Mei translation ...

[docliss]

Much to my despair, all of my attempts to identify the maker of this iron tsuba have failed; any help would be most gratefully received.

 

With thanks, John L.

[Ludolf Richter]

Hi John,there is a reason,why nobody is making a reply:from the Mei it's difficult to get the name of the artist and the kao is not to be found.The first 3 Kanji are either a name or a location.The 1st Kanji is hard to distiguish and is probably either a "Sugi" or a "Shô".With "Sugi" it could be Suginamki (a part of Tokyo),with "shô" the name Shôfû+a 3rd Kanji probably "ki".The 4th and 5th Kanji are chiselled without a space!The 4th should be "Sei",whereas the 5th one is not clear.There is no artist with "Sei" and this Kaji to be found in the Haynes' index or other books.But there is an artist with Go Naritoshi (H06856) who-according to Joly's "List of Names,Kakihan"- had a second Go:

"Seijiu".There are no pics of his Mei with Kanji because he is thought to have used only grass-writing (Soshô).His name ought to be "Shôfûsha".The only problem is.that the Kanji for "sha" is different from your 3rd Kanji ("ki").My guess,it's him.He worked in the beginning of the Meiji-era.By the way,it's a nice Tsuba!Ludolf

[sencho]

杉

南

紀

製

 

The 1st character doesn't look right at all on the tsuba... SUGI is closest I could get too.

 

2nd NAN (FU is Chinese way not often used in Japan... at least these days)

 

3rd is KI....

 

actually NANKI is old name for WAKAYAMA, (place I know very well!!)

 

Ludolf, are you talking about SUGINAMIKU (place near Tokyo??)

 

4th is SEI which means "made in" or "made by" (dependant on place name or artist name)

 

So basically I have "made under a tree (sugi) in Wakayama"... not being much help am I?? :lol: actually the SUGI tree is famous in Wakayama (NANKI) area, it is a type ceadar tree. Just a coincidence?

 

the last kanji is a little tricky..... Moriyama san... Help!!??

 

Cheers

[sencho]

is the 1st symbol this...?

 

於

 

this would be "by"

 

"BY NANKI MADE"... still having trouble with number 5

[Nobody]

Hi,

 

I still cannot understand the mei and the tsuba, though I could read the first four kanji at the first glance.

 

As sencho-san reads, they are 於南紀製. I cannot identify the last character, but I suspect that it might be a Kao.

 

The mei seems to mean "made at Nanki" without specific maker's name. Are there any possibilities that the tsuba is a souvenir from Nanki?

[docliss]

I should like to thank you all for your help with this translation; the fact that it was rather 'unusual' makes me feel slightly less embarassed by my own failure. Incidentally, I am fairly certain that the final character is a kao.

 

See Haynes' H06584.0?

 

Regards and thanks, John L.