Kantei Translation Help

[EdWolf]

Hello to all,

 

I’m working on a wakizashi which is papered. The seller can’t tell me anything about it. So, I’m trying to translate the papers, but I’m stuck. With my limited knowledge I think the blade is made around 1600. Is the date somewhere mentioned on the papers? The blade is unsigned and if my translation is right made by a swordsmith of the Taira Takada school. Please confirm. Is the name of a Swordsmith mentioned on the papers? Hope one of you can help me. Your help will be highly appreciated.

Best regards,

Ed

 

[Shugyosha]

Hi Ed,

 

The sword is unsigned - mu mei attributed to Taira Takada school. The bit you were missing is the "mu mei" part from the second column on the third photo. 

 

In the fourth column, starting five characters up from the bottom is the grade - "Hozon Token".

 

The rest is standard stuff and not specific to the sword. There's some info here on reading kanteisho:

 

http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html#japanese_sword_4

 

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/origami.htm

 

Best,

John

[EdWolf]

Hi John,

 

Thanks a lot for your help! So, attributed to the Taira-Takada school but not to a certain swordsmith. Nothing about the age of the blade.

 

Best regards,

Ed

[Shugyosha]

Unfortunately not. If you are able to post some pictures of the blade itself, it might be possible to have a guess based on sugata etc but this is fairly typical of NBTHK papers - not a lot of detail. 

 

Best,

John

[Jussi Ekholm]

In general I'd say Taira-Takada attribution hints to pre-1600's. From 1600 onwards is usually refered to Fujiwara-Takada. At least that is my own view of this.

[EdWolf]

Hello John,

 

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the blade. I have asked the seller for pictures but taking good quality pictures of the blade with a phone is almost impossible. I will visit the seller this week.

 

Hi Jussi, Thanks a lot for your opinion! This is really a fascinating hobby. There is a lot to learn. My feeling is late Muromachi. Hopefully a good picture can confirm this

 

Best regards,

Ed

[nagamaki - Franco]

In general I'd say Taira-Takada attribution hints to pre-1600's. From 1600 onwards is usually refered to Fujiwara-Takada. At least that is my own view of this.

 

 

Correct.