Sword ranking differences on AoiArt's Japanese and English pages.

[AlexiG]

I noticed a bit of a discrepancy between the sword rankings that Mr. Tsuruta puts on top the page for each sword on the English vs Japanese page for the identical sword. I am very new to learning Japanese so it is very possible that this is just my poor understanding, so I wanted to post here to get an opinion. In general, the ratings seem to sometimes be inflated by one level on the English pages but again, I could be wrong. Below are few examples as I was browsing. 

 

Example where ratings match (Saijo saku, 最上作)

 

English: https://www.aoijapan...nd-nbthk-juyo-token/

Japanese: https://www.aoijapan.jp/刀-無銘保昌第22回重要刀剣/刀: 無銘(保昌)(第22回重要刀剣) | 日本刀販売の葵美術 (aoijapan.jp)

 

Few examples where ratings seem mismatched

 

Saijo Saku (最上作) vs Jojo saku (上々作)

English: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/15511/as22431-刀義光造-無鑑査刀匠/

Japanese: https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/15510/as22431-刀義光造-無鑑査刀匠/

 

Highest quality = jojo saku vs highest quality = Saijo saku (in this example both pages list the sword as jojo saku but the explanation is misleading)

English: https://sword-auction.com/en/product/17868/as23271-刀：肥前国住保次作/

Japanese: https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/17867/as23271-刀：肥前国住保次作/

 

Jojo saku (上々作) vs Jo saku (上作)

English: https://www.aoijapan...kubetsu-hozon-token/

Japanese: https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/18572/as23137-刀：無銘保昌（特別保存刀剣）/

 

This is by no means exhaustive but it is the few instances of when I took the time to look at the Japanese page.

 

What are your thoughts? Is just my imagination/severely limited Japanese?

 

Alexi

[Gakusee]

Sometimes his juniors merely copy and paste old descriptions from previous listings in order to “more efficiently” translate the new entry. Happens when the sword is by the same or similar (eg same school) maker. 
 

Sometimes he uses his own discretion to attach a saijo ranking (if the sword he lists is TJ or J) even if the maker is not a Fujishiro saijo maker. This requires own/deeper knowledge of who the Fujishiro saijo makers are. 

Eventually, it almost does not matter. Look at the sword first and only after that try to contextualise it with who made it and then figure out whether that maker had this or that ranking according to Tokuno (man yen rating) or Fujishiro.