David McDonald

Dear Tobias Thanks, I will work on what you have and see if I get any more tonight. I hope someone else can get more. Just a very strange bit of information. later david

Dear All I am wondering about the signature on a Army Shingunto mounted sword. The sword has a sukashi tsuba with 8 seppa and copper habaki. So far I have 於昭和十年一月 Ni oite Showa ju nen Ichi gatsu On the 1st month of 10th year of Showa period 第三帝国　Dai-san Teikoku (the Third Reich) ?中部百????坊 -- ? chu Bu Hyaku ? ? ? ? Bō (? Middle department 100 ?????????) And help in the translation would be great. Thanks david - [email protected]<script data-cfhash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* */</script>

Dear Diego I am away from my books but you might look for Yoshifusa 吉房 good luck david

Dear Marcello Might be Hizen no Kuni-junin Minamoto Moritoshi worked around 1624-1644 son of Ichita Moriyasu and student of Hirado Morihide Does your blade have ko-itame, gunome-midare in ko-nie-deki (info from Markus Sesko's book Index of Japanese swordsmiths - a great book) later david

Der Matt To follow up what george has said 紀元 - Kigen (the foundation of the empire in 660 bc 二ni - 2 千sen - thousand 六roku - 6 百hyaku - hundred 一ichi - 1 年nen - year I hope that helps david

Dear Marius For the second one I see on the left hand column the date Kigen ni sen roku hiaku nen (or 1940) 紀元二千六?年 name in the right hand column might be Saimoto????西本 I hope that helps some later david

Dear Mark Not much help but in Shosankenshu there is a listing of a Shigekiyo that the kakihan looks like yours. It is noted Gessensai, Minamoto; see Hokurite Suketoshi later david

Dear Brian The ignition method is just a hole in the pan. The caliber -- I measured the diameter as 12 mm or just under 1/2 inch. The owner says it is a Hiya-zutsu ( a fire arrow gun)??? Does this sound right? thanks for any help later david

Dear Peter The "stock" - blocks are dark brown lacquered wood. And does have some age to it, maybe 100-200 years. So looks like the barrel was place on the chinese stock????? later david

Dear All This "cannon" is at a gun show that I am set up at. It is iron carved to look like bamboo. It has gold inlay and some gold kanji/mon?? Owner says it is mounted on a Chinese base to which he added a wood base on the bottom. Bought in Chicago area about 30 years ago for a reported $5,000. It has three retaining pins. No signature on the underneath side of the barrel. Any idea's what it is and what it might be worth today? Any help would be great. later david mcdonald

Dear Bruno I can get you started on the box lid right hand column 播磨国明石住 ? ? 義次作 Harima kuni Akishi ju ? ? Yoshitsugu saku good luck david

Dear All I am still working on the middle and right column. With help so far I have the following Right 右鍛工八先作之相(剣劍剱)比工俤友 　　 Middle 扵笁定十九郎？(上土)之相(剣劍剱)之 Maybe a divination (soken) was used before the sword was forged? And the name at the end left column read as "Asai Kasan". Again any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks david

Dear All I am still working of identifying all of the kanji. For the ura side right hand column I have maybe the following?? Any corrections thoughts? comments? Right 右鍛工八先作之相(剣劍剱)比?友 　　先生sensei??　　　相州soshu?? Yū Kitau (right forged??) ? hachi Sen (like sensai?) tsukuru kore Sō (as in Sōshu) ken (old kanji??) hi (compare) ? Yū or tomo Middle 扵?定???？上之相(剣劍剱)之 thanks for any help later david

Dear Brandon I see Sukehisa 祐久　not 　勝久 But I find no listing for a Sukehisa working in the 1930's-1940's. Maybe someone else will comment. good luck david

Dear Chris Thanks, I thought the mei looked good. Any idea as to the kanji in the middle column? later david

Dear All I am working on a translation for a wakizashi by Kato Tsunahide. Hamon looks like his work see image. One the ura side the date was easy but many of the other kanji are hard to identify. So far I have 加藤綱英 Kato Tsunahide Right 右鍛??先?之?剣比?友 maybe 右鍛工八先作之 Middle ?? Left 文化七年二月日浅井禾山 Bunwa shichi nen ni gatsu hi Asai Saiyama 2nd month 7th year of Bunwa (1804) the name Asai Saiyama Any help in identify kanji and the translation would be great. later david

Dear tony the circle and three lines --- Think three lines and then circle would be 30 so item 30 marked on fittings to keep them together. You also have the kanji san ju ( or 3 10's that is thirty also -- 三十) Sorry no smith or family name. later david mcdonald

Dear Hank As Stephen said, yes it might be that old. The first kanji can be Kei or Yoshi and the second can be ryu or taka And I found 1. Yoshitaka 1673-1681 most likely one I stated before but listed under the Yoshitaka reading 2. Yoshitaka 1854-1860 worked in Settsu province and might have been the son of Okuda Masayoshi To find out more you will need to get your sword in-front of an collector/dealer that can help. There might be hope for this sword yet. good luck david

Dear Hank It might be the smith Keiryu 慶隆 a smith that worked in Yamashiro around 1681 Good luck later david

Dear Brandon Might be the WWII smith Watanabe Yoshitake. Is there a Showa stamp above the signature? later david

Dear All I have done some more work and with help off the board think the translation is: let me know what you think. later david 明Mei 和wa 辛Kaneto 卯U (not酉tori) 秋Aki (autumn) 藤Fuji (as in Fujiwara) (not 勝katsu) 金Kin 道michi 造tsukura --- made Meiwa period started 1764 Kaneto-u --- 28th year in the Zodiac cycle starting 1744 So 1771 NOTE: Meiwa hachi is 1771, u is year of the hare (rabbit) Aki --- autumn So the sword was made (tsukura) by Fujiwara Kinmichi in the autumn (aki) of the 28th year (kaneto-u) of the zodiac cycle, year of the hare, in the Meiwa period (1764) or 1771. “Everything seems to have been translated accurately except the cyclical date. It is Autumn of Meiwa Kaneto-U, which is Meiwa 8th year or 1771. The character "U" (or rabbit year) is written in seal script so that most people cannot read it. I'll try to do a little research to see which generation Kinmichi this is. Because of the style of the Chrysanthemum crest (without leaves) we can assign the maker to one of the later generation of the Yamashiro Izumi no Kami Rai Kinmichi (brother of Iga no Kami Kinmichi) line. The first five generations are recorded and their family title is Fujiwara. The fifth generation worked around 1750. Very little, if anything is known about later generations, if any did in fact stayed in the sword-making business.The date on your sword falls later than the 5th generation. Given the fact that there were very little demand for swords during late shin-to time period, I can see why the output for later generations would be very low (if any) and thus are unrecorded. I think what you may have is a very rare discovery sword for the 6th generation of the Izumi no Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi line. By the way, I have seen in the past the use of a single character "Fuji" as a short-hand for Fujiwara藤原 in order to fit a long signature onto a wakizashi nakago. Also, by the 5th generation, the family line no longer use the honorary title Izumi no Kami. “

Dear Gabriel L. and K. Morita Thanks for the help. Gabriel you did get the third character on the side with the seal script. Thanks K. Morita I would never have translated the seal script. Now to find out about the other side. Is the smith one of the Kinmichi???? The Wakizashi is 21.5 inch with hamon an active suguha in nie. The hada is masame with some itame/mokume about 3 inch from the ha-machi. The tsuba is signed Umetada, Nishijin ju -- a little hard to see and took me a number of hours to translate. But I have not found out anything about this smith. The sword was a Christmas gift to the WWII vet from a Mr. Hashimoto?? some time after the end of the war. The vet also has a wooden hilt NCO picked up on one of the islands during the war, nambu 14 with extra barrel (he made the holster while in the hospital during the war), bayonet, and a Japanese pilot flight suit. I bought the lot and now need to find a home for every thing but the wakizashi. The wakizashi I will have the boshi repaired and have the blade shinsa'ed. The vet is looking for the missing menuki. If it is not found I will be having one made and then do the tsuka-maki in the dark green tsumami-maki style. I told the vet I would take the sword to shinsa and let him know the results and if it is the 1st generation Iga no Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi we would renegotiate the price. Attached are some images of the sword and fittings. later david

Dear James Here it is rotated. later david

Dear All I bought this wakizashi and I am having trouble with the translation. Maybe the period Meiwa then the zodiac year tori then??? maybe Aki and katsu Kin michi tsukura 明和辛酉秋勝金道造 Any thought on who this is and what is on the other side?? thanks david

Dear Edward The second kanji from Mino 美濃 I see 濃No 州shu 住ju 土To 岐ki 兼Kane 正masa 作saku later david mcdonald jswords@mcn.net