? Fujiwara Kiyosada

[Francis Wick]

Hallo hope everyone is having a good weekend 

 

Brain encouraged me to try translate mei and I think I have an idea this may be Fujiwara Kiyosada ? There is a lot more on the nakago of what looks to be a katana from the shows era. Thank you for any input 🙏🏽 the way ther side has a whole book written on it !

[Francis Wick]

Oh jeez ….Brian ….not brain 😂😂

[xiayang]

美濃國御勝山麓住藤原永貞 = Mino no Kuni Okachiyama no fumoto-jū Fujiwara Nagasada

 

文久二年八月作之 = made this in the eighth month of Bunkyū 2 (1862 CE)

 

同年十一月於傅馬町両車土壇拂切手山田源蔵 = in the eleventh month of the same year, at Demmachō, Yamada Genzō performed a "Ryō guruma" cut (i.e., horizontal at the hips) that entered the earth mound below

[Francis Wick]

Ok great thank you so much , interesting inscription indeed , almost had it right for the smith but no way I could figure the rest out !

[Brian]

Well done on having a go. You'll be getting these in no time.
Btw..no worries. I get that spelling daily.

[The Blacksmith]

9 hours ago, Brian said:

Btw..no worries. I get that spelling daily.

 Apologies for being off topic to start, but......... A friend of mine who is a teacher in a London college, was giving one of his pupils a hard time for continuously getting something wrong. The student replied, "Well, at least I can spell my name right!".  Brian looked at the board, and yes, he had spellt his own name wrong, and written Brain instead of Brian!   

 

Meanwhile, back on topic...........

 

That is quite some mei, and such an interesting one too!  

 

Years ago, when I was collecting nihonto, both Basil Robinson and Victor Harris encouraged me to learn to read kanji. As Victor said, it is not that difficult (meaning mei as opposed to books),  but you have got to want to do it. It was good advice, but that was forty odd years ago, and I have forgotten much of it since then, so am busy trying to regain that knowledge.  A book that I found most helpful was Alfred Dobrée's Japanese Sword Blades, and I would spend time writing out the kanji and learning them. It was great fun, very rewarding, and time well spent! And as Brian has evidently said, It is well worth the effort! 

[Francis Wick]

Dyslexia is a hamper for me ,but I wonder sometimes if that applies to Kanji ?  Have you heard the one about the paranoid dyslexic agnostic insomniac ? He lay awake all night struggling with the issue of whether there is really a Dog or not.