thinking of getting this tanegashima - would like help identifying signature

[Vlad]

Thank you in advance for your help.   I'm thinking of getting my first tanegashima, but I know very little about these weapons.   I am spending a lot of time reading and absorbing available information.  However, though the barrel is marked with some signature, there is no way I can figure out what it says.   Would be nice to figure out the time period, though my assumption is mid 19th century.  I would sincerely appreciate any help the forum can provide. 

 

Thank you,

 

Vlad

[Shugyosha]

Hi Vlad,

Very much not my area of collecting so treat this information accordingly, but I don't think that what you have there are signatures: on the right I think you have a (probably registration) number - 2 1 10 9 100 7 10 9 番 ("ban" - kanji for number). The three kanji on the left don't follow the normal format for Japanese signatures which tend to be formulaic and easy to identify (if not read) and might be a reference to place or type of manufacture. So essentially, if you were especially looking for a signed piece, that might affect your decision to proceed.

 

I'm sure Piers who is the go to guy for this will be along shortly and give you some better information.

[Bugyotsuji]

As John says above, it’s the Jinshin registration number from the great roundup in early Meiji. 2,979

It says 入間県 Iruma Ken, a prefecture set up in 1871 and dissolved in 1873, corresponding to the west of Saitama today.

 

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/入間県

 

PS The gun is therefore older than that, certainly early to mid 1800s. It is hard to give precise dates for Tanegashima, but little things give us indications.

[Vlad]

Thank you very much for your help with translation and information.  This forum is awesome.  Thank you!