Help Please.... KaneMitsu ?

[Joe Choi]

At first I read as Kanemitsu, then it looks like something else, the mitsu part.

Any help would be appreciated... Joe

[Nobody]

Maybe ...

 

包元 - Kanemoto

 

[Joe Choi]

Thanks again for your quick help....

I see there were two smiths signed as 包元

I wonder which one is mine....

 

Thanks again... Joe

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

 

Is the work looking like Sue Tegai?

[Joe Choi]

The sword is in pretty rough shape, no details can be seen.

And I'm still a newbie when it comes to Nihonto so I can't tell if I have a Sue Tegai in front of me.

Gunto's I'm pretty good at.... I think.

Thanks... Joe

[Ted Tenold]

Joe,

 

What Jacques is hinting at is that this style kanji for "kane" was used by Yamato region smiths. The more frequently seen version such as those on many gunto you may have seen, is the Mino based "kane".

[Joe Choi]

Hi.. Ted,

Thank You... I learn so much from this site.

[reinhard]

What Jacques is hinting at is that this style kanji for "kane" was used by Yamato region smiths. The more frequently seen version such as those on many gunto you may have seen, is the Mino based "kane".

 

Other schools using this kind of kanji for KANE quite frequently are the Monju-school in Wakayama (Kii province, ShinTo period) and followers of the KUNIKANE-school in Sendai (Oshu province, ShinTo and ShinShinTo period). Both of them claimed to have their roots in Yamato tradition (Tegai and Hosho respectively). - BTW I can't see any "MITSU" nor "MOTO" in the second kanji and I suspect the saya-gaki to be a mistake. The KANEKURA line in Sendai might be a trace, but I could't find any reference material.

 

reinhard

[Nobody]

... - BTW I can't see any "MITSU" nor "MOTO" in the second kanji and I suspect the saya-gaki to be a mistake. The KANEKURA line in Sendai might be a trace, but I could't find any reference material.

I might be biased by the sayagaki. I think that Kanekura could be a good guess.

Does anyone have an example?

[Grey Doffin]

Which Kanji for kura are you suggesting? Hawleys has 2 Kanekura listed with that kane and 2 different kura, but the kura don't look anything like the kanji in question.

Whoever wrote the saya-gaki thought it should be read Kanemoto.

Grey

[Nobody]

I think that reinhard suggests this 藏 (kura).

[reinhard]

Thank you Moriyama-san, that's the one I had in mind.

 

reinhard

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

Sometimes i'm really wondering....

 

Where is the resemblance with the ji kura 藏?

 

In all case it can't be Sendai Kanekura.

 

[Nobody]

Thanks Jacques. As you say, the mei in question does not look like Kanekura you kindly showed. Actually, the mei might be Kanemoto. But I am not sure about the 2nd kanji now, because its shape lacks balance to be 元 (moto).

If the 2nd kanji is kura (蔵), the kanji must be an abbreviated style as shown in the attached picture.

 

BTW, there was another smith with the same kanji in Yamato in Chokyo era (長享: 1487-1489), although I have not seen his mei either. According to my book, his mei reads Kanetoshi (包蔵 – typo?).

[reinhard]

I do not insist in the KANEKURA theory. As I said, it's just a possible track, because the second kanji doesn't remind me of anything I've ever seen. An abbreviated, reduced version of KURA however could eventually make sense. If it's by one of the seven generations in Sendai or another smith, I don't know.

 

reinhard

[Joe Choi]

Little better pic, I hope.....

When I first saw it, I've read it as KaneMitsu

[reinhard]

Enlarged and put side by side, the first example looks more informative to me.

 

reinhard

[Jacques D.]

Hi,

 

At first sight, the nakago jiri eliminates the Tegai school. Seeing the whole blade (with measurements) should be helpful.