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What Generation Omi Daijo Fujiwara Tadayoshi ?

rantoulpawn

By rantoulpawn
in Translation Assistance

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Ed Harbulak Collaborator

Ed Harbulak

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Hi Patrick,

What is the length (nagasa) of your blade, is it a katana or a wak?  The Tadayoshi school signed waks katana mei and signed katana tachi mei. From the pictures, your blade seems to be a katana, which is why I'm asking about the length. If it is a true katana, (24 inches or longer) then no matter how good the signature looks, it's gimei because it's signed on the wrong side. Comparing the mei on your blade vs. several 4th generation mei in Roger Robertshaw's book, the "i" second character of Om-i looks too short and stubby compared to genuine examples. Based on what I can see, my guess is that unfortunately it's gimei. 

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Ed Harbulak Collaborator

Ed Harbulak

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I agree Ray. I recall reading, but don't remember exactly where, that the nakago mune of Tadayoshi school katana are slightly rounded while the nakago mune on waks are flat. However, if the nakago mune on a katana length blade is flat, it was originally made and intended to be used as a wak. Perhaps for a taller than usual samurai. It would help if we knew how the nakago mune was finished on Patrick's blade as well as the length of the blade. If I recall, the opposite is also true. A shorter length blade with a rounded nakago mune was meant to be a katana, no doubt for a shorter than average height samurai. Then regardless of the actual blade length, which side the nakago was signed on would indicate if it was intended to be a katana or wak. Life with the Tadayoshi family can get complicated. 

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Ed Harbulak Collaborator

Ed Harbulak

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The blade Roger mentioned on p. 197 of his book had not yet gone to shinsa, when the book was published. So we don't know if it passed or not. On the face of it, your blade  would appear to be a katana, but signed on the "wrong" side. There are things in the mei that bother me, but not being an expert on kanji and knowing that signatures can vary, don't put much faith in my appraisal. Roger is most willing to help with anything related to the Tadayoshi school, so I would suggest sending him an e-mail with photos of the mei on your blade along with length, finish on the nakago mune, etc. Get his opinion and ask if the blade he mentioned on p. 197 passed shinsa. Since you are in Illinois you might submit the blade to the NTHK-NPO shinsa at the end of April. If the blade fails, then you have some other choices to make, but first things first, I would contact Roger then the shinsa and good luck. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
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