Translating niji mei on a katateuchi?

[TyR]

 

Longtime reader but first time poster here. I’ve learned a lot from other threads on this website, but recently hit a bit of a dead end in my own research. Any assistance translating the niji mei on this sword would be much appreciated. I've attached an image of the full blade alongside a yardstick marked with inches for scale, a closeup of the niji mei on the nakago, and a digitally edited version of the niji mei closeup showing just the characters in black on white for the sake of readability.

 

For my own part, I have searched the Nihonto Club database extensively but I haven’t found anything I recognized as a match for this signature. Two acquaintances of mine (one a native Japanese speaker and the other a specialist in researching antique Japanese ceramics) independently suggested that the signature might be “Kunisato”, but both of them also expressed that they were deeply uncertain about this interpretation. In my admittedly unexpert opinion the lower character looks more like 重 (“Shige”) than 里 (“Sato”), and the upper character has perplexed all three of us.

 

I’ve also been researching whether the nakago itself might offer some context clues as to the era this blade originates from in order to hopefully narrow the field of possible smiths. The side that the niji mei was chiseled into seems to confirm that this sword was purpose built as an uchigatana, rather than being a shortened tachi, and if I understod correctly, the short length of the nakago may indicate that it was originally intended to serve as a katate uchigatana, the single handed striking sword typical of the Sengoku period (though this example came to me in a two handed koshirae, presumably a later edition).

 

This sword is an heirloom that has been in my family for well over a hundred years, so I am interested in identifying the name of its maker to satisfy my own curiosity rather than for any commercial purpose.

 

Thanks!

Ty

 

[mywei]

Looks like Kunishige (國重)

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, it looks like KUNISHIGE as Matt says. 

More sharp photos of the NAKAGO against a dark background are necessary to get an idea of the patina and perhaps age.

The signature has then to be compared with authenticated examples of this smith.

Please be aware that a signature does not automatically confirm the age or the maker! There are too many GIMEI blades around. They may have a certain age and be pleasant to look at, but not SHOSHIN.

[TyR]

Thank you very much Matt and Jean for your help!

I recognize that the prevalence of false signatures, as well as the lack of a date, mean this is a long way from being a reliable attribution to a particular smith, but it is still very satisfying to have greater confidence in the translation, and I am certainly appreciative for the reminder not to get ahead of myself.

Apologies for the subpar photography. I had some difficulty finding an angle that would make the details of the upper character legible. Unfortunately I’ve had to move around a lot over the last few years, so I suspect it will be another few months at least before I am able to take any new photographs, but I’ve attached a short snippet of video I had on hand, in the hope that might give a slightly better sense for the patina on the nakago.

Thanks again!

Ty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Ty,

the camera adjusts to the brighter elements, and the dark NAKAGO appears still darker, so this does not help much.