Translation Assistance

[Seth]

Hey Guys, any tips on making a difficult-to-see mei pop more safely? I tried getting decent pics but even in person, I have trouble picking it out. Also, any translation assistance would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if the mei is original or not. Thanks in advance!

[SteveM]

A few of the characters are too far gone to read, but its trying to say

備州𠮷岡住助義　 Bishū Yoshioka-jū Sukeyoshi

 

The date is equally too far gone, but it looks like its trying to say (probably)

延元二年

 

I wouldn't do anything to the sword to make the characters pop any more. Your photos are fine as is. You could try to put talcum power on the tang, then wipe it away so that the talcum powder stays in the grooves of the inscribed name, but I don't think that will help much in this case.

 

[Seth]

Hey Steve, thank you for looking at it for me. The talcum powder suggestion was along the line of what I was thinking. I think from looking at it that it has been done in the past so I will leave it well enough alone. 

 

Again, thank you!

[Jussi Ekholm]

You could post images of the sword but I would be fairly positive it is a gimei sword. So far I have found only 3 legitimate signed swords by Yoshioka Ichimonji Sukeyoshi.

[Seth]

Jussi, I will grab some additional pics when home later but due to the price I suspected gimei was a likely probability or a lesser smith so that doesn't come as a surprise. I would bet my paycheck you are correct  . I did purchase it here on nmb but it wasn't claimed as anything special just an in ok polish blade. So with the information provided so far, I need to study the blade and disregard the mei to see where it takes me!

[reinhard]

Agree with "Yoshioka (no) ju Sukeyoshi".

The rest is highly speculativ; gimei anyway.

 

Again:

The mei with the name-part is on the wrong side of the nakago.

Sukeyoshi of the Yoshioka-Ichimonji school signed his long swords exclusively with tachi-mei, i.e. location and name on the haki-omote.

The vast majority of swordsmiths did so until the end of Kamakura-period and into Nambokucho-period.

 

Exceptions are only some of the Ko-Aoe smiths in Bitchu Province and some of the Ko-Bungo smiths like Yukihira.

 

It seems to me, that western enthusiasts, fascinated by their newly acquired ability of translating mei on NihonTo, easily forget basics.

 

reinhard

 

 

 

[Seth]

Thanks for that Reinhard, just to be clear I had no idea what the mei was as it wasn't disclosed, and just bought for the blade. Which was inexpensive in the realm of nihonto.  

 

Jussi, nonetheless it completely slipped my mind on getting some pics for you regardless. I will get some as soon as I can.

[Brian]

  On 12/22/2022 at 12:01 AM, reinhard said:

It seems to me, that western enthusiasts, fascinated by their newly acquired ability of translating mei on NihonTo, easily forget basics.

Expand  

C'mon now. They are giving a translation, not a kantei. I don't see anyone claiming the mei is good or not when translating and I don't think anyone expects that the translation is anything more than that. Let's appreciate the fact that we have guys who are willing and able to assist with the translation part, and then we have experts such as yourself that can take it from there and advise why the sword is wrong. Appreciate the info, and I am sure we all take note of the reason why, which is important to remember.