Shinshinto Mei Assistance Requested

[La Espada Ancha]

Hello to all,

 

I was referred to your forum by way of another member here when I reached out to seek translation assistance with the rather long Mei of a Shinshinto katana I recently acquired. Your site - along with his - has already proven to be of invaluable assistance with my own humble efforts to translate this Mei.

 

So far, I've been able to decipher the date / Nengo from the inside of the Nagako, which translates to the 5th day of the 1st month of the 1st year of the Ansei era.

 

Using the wonderful resources on this site, I have been able to translate the last two characters of the Mei, which read, "Tsukuru Kore."

 

Now, however, I am stuck. :?

 

I am thusly writing to humbly request any assistance the members here may be able to provide, and warmly thank you in advance for the same.

 

Below I have attached four images of the Nagako. The last three show close-up images of the Mei, though there is a little overlap with each, for which I apologize. The first photo will show the position of each character for reference.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

 

[John A Stuart]

Hi, I'll start you off. The bottom half. 高橋長信造之 Takahashi Naganobu Zo Wo. Takahashi Naganobu made this. John

[Grey Doffin]

I don't have the whole mei, just Takahashi Naganobu for the smith's name and bits here and there of the rest. I looked in Hawleys for some help and the listing says he never signed the same way twice. Interesting.

Grey

[La Espada Ancha]

Hello John & Grey,

 

Thank you both! As this is my first pre-Showa katana, I am excited to learn as much about it as possible...

 

Given I plan on eventually having it professionally polished, and would like to source Edo-period mountings (considering when I bought it it came dressed only in a Shirasaya and Habaki) - both which are beyond my budget at the moment - the knowledge is IMHO equally enriching and will gladly suffice until such time I can afford to complete this project.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[John A Stuart]

I think the first half is 於東武江都雲藩. Oite (At) Higashitake Etsu Azumi. Seems too many names, could also be relating to a specific Han (fief). It may be the Higashitake on the Toubo River the capital of the Han of Kumo. Best I can do.

John

[Nobody]

於東武江都 雲藩高橋長信造之 (Tobu Edo ni oite, Un-han Takahashi Naganobu kore o tsukuru)

 

東武 (Tobu) = 武蔵國 (Musashi no kuni)

江都 (Edo) = 江戸 (Edo)

雲藩 (Un-han) = 出雲藩 – the Izumo Clan

 

IMHO, the mei looks too crude to be genuine.

Ref. http://www.iidakoendo.com/info/item/a024/p2.html

[John A Stuart]

Thanks Koichi san, I could not reconcile those alternative names for Edo, Musashi and Izumo. If you do not mind could you PM me how to find these alternates? John

[k morita]

Hi,

He made swords in Edo branch office of Izumo clan(Matsue clan),and Izumo.

 

Chris san

Could you share the other side the tang(nakago),and the blade?

 

Morita

[La Espada Ancha]

Hello Morita san,

 

As I was able to translate the nengo on the other side of the tang, I have not yet taken any photos of it. I will however take and upload a couple photos of it tomorrow.

 

In the meantime, I have included below three photos of the sword (including a larger photo of the nagako). I apologize for the quality of the photos. The hamon shows better than it appears in the photo. Also, the sword is in need of a professional polish.

 

Thank you all for your input and assistance.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

 

 

[Jacques]

Hi,

 

Maybe i'm wrong but it seems to me that 江都 should/could be read Kôto

[Nobody]

Hi,

 

Maybe i'm wrong but it seems to me that 江都 should/could be read Kôto

You are right. It also reads Kôto.

[La Espada Ancha]

I am on my way out to attend an auction elsewhere in SoCal. If there is not enough available light for photography when I return, I will take additional pictures of the sword (nengo, et al) tomorrow.

[La Espada Ancha]

Hello again,

 

I have taken a few more photos of the katana, which I am including below and in the following post. As you can see, the blade is in far-from-perfect condition. It is in need of a polish and there are a couple nicks along the edge. I have tried to capture the hamon and other relevant details in the photos.

 

The habaki is of worked silver over copper. The measurement (in a straight line) from the kissaki to the mune-machi is approx. 711.5 mm. I have included photos of both below.

 

[La Espada Ancha]

More photos, of the nengo and habaki:

 

 

One quick last note about the sword:

 

As someone who has been collecting antique edged weapons for over a quarter century (though an admitted novice to the world of Japanese edged weaponry), there are certain things I look for while assessing authenticity. And while from an investment standpoint, you "buy the sword and not the story," from a collection standpoint provenance is entirely important. This sword comes to me out of the La Jolla estate of a late gentleman who, according to his widow, originally acquired this "at least 40-50 years ago." For those of you familiar with San Diego, La Jolla is our own coastal Beverly Hills. The wealth there is immense, and this family had their share.

 

Anyway, thanks again to everyone who has contributed to this thread and my knowledge base.

[Grey Doffin]

Chris,

IMHO, the mei looks too crude to be genuine.

There is no question that the sword is genuine; it is. What is being questioned is the authenticity of the signature. Just like with oil paintings, for centuries there have been fake signatures affixed to Japanese swords.

Grey

[Nobody]

......

So far, I've been able to decipher the date / Nengo from the inside of the Nagako, which translates to the 5th day of the 1st month of the 1st year of the Ansei era.

......

The date on the nakago is

安政二年二月吉日 – a lucky day in the 2nd month of the 2nd year of Ansei.

[La Espada Ancha]

Well there you go... that's what i get for attempting to translate anything in Japanese. :lol:

 

I think from here on out, I'll simply defer to the lot of you...

[k morita]

Thank you for up-loading the images.

His sword(TAKAHASHI Naganobu) was custom of carving the date in the cursive(sosho style).

But the sword is not.

[La Espada Ancha]

Given the following:

 

I looked in Hawleys for some help and the listing says he never signed the same way twice. Interesting.

Grey

 

Is it possible that some of his work possessed a nengo that was not carved in the sosho style?

 

 

Chris,

There is no question that the sword is genuine; it is. What is being questioned is the authenticity of the signature. Just like with oil paintings, for centuries there have been fake signatures affixed to Japanese swords.

Grey

 

That is interesting... I've long known that the trade marks of some known European makers who's names had achieved a degree of brand recognition (e.g., Andrea Ferrara) were often copied by other smiths. I guess I am surprised to learn that such acts occurred in Japan given (what I understand to be) the comparatively low volume of production by known Japanese swordsmiths.

[Jean]

(Chris, your signature seems to have disappeared in your last posts)

 

I guess I am surprised to learn that such acts occurred in Japan given (what I understand to be) the comparatively low volume of production by known Japanese swordsmiths.

 

I have no idea of the number of existing swords but to make it fun :

 

a swordsmith has let say 20 years of activity

let say he produces 10 sword by year

Hawley in his dictionnary records more than 25000 swordsmiths

 

Total existing swords : 5 000 000

 

1/5 of the swordsmiths are listed in the Fujishiro's, being classified as medium to the top of the top.

 

Medium for Fujishiro means already good

 

1 000 000 made are made by good swordsmiths - rating by Fujishiro are :

 

- chu

- chu jo

- jo

- jo jo

- Sai jo

 

Roughly if I take a regular split by category : Jo Jo and Sai Jo represent 40 000 swords.

 

Taking into consideration that Nihonto, unless painting, sculpture .. is only produced in Japan I won't call it a low volume.

 

Now to be convinced, just compute how many swords with a mei are TH, Juyo, TokuJu ...

 

It really could be worth it (cf e-bay)

[La Espada Ancha]

Hello Jean,

 

The numbers really do put it into perspective, and I guess "low volume" is a relative term. While I maintain that a known European smith probably made many more blades on a per annum basis, when you factor in the sheer number of known / documented / ranked smiths in Japan, you are indeed talking about a lot of swords.

 

Yet working with your own numbers - say 10 swords a year by a given smith - it still seems as if it would have been easy enough to verify at the time whether or not a given smith actually produced a given sword, no?

 

Anyway, this has been an interesting discussion for me - not to mention an education. Hopefully, someone will chime in on the question I put forth in my previous post...

 

Regards,

 

Chris