Special order name

[PNSSHOGUN]

Seeking some help confirming the person who ordered this sword. The smith is Yamana Tokiyoshi and dated 1890.

 

 

 

[mywei]

Ordered for a Sagawa Akira (佐川晃)

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thank you, much appreciated. Haven't been able to find anything about this man.

[Bugyotsuji]

山谷？Yamaya, Yamatani?*

 

The attribution says ‘worn by’ Sagawa Akira. ‘First frost’ 初霜　Hatsushimo must be early winter.(?)
 

*Later. Now I can see your 名 character!  Some of these take a little time…

[PNSSHOGUN]

Very interesting, at this time not many people would be wearing swords beyond military and police. Yamana Minamoto Tokiyoshi was working in the Satsuma region.

[SteveM]

I think in this case 初霜 is another name for October. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thank you again, for our Japanese members any suggestion on a good place to search for any information on this Sagawa Akira (佐川晃) fellow?

[Nobody]

I am not certain if this Sagawa Akira is the man. I have no farther information about him.

In the painting the left man seems to be Sagawa Akira acted by a Kabuki actor.

Ref. Morikawa Chikashige: 「朝鮮済物浦図」「小林志津三郎 市川左団治」「佐川晃 助高屋高助」 - Waseda University Theatre Museum - Ukiyo-e Search

 

The related historical event is Japan-Korea Treaty of 1882.

Ref. Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882 - Wikipedia

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

That is fantastic, thank you so much. There is a good chance this could be the same person.

[PNSSHOGUN]

There is mention of a Sagawa Kanbei who fought with the Aizu Shinsengumi remnants at the battle of Aizu. Perhaps there is some relation there....or none at all.

 

Quote

On the same day, Satsuma continues its campaign of poking the shogunate in the eye. 5 or 6 armed and armored Satsuma men loiter outside the Aizu offices in Kyoto. Aizu vassals Sagawa Matashirō and Tokiwa Jirō, who are assigned to Bessentai, the unit commanded by Matashirō’s brother Sagawa Kanbei, emerge and ask them to leave. Without warning, the Satsuma men attack, and kill both of them. Matashirō is stabbed over ten times, and his sword so badly bent that it could not be resheathed. Kanbei, who was indoors and overheard the fight, emerges to find the attackers gone and his brother dead. According to Fukushima Hiroshi, this was the root of his unyielding desire for revenge against Satsuma, which a decade later saw him die in Satsuma, fighting Saigō Takamori’s men in the Seinan War. When he was killed, he was carrying a folded-up paper inside his hat, inscribed with the names (numbering in the thousands) of every Aizu samurai killed in 1868.

 

[Toryu2020]

Well if Kanbei died in 1877, he wouldn't be ordering swords in 1880 and given his story not likely to want a Satsuma sword. I like Moriyama's candidate...

-t

[PNSSHOGUN]

Not saying it is Kanbei but perhaps his son or relation.....a wild goose chase at this point in other words!