Gendaito Uramei translation request please...

[Ted Tenold]

This is the uramei on a very nice Manji Masatsugu Katana, and although I've translated most of it, my skills are questionable and the context is odd to me.

 

 

 

Hono X? Shoku Miya Iwa Ki(?) Tsuru Kame.

 

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Guido]

I read it 奉納香雅宮岩崎鶴亀 HÔ-NÔ KÔ-GA (NO) MIYA IWA-SAKI TSURU-KAME.

 

Iwasaki is a very common family and place name, and Tsurukame is a call for long life. Hônô means to dedicate something, to a shrine or so.

 

My best guess is that this sword was made for the Kôga shrine in Iwasaki.

[Nobody]

This is my guess.

奉納 香椎宮 岩崎鶴亀 (Hono, Kashii-gu, Iwasaki Tsurukame(or Tsuruhisa?))

 

Hono = dedication

Kashii-gu - a Shinto Shrine in Fukuoka ( http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A6%99% ... E%E5%AE%AE )

Iwasaki Tsurukame(or Tsuruhisa?) – The name (family name + given name) of the person who dedicated the sword

 

Iwasaki Tsurukame(or Tsuruhisa?) appears in the following list as a ship owner during the previous war time, though he might be another Mr. Iwasaki.

Ref. http://www1.cts.ne.jp/~fleet7/ships/SS_List007.html

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Ted, this looks interesting...

[Guido]

Koichi, you're right, it's 椎, not 雅. And Tsurukame/Tsuruhisa is such a rare name (it's even not listed in the Nanori Jiten), chances are IMO that it's the same person. Great research as usual.

[Ted Tenold]

Koichi-san and Guido-san,

 

Thank you both very much for the help. The "shi" kanji I thought to be "shoku". Couldn't imagine what a sword had to do with gardens full of turtles and cranes. :lol:

 

Carlo,

 

Yes, it is a nice sword. It will be up on my site soon. A client sent it to me to offer on consignment. I wanted to be sure the translation was correct for my description. Sakurai (Manji) Masatsugu was one of the more important and well thought of Gendai smiths because he was one of the few that continued to work making swords through the difficult years of the Meiji and Taisho eras. His son, Sakurai Masayuki established a forge at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto and was the teacher of Sumitani Seiho (Masamine) who was himself eventually elevated to Ningen Kokuho. Masatsugu was the student of Katayama Munetsugu's son, Hirotsugu. Here's the omote of the Nakago...

 

[Stephen]

for those who have not seen Doc S site on this forge, TT lovely nakago and mei please give the link so we can see the rest of the story (blade) when its up.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/ritsumei.htm

[Ted Tenold]

Will do Stephen. Because it's an item for sale, I'll post the link in the For Sale forum, just to keep the threads righteous. Look for it there.

[nagamaki - Franco]

hi, ' is it just my imagination once again, running away with me ' (sorry, fell to the temptation), or was this mei cut by a person that is left handed? The more I look at the chiseling the stronger that impression becomes. Thoughts?

[Ted Tenold]

Gettin' sentimental, eh Franco? :lol: I have no idea if he was a lefty. Seems a bit of long shot. Hidari Mutsu Kaneyasu signed in mirror image though I don't think that necessarily made him a lefty either. It doesn't give me that impression, and although not impossible, I'd have to say highly improbable. It does maintain a rather straight plane which in relation to the curvature migrates it over the shinogi. Maybe that's what your seeing?