Alternative kanji in kanteisho

[Natichu]

Hi all, 

 

I've been looking at a few smiths recently with names ending in "-hiro". I've noted that the NBTHK kanteisho (and Markus Sesko's' Swordsmiths A-Z) use the kanji "広", whereas the smiths themselves all seem to have used "廣". In searching on the Nihonto smiths database it looks like there is in fact only one smith with "広" in their name (Munehiro, a Showa era smith). 

 

Is the reason for this solely because the 廣 kanji is considered archaic? Or is there something else going on here?

 

Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated. For bonus points, as it were, does anyone know of any other common kanji substitutions used by the NBTHK like this one? 

 

Images attached for reference. 

[Ray Singer]

Nathaniel, what you are seeing is the modern form of the same kanji. Some kanji have evolved over time and the modern version are used for attributions even when referring to an inscription that used the older form. 

[Ray Singer]

Another example is Toshi. 

 

寿 - Shinjitai (new form) 

壽 - Kyūjitai (old form) 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyūjitai

[Natichu]

Addendum: have done a little digging, and as this was a post-war change, that certainly clears up the timeline. Thanks again Ray! 

 

Initial post: Many thanks Ray! That certainly explains it. Would you say it's accurate to assume that if I see 広 in a modern source, the smith likely signed with the older form 廣? 

Edited February 2 by Natichu
Added note on further research

[OceanoNox]

4 hours ago, Natichu said:

Would you say it's accurate to assume that if I see 広 in a modern source, the smith likely signed with the older form 廣? 

A colleague of mine also has the 廣 kanji in his name. In that case, it's not related to old or new, that's just the way of writing it, and he said he accepted the use of 広 because the old kanji is not always known. As far as I know, on official papers, it should be 廣. I cannot comment on why the NBTHK used the new kanji instead of the new, especially if the mei uses the old kanji.

Edited February 3 by OceanoNox

[b.hennick]

The character for Masa that looks like the letter E is often replaced with one that looks like Roman number one. 

[mecox]

Along these lines, there can be some confusion identifying swordsmiths with the name “Kanekuni” depending which kanji for “kuni”  is used.  Commonly, publications (and certificates) in English use the simplified form  兼国, 

however, need to check the sword mei to show which “kuni” was used by the smith.