Skull Tsuba Kanji

[rematron]

Hello, wonderful translators.  I naively really wanted to figure this out because it’s one of my favorites but I’ve hit a wall.  I did attempt to draw out the kanji so that I could discern it from the fine honeycomb background and I did some simple searches for words but I’m just not knowledgeable enough to pull this off.  Please, shed some light!

Some of the interpretations I made are grasping at straws and I think the third row of kanji is upside down on the tsuba?

[Baka Gaijin]

Hi Jeremy,

 

Reminds me of subject matter often related to Basho's "Summer Grass".

 

夏草や兵どもが夢の跡
Natsukusa ya tsuwamono domo ga yume no ato

Summer grass,
all the warriors are,
but the remains of dreams 

 

[rematron]

Hi Malcolm. 

 

I do love that verse.  And I am relatively sure that it's a verse or complete poem.  Maybe something like what it reminds you of.  It reminds me of something like that too just by the fact that it is a lot of kanji and similar in appearance to other translated death/mortality themed tsuba.  Now to find out what it actually DOES say.  I've searched all the relative threads here in NMB and read a short article by Markus Sesko hoping to find similar words to the ones I've maybe translated but no luck.  Thank you for your interest.  

[SteveM]

I looked at this, but have to wave the white flag. 

 

囗囗むそふたち　（むそうたち in modern Japanese - 無双？ 夢想？)

さき〱さ囗ごくらく　　（the one in red looks like the repeat symbol 〱, rather than hiragana く). The last one I don't know if its ごくらく (極楽paradise) or if that is just some kind of cognitive bias on my part).

 

and then the bit on the side たんだ？ I don't know if that's part of the poem/saying, or something else. Unusual. 

Sorry, very slim pickings from me, but maybe something will shake loose from there. 

 

I can read the Nobuie signature...if that's any help .  

[rematron]

@SteveM, thank you!  That's some headway and I very much appreciate the help.  So, "Nobuie"... uh oh... Well, honestly, I hadn't even given the signature much thought yet.  The seller didn't drop that name.  They said: "Shinya Azuchi" and I just thought it might be a nice old tribute piece imitating Nobuie... And that was good enough for me.  So, this is a whole new can of worms.  Perhaps someday I'll submit it for shinsa.  It's pretty safe to say it isn't THE Nobuie but perhaps it is one of his students or one of their students...

[SteveM]

Oh, the theme is "nozarashi", skeleton of warrior left on the battlefield and exposed to the elements (you might already know this). A popular theme, and popular with Nobuie. There is an epic thread on this theme below. In fact, I think the writing on your tsuba may be an excerpt or an allusion to a poem found in this thread

 

切りむすぶ太刀の下こそ地獄 なれ、進めやー先は極 楽

 

Kiri musubu tachi

no shita koso

jigoku nare

susumeya-a

saki ha gokuraku

 

"To be cut under the long sword is hell, to advance forward is paradise" (courtesy @Henry Wilson)

 

The parts in blue are (I think) the ones written on your tsuba, with some slight differences

 

A

[rematron]

Thank you again, Steve.  I did see that thread and had looked it over a few times but (because my brain isn't wired for kanji yet ) I couldn't 'see' the correlating characters.  Thank you for pointing it out specifically.  I really appreciate your effort here.

[rematron]

I forgot to ask about this writing on the box in the thread. The first characters look the same as the mei on the tsuba so I guess: Nobuie.  Could someone please verify that and tell me what the whole label says?  Also, the seller mentioned the name: Shinya Azuchi. Does that mean anything to anybody? 
Maybe a student of Nobuie? Or a known ‘tribute’ maker? Thank you, people. 
 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Apart from the dealer's codes, it says 鐔 tsuba, 信家 Nobuie and 野晒し Nozarashi.

[rematron]

Thank you for spending time on that, Piers. I really appreciate it.