bizen yoshi..??

[Cello]

Hi, could any one explain to me why the smith name is ura mei?? or is this a a sort of tachi mei? I'm confused with this one. Also i think the first three kanji are bizen yoshi ...... can anyone make out any other characters?Any help greatly appreciated as always

 

[huntershooter]

Looks a bit like Yoshi Sada.

[Cello]

Is it common to have mei oriented this way is it tachi mei ot katana?

[runagmc]

It appears to be 'katana mei', which is considered normal for everything except tachi...

[Lance]

The character below yoshi looks like it could be" Kane 包" different than the one you usually see used by Mino smiths. Below that could be "kore 之 " (made) The beginning of the date the other side looks like "Taiei 大永" (1521) I can't make out the rest. My abilities aren't anywhere as good as others here, so I could be off. Defintely appears to be katana mei not tachi mei from the pictures though.

Below are some links to a great site for figuring out kanji , the last page has a search feature for looking up smiths.

http://www.jssus.org/nkp/kanji_for_mei.html

http://www.jssus.org/nkp/koto.html

http://www.jssus.org/nkp/swordsmith_database.html

 

Hope this is useful,

Lance

[Cello]

Thanks Lance .. I guess I should have mentioned that it's all on the same side. I was thinking it was odd since it's written on the left side( blade side)of the Nagako?

[Lance]

Most signatures do tend to be either centered or closer to the right/back side of tang. From the pictures of your sword it looks slightly shortened with one hole, when shortening was done they wouldn't just cut off the the end, they would reshape much of the tang as well. That could be why it's closer to the cutting edge side now. Always exeptions but the usual rules should still apply, smith's mei facing outwards edge up carried on the left side is a katana, edge down is a tachi.

I'm left handed, so there's a lot of katana I could have carried on my right side as tachi (probably made righties out of any left handers back then though.....)

Regards,

Lance

[Jean]

Question: From the mei, How one can decipher "Bizen Osafune"?

 

I am a bit lost with the kanji.

[David McDonald]

Dear All

 

I see

 

Bishu Yoshi ? (maybe kage)

 

But it is a very strange Bi

 

later

david

[Cello]

Sorry for the confusion Lance but the nagako is ubu I believe..Yeah I'm sure lefties may have been converted like they use to in catholic school,with a good wack of a stick across the hand lol.

[Cello]

I was confused with the Mei but have since corrected myself as far as the (osafune)but thats why I post to learn from the great members on here.

[Jean]

Neither Bizen nor Bishu or the Smith had the Parkinson disease...

[Cello]

Maybe it's the first documented case if so the medical community will pay a fourtune haha!! So if not bizen or bishu could it be Buzen? What exactly is not quite right I'm not seeing it ...what a suprise right :? Also why is the 3rd character not kichi but being read as yoshi?

[Jean]

Marcello,

 

Go to kanji pages, link at the top of NMB, have a look at kanji for Kuni and tell me if you see either Bizen or Bishu ...

[Cello]

if you are reffering to the section Kuni(provinces) I see bizen listed not the same as in my image I posted. But what else would it be?...I'm totaly lost here..this is the ura mei correct?

[Jean]

Marcello,

 

You are here on an international board where you have at least about 20 people fluent in Japanese and among them at least 5 experts in kanji reading. They have not said a single word about the translation ....

[Cello]

I'm guessing I've used up all my request's for help on here....or it is of no intrest either way it is what it is.

[John A Stuart]

Right off I can't make this out starting with the province. Some kanji make sense. The non-standard for kuni 州 Although the kanji might be an alternative for Bi + shu, the closest I find is 侮 Bu + shu; 吉 sticks out. And my eyes fail at crucial spots. John

[Nobody]

The first part of the inscription looks 備刕吉 X 作 (Bishu Yoshi+something saku). The first kanji in the mei is an informal variant of 備. The kanji is not so unusual. You may often see the variant on many Bizen nakago.

The fourth kanji is not clear enough to read. But it might be 貞 or 真.

[Cello]

Thank you very much (nobody) Moriyama San and John. So my thinking it was bu wasn't far off even though incorrect.So was there a specific school or era this variant was used in? I assume by the look of the Nagako it's koto.. But you know what they say about assumptions ! It was suggested earlier that the year was part of the lower half is this correct?If so is that relatively common on the same side?

[Lance]

It does look koto from the nakago. I haven't seen too many koto swords with the smith's mei and date on both sides, but I don't have the amount of experience as other members who are much more knowledgeable. I attached an image from my old copy of Yumoto's handbook. I have other more extensive and useful books, but this is a decent example to compare it to, it's written more like what you'd see in a signature than as type face/font. Looks a little different but I think it's close enough to make up for the smith's sloppy writing. (maybe he was a lefty, I have terrible penmanship) Maybe from one of the other provinces listed? I think you'd need to take clearer pics to get any further or show it to someone in person that could make out the characters as they're pretty worn, and look at the blade itself.

Regards,

Lance

[Jean]

Thanks a lot John and Koichi san.

[Cello]

Thanks Lance... I will put up some close up pics and will try and make a quick oshigata of the Nagako.It may not be the best but at least it will be good practice for me. :D

[Surfson]

Looks to me like Bishu Yoshisada followed immediately by a date. Seems odd, in that the date and mei are usually on different sides of the nakago.

[Cello]

Apparently this type of mei is called Kaki Kudashi Mei from what I've read,but I've never see one so I'm not sure if this is one?