Yasumitsu

[ysake]

Hello colleagues, I wanted a little of your wisdom, I bought a wakizashi with papers and signed by yasumitsu in this way, has anyone had a similar one?

[Jacques D.]

Which one? There are many Yasumitsu from different eras, schools and kanji.

[DTM72]

There are 40 possibilities for this name. https://nihontoclub....a=All&school_nid=All

 

It is much like saying "Does anyone know Mike?" We need much more info on Mike such as, Mike from New York that lived there in the 2010 timeframe.

 

Showing us the papers is a good start. We can then see how Yasumitsu signed, narrowing down the search. Depending on the papers, we can then know what time frame. Seeing a picture of the entire blade with good shots of the boshi and nakago will help narrow the search even more.

[ysake]

According to the nbthk certificate, they don't know where this yasumitsu is from. They only know that it is from the late Muromachi period.

[DTM72]

12 minutes ago, ysake said:

According to the nbthk certificate, they don't know where this yasumitsu is from. They only know that it is from the late Muromachi period.

OK, now we know Mike (Yasumitsu) lived in the 1392-1572 time period. If we can see how he signed his name, this narrows the search. Seeing pictures of Mike (the blade in question) will help us to determine where Mike lived.

 

Help us help you.

[DTM72]

Your possibilities now are Awa, Bizen, Bungo, Buzen, Musashi, Sagami, Satsuma. Muromachi is still a large timeframe.

 

安光

1st

Bizen

Meitoku (1390-1394)

安光

Buzen

Kakitsu (1441-1444)

安滿

Satsuma

(1368-1592)

康光

1st to 5th

Bizen

(1394-1555)

安光

Bungo

Kakitsu (1441-1444)

泰光

Awa (阿波)

Tenmon (1532-1555)

泰光

Musashi

Genki (1570-1573)

泰光 1st Sagami Eiroku (1558-1570)

[ysake]

[DTM72]

That picture narrows it down to Bizen, Buzen, Bungo, and Satsuma. now we need to see the pictures of the overall sugata and the boshi to narrow it down even more. Since the nakago is suriage (shortened) we cannot pinpoint the school based on the nakago shape and filemarks.

 

安

光

[ysake]

[ysake]

[ysake]

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, if NBTHK cannot narrow it down to any particular region...

 

Here is a Muromachi Yasumitsu tanto from Satsuma. I can't see the Kanji in that angled nakago shot, but are you sure it's 安光? That would narrow Dan's list to three.

日本刀 短刀 安光（波平・時代室町）｜日本刀 刀剣販売 e-sword

 

*PS But the writing stye is quite different.

[ysake]

This is the photo of the certificate, you can see it much better than the ones on my phone.

[Bugyotsuji]

Distinctively characteristic writing, especially the small 'arms' and wide 'legs' of 光

[Curran]

8 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Distinctively characteristic writing, especially the small 'arms' and wide 'legs' of 光

 

You've done a good job helping YSAKE so far.

The pics of the papers helped much. I was hoping it would be from the Osafune Bizen line (康光), where I have many of the books.

The other form of 'Yasu' mostly rules that out, so now it is a process of elimination of the remaining suspects. The uncharacteristically wide legs of 'Mitsu' should help narrow down this particular John Hancock-like signature.

 

 

[Rivkin]

A lot of circa 1510-1540 provincial (and not only) work is not very distinguishable. There are even Bizen blades that look like Mino and Mino which look like Bizen.

This one leands more towards Mino, but it does not tell you much.

Its one of the many period's blades, maybe a bit later (1570) judging by sugata, though its not certain with such pictures.

There are also plenty of unrecorded smiths, and some of them did use more famous Rai or Bizen names, so you do see ... mitsu on blades from basically everywhere.

[ysake]

Thank you very much colleagues, it is an honor and to learn from you

[ysake]

I kept searching I found this wakizashi on the internet from the province of Satsuma and the colleague's tanto and what they are similar is that the signature is only those two kanji and that they are late from the Muromachi period

[Rivkin]

Irrelevant.