshi: yakitsume

horimono: bôhi on the ura

nakago: two mekugi-ana, katte-sagari yasurime

remarks: hira-sankaku yari, around Meiô (1492-1501)

[reinhard]

Thank you Moriyama-San and Markus for your explanations. The reasons why I was looking for another possible translation are the many origami by Hon'ami family, ending with KAN when relating to value (always as a suffix). I was wondering if measurement/currency could be related to "tetsu" in some way. Now I know they can't. Thanks.

John, the TOSHIRO/FUJISHIRO translation is solely based on Hawley's compilation. Not my favourite one, but up to now the only source providing any reasonable info concerning this mei. Though it is not fully reliable and I don't feel very comfortable about it, nobody else came up with a better idea yet.

 

reinhard