dkirkpatrick

Domo arigato Moriyama-san, this was most helpful! Doug

Good evening guys, was just wondering if anyone could give me a sense of what this inscription on this stone Jizo figure says. I’ve had it for many years bit could never really make out what it said. I think I can see something about Meiji but the kanji are just too faint for me to work out individually and was hoping someone could speak to roughly what it says, thank you in advance. Doug

Not to dash your hopes about authentication a bit I would bet 100$ this signature is not authentic (gimei as it’s known in the collecting community). I say this because I’ve seen this mei enough to know that it looks like it but appears to be poorly cut not in keeping with examples of my memory. I’m not currently looking at my books to compare but guessing others will and will chime in. Doug

I don’t see a peg to remove and I think you will end up doing more damage in long run. 100% reproduction, no reason to remove handle it would be crude and unsigned and fake Chinese signature. Enjoy the cool look it is. Doug

It is indeed the date. See if you can look up the kanji for Japanese nengo (date eras) and you should be able to work it out. I’ll give you a clue to start, it’s after 1800. Doug

Don’t think there is any “quasi” to it, looks welded and ground. Doug

Scary! While it’ll never be “human” and know what it means to have words move through you it’s still crazy what it can up with. Doug

That’s how I took it as well!

Mei looks correct for this smith! Doug

A little Bungo in the jungle is alright by me! Doug

New collectors are so fortunate as the knowledge available is light years ahead of what was available in 80’s-90’s. My first sword was a Type 44 NCO that I couldn’t figure out there was a second mekugi so ended up unwrapping ito. Turned out to be a machine made Showa dated blade with a hadori hamon, made it hard for me to see this nie/nioi and “hada” stuff the books would talk about. Second sword again Showato with real hamon but oil so again hard to learn anything. I was lucky enough to run into Andy Quirt at a hotel buy and although he lived about 4-5hrs from me he graciously invited me to look at swords on different occasions but were often pearls before this swine until I had done enough homework to appreciate what I was looking at. In my defense, the later 90s had books with better pictures and of course the internet changed everything. There is little replacement for seeing many swords under learned eyes (something I’ve only done in limited fashion) but I have attended a handful of the major sword shows and if you live in the US and claim to want to learn about Japanese swords there is now excuse to not make this happen. Even if you are not able to purchase anything many will be gracious with there time and information. That information allowed me to be able to pull a Hankei and a Satsuma Motohira out of the woodwork-longs ways from my dad Type 44 but what a journey. Doug

As with all antiques, you should buy what you like as you well may end up being the proud owner for a while. If something really sings and resonates with you chances are it will with others and should still be salable down the road. Buying purely with the idea you’ll be able to sell for same price or “worse” profit can lead to disappointment, can’t go wrong getting things you love. Doug

Can’t argue with the price certainly! There’s quality and there is “art”. A beautiful oak chair can have beautiful quarter sawn striping great style and design, and be shaped just like a Gustav Stickley but if not from that shop it’s just a high quality reproduction even if done somewhat contemporaneously. Irony is probably a good smith so why didn’t sign their own name, certainly other “unknown” smiths didn’t feel the need to use gimei? Interesting questions, anyway nice piece! Doug

I understand wanting to bond with history. That said, should we fire an original Brown Bess flintlock, I mean, that’s what it was made for? Low power loading, should be fine right? Sure, but black powder gets places and unnecessary wear/damage can occur. Sad when you could have gotten same experience from repro.

Maybe goes without saying but no rust removal or cleaning, this could be a very important sword. Hopefully it gets the proper eyes on it and attention. Please keep us posted. Doug