Sayagaki by Mr Tanobe

[xiayang]

 

Dear NMB translation experts,

 

I do sometimes contribute to solving translation requests myself, but I'm afraid this sayagaki by Mr Tanobe is somewhat beyond my meagre skills, so this time it is my turn to appeal to your generosity.

 

I've tried to have a go at transcribing it:

 

眇シク磨上無銘而同工ノ所傳有之互の目ヲ主ニ小湾ヲ交ヘル刃文ヲ焼キ

地刃厚ク沸ヅキ沸出来ノ变化妙ヲ示シ相州傳ニ大和氣質ガ加ハリ所傳ハ首肯サル

 

Thankfully, Tanobe sensei's penmanship (or brushmanship?) is quite neat, but I suppose he does have a few idiosyncrasies and there are a couple of bits I wasn't entirely certain about.   And while I sort of get the gist of it, the finer details are lost on me.  

 

Any help with interpretation or corrections to my transcription would be greatly appreciated.  

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Jan

[Nobody]

尠シク磨上無銘而同工ノ所傳有之互の目ヲ主ニ小湾ヲ交ヘル刃文ヲ焼キ

地刃厚ク沸ヅキ沸出来ノ变化ノ妙ヲ示シ相州傳ニ大和氣質ガ加ハリ所傳ハ首肯サル

 

 

I assume that your uncertain point may be the first kanji. It is a variation of 尠 (or 尟), which means “a little bit”. Its meaning is almost same as 少.

[xiayang]

Thank you very much Moriyama san!

 

Here's my attempt at a translation.  Any corrections and comments welcome!

 

尠シク磨上無銘而同工ノ所傳有之

Slightly suriage and mumei, but it possesses the smith’s characteristics.

 

互乃目ヲ主ニ小湾ヲ交ヘル刃文ヲ焼キ

The hamon is mainly gunome with ko-notare.

 

地刃厚ク沸ヅキ沸出来ノ変化ノ妙ヲ示シ

The jiba has thick nie and the nie-deki shows an excellent variation.

 

相州傳ニ大和氣質ガ加ハリ所傳ハ首肯サル

The combination of Sōshū-den and Yamato spirit confirms the attribution.

[SteveM]

1. I think 妙を示し is referring to the smith's skill, so the emphasis would be that the variation shows how skillful he was. Kind of a minor point because your translation essentially carries the same meaning. 

2. I wouldn't use Yamato spirit, because "Yamato spirit" is almost a set-phrase for 大和魂, which is different from what Tanobe is trying to say. I would suggest "Sōshū-den with some Yamato-den characteristics"

3. Confirms the attribution is maybe too strong here. Tanobe is convinced. And he's suggesting anyone who views these attributes will be convinced. But this is slightly different from confirmed. Again, a minor point. Something like: "The Sōshū-den with elements/characteristics of Yamato-den convince me (or "convinces one" since its better to leave in the 3rd person) that the sword is the work of so-and-so. Or, "leads one to believe" is another reasonable translation. 

 

That's my take anyway. 

[xiayang]

Many thanks for your comments Steve!

 

For completeness I'll include a picture of the other side as well:

 

 

 

濃刕志津

Nōshū Shizu

 

刃長九寸余

Length: a bit over 9 sun

 

时在癸卯秊如月

Dated February, year of the water rabbit (2023 CE)

 

探山識 「花押」

Written by Tanzan [kaō]