Translation of the date

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while I got back into this forum. I need help to translate the date since it is hard to read.

Thanks in advance,

Quang

Mei:

Oite ? Naga Nobu saku

Date:

have no clue

Quang!

It is great to hear from you again. Wish you wouldn't disappear on us so often

Can't help with the date but no doubt someone like Morita san or Moriyama san with have little problem with it by tomorrow.

Hope you are able to update us on your Nihonto studies.

Brian

My guess would be Genji gannen hachi gatsu hi (a day in the 8th month of 1864). This could be wrong, so hopefully someone who knows for sure will reply.

Quang!

It is great to hear from you again. Wish you wouldn't disappear on us so often

Can't help with the date but no doubt someone like Morita san or Moriyama san with have little problem with it by tomorrow.

Hope you are able to update us on your Nihonto studies.

 

Brian

Brian,

Thank you for a welcome back! I have ran a restaurant business for six years and it breakeven and loss and lost a lot of times with family. It is a long work hours and not even pay....lol.....It became so stressful and burden my family. It is time to move on with old habit and collecting swords.

Quang

Adam has it right. John

My guess would be Genji gannen hachi gatsu hi (a day in the 8th month of 1864). This could be wrong, so hopefully someone who knows for sure will reply.

Adam,

Thanks,

Now, I think I see the period now. Genji Roku nen Hachi gatsu Hi (A day August of 1869).

No, Genji Gannen 元治 元年 ; not Genji Rokunen 元治 六年 John

Adam,

Is it Gan nen? = Go(5) nen

Base on Dr. Richard Stein's website, I only see the Go (5) but I never see the Gan word in the date scription.

Thanks

Gan nen

元年

Means the first year......You won't see 一年　written on a nakago.....

Yes, it's gannen. Gannen means the first year of the period. I'm not sure why they traditionally used the phrase gannen instead of ichinen. Mabey someone can explain it.

Gan nen

 

元年

 

Means the first year......You won't see 一年　written on a nakago.....

Chris,

Thanks! I will keep to remember the "first" nen word.

Yes, it's gannen. Gannen means the first year of the period. I'm not sure why they traditionally used the phrase gannen instead of ichinen. Mabey someone can explain it.

Adam,

Thanks!

Naganobu has an unusual script for the date but signed his name different style. Can you read the third word in the mei. after the words "Koto".

It looks like oite kofu naganobu saku... 於江府長信作

By the way, that looks like an interesting habaki...

It looks like oite kofu naganobu saku... 於江府長信作

 

By the way, that looks like an interesting habaki...

Thanks!

You pointed out the fan style on the habaki which I did not notice. Once I got the tanto. I will post more pictures. It has suguha hamon.

Yes, if you have a chance to post pictures when you get it, I would like to see it.

Quang, I just noticed you're located near Atlanta... I'm in Columbus so I'm not that far away. We may be the only two people in Georgia that like Nihonto :lol:

Yes, if you have a chance to post pictures when you get it, I would like to see it.

 

Quang, I just noticed you're located near Atlanta... I'm in Columbus so I'm not that far away. We may be the only two people in Georgia that like Nihonto :lol:

Adam, yes we are the only two online like Nihonto but offline there are several people I know collected Nihonto who are not familiar with computers. Jim Dawson is also in Atlanta area.

You are very good at reading Kanji. I can read the basic one or repeat title or names. Other than that, it will become confusing for me because it can be look like this kanji and that kanji....

Hi,

Efu is pronounced like "F" of the alphabet. 江府

Thanks for the correction Morita-san. It's nice to have a few people on the forum who really know the language.

Hi,

Efu is pronounced like "F" of the alphabet. 江府

Thank you both K Morita and Adam helping out. I can see it clearly on the printed picture.

Maybe using Gan instead of Ichi is because ichi is too presumptuous (meaning that there will be more years to follow). Sort of like introducing your wife as "my first wife". Might it be this type of convention?

There's nothing mysterious about ichi-nen/gan-nen: ichi-nen is used for counting (ichi-nen-kan = the period of one year, ichi-nen-sei = first grader, etc.); gan- is used for dates, specifically the first year of a reign (gan-nen), first day of the year (gan-tan) etc.

But that doesn't explain WHY they use gan to label 'first year of a period' or 'first day of the year', and ichi to label other things like 'first month'... mabey gan was used to place extra importance on those milestones- 'first year of a period' and 'new years day'...

I read somewhere that gan could translate into 'initial', so gannen is like 'initial year', or ganjitsu is like "intial day"... I don't know if this explains the origins or if it's complete BS

But that doesn't explain WHY they use gan to label 'first year of a period'



Genji (元治元年

1864

Well, it has been used that way always for what I have seen.

Pic: Genjigan...and/or Ganjigan

Eric

No, we're not talking about the same kanji being used for gen and gan in Genji and gannen. We're asking why they label the first year of a nengo gannen, and the first day of the year ganjitsu, but ichi is used for everything else... like the first month is labeled ichigatsu. So where does the gan in gannen come from? Why not just ichinen?

but ichi is used for everything else... like the first month is labeled ichigatsu. So where does the gan in gannen come from? Why not just ichinen?

Actually ... 元年... first year of a period has always been written this way. Why should a Gaijin be able to answer this question accurately?

Eric

But that doesn't explain WHY they use gan to label 'first year of a period' or 'first day of the year', and ichi to label other things like 'first month'... mabey gan was used to place extra importance on those milestones- 'first year of a period' and 'new years day'...

It wasn't a big deal. I, and I'm sure a few others were just curious, that's all. Gaijin or not, I think it was a reasonable question. Thanks for info... and quit being so touchy

... and quit being so touchy

Can't remember the saying...

Shouldn't throw stones....or shouldn't take showers? :lol:

Done.

Brian