Suishinshi Masahide Mei

[Ed]

I have been studying the works of Suishinshi Masahide and have found there to be many variations of known good mei.  It seems as though throughout his long career of sword making his mei exhibit subtle changes. Now, I realize this is not uncommon for a persons writing or in this case inscribing to change as we age due to the loss of physical strength, manual dexterity, etc.

 

In order to get your unbiased opinions, and if you care to participate, please look over the following examples and tell me which of them, if any, you think may be gimei.  

 

*Edit:

There is at least one shoshin example in the group.

#7 was the only tanto example I could find, the others are Katana or Wakizashi. 

That may account for the odd looking nakago ana placement.

 

The answer will be given in a reasonable amount of time, if anyone participates.

 

Thanks, Ed

 

 

[Alex A]

Hi Ed, you make a good point and its often something i think about. 

 

Without wanting to jump in with both feet and not having much time, im hesitant in stating 2,6, and 7 are the ones that strike me as a litte more suspicious.than the others, but I will assume im wrong.

[Tom Darling]

They all look gimei to me. I feel lucking, maybe, could be. I hate to go first. Peace.  

 

 

Tom D.

[BIG]

Hi Ed, number 4 and number 6 gimei..

 

Best

[Lance]

I'll take a shot and guess number 7, due to the hide charater and mekugi ana placement

Regards,

Lance

[16k]

I’d say 7 too. Some strokes are more angular than on the others, and placement of the ana, as said before, is suspicious too.

[PNSSHOGUN]

#6

[Ken-Hawaii]

#2 & #6

[SteveM]

#4 is dodgy. I have doubts about #3 as well. 

 

#6 is the real deal.

[Brian]

Would be good for someone to post at least one certified shoshin example to work with.

[Yuradneprov]

Bet they are all good.

[Yuradneprov]

Here is legit signature.

[Yuradneprov]

You never know maybe examples 2 4 6 were made on the days suishinshi drank too much sake.

[Alex A]

Bet they are all good.

 

That's what I was thinking.

[Brian]

Just gut feel, I am not enthused by #2, #6 and #7 with #2 looking like a real serious hangover signing, and #7 having odd placement.
 But would not be in the least bit surprised to me waaaay off.
I'd like to have the gimei section of Nihonto Koza in front of me now.

[Fuuten]

If any, I would vote (guess), no. 7.

[ROKUJURO]

I am not at all an expert as some of our members, but to me it looks as if 5 and 8 show the same MEI with different shots. I think these are legit, the rest is perhaps not.

[Ed]

Brian,

There is at least one shoshin example in the group.

 

*Note: #7 was the only tanto example I could find, the others are Katana or Wakizashi. 

That may account for the odd looking nakago ana placement.

[16k]

With that new bit of info, I’ll reconsider and say 3

[Jussi Ekholm]

Like Jean mentioned earlier I think 5 & 8 are of same sword and legitimate, I also think number 6 is legitimate too.

 

I found lots of mei similar to 5 & 8 spanning from 1789 to 1815, published examples, and I think examples of mei 6 seems to be made around 1789 to 1796.

[Jacques D.]

With that new bit of info, I’ll reconsider and say 3

 

 

3 is perfectly shoshin but it's not a sword made by the first generation (i would say sandai)

[16k]

3 is perfectly shoshin but it's not a sword made by the first generation (i would say sandai)

So, that’s why it differs, then!

 

Well, if not 3 or 7, I think I’m at a loss.

[Tom Darling]

Yura, who says so.  Peace.

 

 

Tom D.

[Yuradneprov]

I personally don't believe it is possible to sign your name in tamahagane the same exact way perfectly every single time. I can't even sign my own name exactly the same way on paper every time

[Vermithrax16]

LOVE this sort of thing Ed, thanks for posting!

 

Did a bit on this tonight, always fun. Masahide has many examples of course but that just makes it harder to compare across his work span. Hate to be a shinsa team when one of his comes in for inspection.......

 

Alas, my guesstimates:

Shoshin: #5 (close examples in the 1796 time frame and very close to an example from 1805)

               #8 (very close to an 1818 example)

 

Others:

#6 close but ana placement is incorrect

#3 looks 3rd gen Masahide (~1865) to me, but didn't evaluate to save time

 

Ready and happy to be shown to be way off, as usual

[Tom Darling]

No guess,  it's #7 it matches (shoshin) closest to one I have. My first guess was not compared to mine.  Good Post. Peace.

 

 

Tom D.

[Ed]

Ok, since there has been participation and everyone seems to be having fun I will give it a little longer.

 

*NOTE: Please keep in mind the goal is to point out any in the provided group of photos which you feel may be gimei.

Please try to be clear in your answers.

 

For instance:

Jussi, you stated that 5, 6, 8 are legit.  Does this mean you feel all of the others are gimei?

Jeremiah, are you indicating that your guess for gimei is #6 only?  ??

[Tigerinbamboo]

Well, prefacing this with admitting I know pretty much nothin'

 

2 and 7 seem significantly different from the others, so, those 2 are gimei?

 

????

[Jacques D.]

Ed is a little clever, 5 = 8 (ie same sword & shoshin) 

[Jussi Ekholm]

I'll give an answer like a politician.    As I don't focus on swords of this period, I have bit limited resources of reference material on Masahide, at least that I can quickly access. However on the reference material I have there are examples that are very close / quite close to numbers 5,6,8, for the other examples I haven't got a reference mei that would be close to it. So I am left guessing on others.