Katana-bukurogaki?

[Bryce]

G'day Guys,

What do you call a sword description written on a sword bag?

This sword bag belongs to a very nice Gassan Sadakazu katana in what looks to be its original koshirae. I can see that Gassan Sadakazu is mentioned and it is dated Showa 3 (1928) and perhaps signed by Mr Ishikawa. Can anyone help me to fill in the many blanks?

Cheers,

Bryce

[Bryce]

This is a partial translation someone else was able to give me.

Sounds like Mr Ishikawa really liked it.

Cheers,

Bryce

[SteveM]

Would it be possible to flatten out the cloth so that the characters are a bit more readable?

And, could you give us a shot of the tang? The last two lines of the cloth are just repeating what is written on the tang of the sword (supposedly) so I'm curious to see the tang. From looking at the cloth, it feels like the writing on the tang is some kind of classical Chinese poem or something. It doesn't read like typical Japanese language of the early 20th century. 

[Bryce]

G'day Steve,

The nakago is simply signed and dated, no poem. The shot of the writing is the best I can do for the moment.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[SteveM]

Hello Bryce, thank you very much for that. Now I'm even more intrigued. As I mentioned, the two vertical lines on the far left of the bag indicate what is written on the mei. Or, that would be the normal interpretation of the words prefacing those two lines;

銘曰 (mei iwaku)(picture below)*. Your translator has translated this word as "Iron speaks" which is a mistranslation. It literally means "The mei says...". The problem is, those following two vertical lines on the bag are completely different from the mei on the sword. The lines on the bag read, as I mentioned, like Chinese couplets or quatrains or something, but they have nothing to do with the mei, from what I can tell. 

 

So, other than the first line (This sword, a Gassan Sadakazu work, is a family treasure), and the date, the rest of the writing is rather enigmatic. I can see how your translator arrived at some of the phrases, but for me it seems a bit too florid. It feels a little off to me, but maybe the writer was trying to be poetic. A couple of the connecting words and phrases are slightly hidden by folds in the cloth, so maybe a clearer shot would help make the preceding part make more sense (to me, anyway). 

 

 

*I just wrote about this phrase in another thread, where I mentioned that it was a phrase only used by Kazutaro Torigoye. It's appearance here is a very interesting coincidence. 

[Bryce]

Thanks Steve. I will try to get a better shot of the writing in the next few days.

Was the writer's name Ishikawa Shoshinsen?

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[SteveM]

To me it looks like Ishikawa Suishinsen, but there is something after that which I can't make out. 

[Nobody]

I think that the part is 石川水心先識す (Ishikawa Suishin senshikisu) – Ishikawa Suishin foresee.