help with Norimitsu Sayagaki please

[Mark]

i have a wakizashi in shirasaya. It has 2 long columns of sayagaki. I can make out some, i can see Meiji 34, 5th day,  but some of the rest is beyond me, the first part seems worn or "distressed"  not sure if someone tried to remove or hide that part. 

 

I would appreciate some assistance

 

Thanks in advance !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Toryu2020]

So I dunno - could be a gift "to" rather than from - also Kinnen is often translated as "Memorial" but Kono Hironaka did not die until the 1920's so its not clear what is being celebrated - my thinking is the kao may belong to Mr Kamata who seems to be the author - the unclear characters are for a Bizen Osafune somebody, perhaps that was an old sayagaki that was removed to add this one?

 

河野広中公の愛刀則光太刀と一組揃の名刀也
明治３４年正月元旦
河野代議士より贈興紀念也　　
鎌田代

 

Kono Hironaka's favorite sword, Norimitsu, and a pair of other famous swords.
New Year's Day, 1901
A commemorative gift from Congressional Representative Kono.　　
Kamata (signed)　

 

I'm sure somebody or maybe Nobody will correct my mistakes...

-t

[Toryu2020]

Liberal civil rights activist and politician of the Meiji and Taisho periods. Born on July 7, 1852 in the Miharu domain (Fukushima Prefecture). His name was Banshu. After the establishment of the new government, he served in Wakamatsu Prefecture and the Miharu domain office, and later served as head of the Tokiwa household and head of the Ishikawa ward. During his tenure as the head of the Tokiwa household and the head of the Ishikawa ward, he was enlightened by Mill's ideas and made efforts to establish the Minkaikai and the Seiyosha political association. In the meantime, in April 1881, he was elected to the Diet. In April 1881, at the age of just 31, he became the chairman of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly and fought hard for the establishment of local autonomy. In 1889, he was pardoned by the Constitution and released from prison. During this period, he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1903 and as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in the second Shigenobu Okuma Cabinet in 1915. He left the Liberal Party, which he had been deeply involved with since its founding in 1897, and frequently changed his party affiliation, which led to some suspicion of his political manners, but he never lost the principle of "universal suffrage" that he had nurtured during the Civil Rights Movement. However, he did not consistently lose the idea of "universal suffrage" that he had developed during the Civil Rights Movement, and he worked actively to realize it. He died on December 29, 1923, while still a member of the Diet. His grave is at Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Nobody]

16 hours ago, Mark said:

..........................................

....................   the first part seems worn or "distressed"  not sure if someone tried to remove or hide that part. 

 

I cannot see the first two images in the original post.

 

What is the mei on your wakizashi in the shirasaya? I think that the mei is not Norimitsu. The first worn part of the sayagaki must be for the wakizashi in the shirasaya. Unfortunately I can only read ▢備前長船▢▢▢▢ (- Bizen Osafune -).

 

Other parts of the sayagaki were added after the wakizashi was given to the new owner.

 

河野廣中翁ノ愛刀則光大刀ト壱組揃ノ名刀也 – This is an excellent sword (shoto) which was paired with Mr. Kono Hironaka’s favorite Norimitsu-daito.

 

明治三十四年正月元旦 – Meiji 34^th year, 1^st month, 1^st day

河野代議士ヨリ贈與紀念也 – Commemorative of the gift from Diet member Kono

鎌田氏 – Mr. Kamata

[Mark]

Tom and Moriyama San, Thanks for all the help!!!!!  Very interesting.  

 

There were only 5 pictures,  it looked like there were links for 2 at the beginning,  not sure what happened,  I had to edit multiple times to get the pictures in the right order.........

 

Here are some pictures.  The blade is very slender, but appears to be made that way as the temper is not thin (unless retempered). It has very nice hada (in my opinion) and gives the idea of some age but signed Norimitsu so i would expect 1500's. 

 

Not sure what to make of it, that is why i posted to see if the sayagaki could offer some direction.  I guess the mei could have been added to match a katana?  If so maybe the upper part of the sayagaki was written when it was mumei with an attribution to another smith and that was removed if the mei was added???   a conundrum.  The blade looks older and better (or just different) than i would expect  for Bizen Norimitsu ( i realize there were good Norimitsu but the mei does not look like one of the notable ones)

 

[Mark]

Here is a close up of the part that is hard to read.  I am now thinking it was an attribution to someone else.  Probably unreadable but if anyone has a guess please let me know.   Thanks again for all your help