SteveM

I don't know what the kanji on that box are supposed to represent, but it doesn't look anything like Heianjō. Heianjō is a three-kanji compound word written as 平安城 平　= peace, tranquil hei 安　= safe, safety, security an 城　= castle jō In this case, Heianjō is a pronoun, and refers to a place, and therefore the individual kanji meanings are not super helpful in understanding the significance. Heianjō should be understood to mean the city of Kyōto, which in medieval times was called by various names: Heian, Heiankyō, Yamashiro, etc...In the specialized area of swords and fittings, it either refers to the place itself, or to a certain school of artists who emerged from the area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heian-ky%C5%8D

Hello Kyle, You'd be amazed at what you might find if you put Peter + Bleed + Arrowhead + Menuki into a search engine... http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13036-stone-tool-menuki/

素銅磨地　すあかみがきち　　Suaka migakichi 赤銅嵌込　しゃくどうはめこみ Shakudō hamekomi 鋤出髙彫　すきだしたかほり Sukidashitakahori 金色絵　　きんいろえ Kin'iroe Now... with that and a bit of google, you should be able to sort it out

I think the card is a blank ID card issued by the Nippon Geographical Society. The map is a map of the eastern Japan, the Kantō region and Niigata. Roughly this region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant%C5%8D_region

Let me also say it looks like it could be a very nice tsuba. Any pictures of the whole thing?

Myōchin is a school of artists that lasted several hundred years. Some artists using the Myōchin name may have been related by blood, but it is not a direct lineage. Both Munesada and the Munesuke you reference worked in Edo, and the common use of 式部 at some point in both of their lives' indicates to me some sort of connection - probably not a family relation, but maybe working in close proximity. As I said, there are a lot of artists using the Myōchin name, and they exist throughout Japan. For some Myōchin artists, there are detailed entries explaining their lineage and their life. Other Myōchin artists are more obscure, and the reference book I use will just say "an artist using this name is known to have made sword fittings"...and there will be no other detail. Munesada is said to have worked in the latter part of the Edo period, lived in Edo, and used several names throughout his career. (I use a Japanese reference: Wakayama. I can't comment on the Haynes reference.) Maybe others with more knowledge of Myōchin will chime in.

I don't know what meaning it had for the artist, but for us it is just another part of his name. Probably a mentor or past master used parts of these kanji in his name, and so as Munesada became more skilled and celebrated, Munesada was allowed to add these kanji to his "art name". I also think this is Minbu (民部) by the way. Wakayama's reference lists both Shikibu (式部) and Minbu as possibilities for this artist, but to me it looks like Minbu...

Looks weirdly like 肥前 "Hizen" at the beginning. Are you sure its Chikuzen?

Yes, there is this possibility, but given all the comments above I think this possibility is sufficiently small so that it shouldn't be much of a temptation. Regarding the wrapping, once undone I think the chances of it getting stretched back over the tsuka in the same way are very slim, and I think putting that kind of stress on it after it has been unwound would make it susceptible to breaking. 疋 isn't an alternative for dog. But it was easier for me to abbreviate it that way than to go into the long discussion of the function of the 疋 counter in conjunction with the 獅子. Actually 獅子 doesn't mean "dogs" either, but it was easier for me to translate it that way than "lion" or the "foo dogs" translation that was used on the English certificate.

It is possible that the translator misread the Japanese for "one dog" (一疋) as "ichijō" (一定). Even though there is no Gotō artist who used 一定, those kanji are so similar in appearance to 一疋 that it seems not only a possible mistake, but to my mind a very plausible mistake. The Ichijō of the Gotō school is written as 一乗. You can easily see what a minefield this hobby is.

豫州住青雲子久 Can't see the last kanji (or two) but my guess is 久次 or 久次作

Allan you have again done a very admirable job. I think you have got all the salient points. I would say that when translating these, one is free to take a bit of license in order to render this kind of unusual writing - neither kanbun, nor modern Japanese - into modern English, but every embellishment made takes you (potentially) a step away from the original material, so do this sparingly and make sure every addition is necessary; i.e. adds to clarification rather than distracts from it. You have probably paid too much attention to the original line breaks on the sayagaki. I would render your #2 as two different lines 但薙刀直無名也 Tadashi naginatanaoshi mumei nari Naginata naoshi, mumei. My comment: Tadashi is usually translated as however, but that translation doesn't quite work here. It seems too strong. I don't think Tanobe sensei would write, "Gassan, however this one is naginata naoshi and is mumei". Logically it doesn't make much sense, and the order of the words doesn't lend itself easily to other interpretations. I think in this case the opening "tadashi" is just his way of beginning to expose the detail of the contents of the saya (closer to the Japanese 尚 for those who are interested). In this case it is hard to find an exact English equivalent, so I think we can live without one. 同派ノ特色ナル綾杉肌ノ鍛錬ヲ顕示シ焼刃共に鄙ブル風情有之 Dōha no tokushokunaru ayasugihada no tanren wo kenjishi, yakiba tomo ni hinaburu fuzei koreari The unique "ayasugi hada" forging style of this school is clearly displayed, and this, along with the yakiba, conveys a rustic elegance. This makes #3 into 而典型的也蓋し年代ハ南北朝末期乃至室町初期歟 Shikōshite tenkeitekinari, kedashi nendai wa Nanbokuchō sueki naishi Muromachi shoki ka Thus we can say that this is typical of the Gassan style, and perhaps dates from the end of the Nambokucho era to the beginning of the Muromachi era. My comment: we can tell by the ka at the end (which I've never seen before, by the way) that there is quite a bit of wiggle room in the age estimation. The words in red are words that look like they need fixing. Note the small slanting line in 刃 should cross the vertical line (it is used twice in this sayagaki). Your katakana "na" and "ha" should be ナ and ハ. (It looks like you are using 十 and 八, which look similar, but are different). I made a mistake with 顕示, it is in fact kenji, and not kanji. I'm also not completely confident in 鄙ブル. I know 鄙 is correct, but I am not so sure about the okurigana - it is slightly strange to me, but I don't think it alters the meaning. Finally, pay attention to the okurigana in general and keep them consistent. It is OK to transpose the sayagaki katakana into hiragana, as this is how they would appear in modern written Japanese, but if you are going to do it for one, you should do it for all - again, there is no effect on the meaning of the words, its just a consistency thing. Leaving them all in katakana is fine too. I suppose it is a question of what you are trying to do: are you trying to replicate the writing so that you have a written record of the kanji as they appear on the sayagaki, or are you trying to transpose that writing into modern Japanese for ease of reading? One of those questions that I struggle with whenever I jump into a translation. For example in my transliterations above (putting the Japanese into alphabet), when dealing with 有之 I have gone from arimasu back to koreari since I'm replicating the way it should be pronounced, and am not focused on the meaning at that point. Anyway, I just jot these thoughts down because you have spent some time on this and may be curious about the details. Again, a very good job.

Hello Allan - be careful to double-check some of the kanji and the translations you are using. I have also revised desu to arimasu. for example 年代 →　nendai (not jidai) 貮尺→　壹尺　(isshaku) 有之 → arimasu (I had desu, but it should be arimasu. This just means "is", and doesn't imply "approximation") 而　→ shikōshite 典型的 → this is one compound word (separate from the above "shikōshite") And take another look at the Tanzan signature. There is an interesting discussion here on NMB of the use of these words on a sayagaki. If you search for it, it should pop up.

You've done well, Allan, Here are the blanks and some corrections. I leave the English translation to you for now, but if you get stuck I will jump in. If you are handy with a search engine you should be able to pick out the missing bits. Note that this is written in kind of a classic style that doesn't always lend itself to handy English translations. I've left "koreari" in the first appearance, but I think this should just be interpreted as "arimasu" in modern Japanese. 出羽国月山 Dewa-no-kuni Gassan 但し薙刀直し無名也 Tadashi naginata-naoshi Mumei nari 同派の特色なる綾杉肌の鍛錬を顕示し焼刃共に鄙ぶる風情有之 Dōha no tokushoku naru "ayasugi hada" no tanren wo kanjishi, yakiba tomoni hinaburu fuzei koreari (arimasu) 而典型的也 Shikōshite tenkeiteki nari 蓋し年代は南北朝末期乃至室町初期歟 Kedashi nendai ha Nanbokuchō sueki naishi Muromachi-shoki ka 刃長壹尺七寸参分有之 Hachō isshaku nanasun sanbun arimasu 丁亥神無月上浣 Hinoto-i Kannazuki jōkan 探山観併誌 Tanzan kan awasete shirusu

I think that is a stretch. The right side is more likely 良 rather than 邑. The left side doesn't look like 冰, and it would make an unusual (but not entirely impossible, mind you) artist's name even if it did. I think it is something less exotic than 冰. You can plug kanji into the top box on the linked site to find out what it might look like in this sort of seal script. I've done it for 冰 and you can see the results. http://font.designers-garage.jp/ds/execute/FontSearch?encoding=Shift_JIS&locale=ja&tick=1490921393749&node=1490920830151&createOrder=false&searchType=1&orderBy=&desc=&knownTotal=0&offset=0&simString=%99u&category=09&maker=0&weight=0&type=0&platform=0&keyword=&simulation=2&saleType=0

I thought the one on the right resembled 邑, but I had such little faith in that judgment that I decided not to post. I throw it out here in case it sparks some inspiration in somebody else.

関 Seki stamp 昭和十九年三月　March, 1944 吉近 Yoshichika

Here you go http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/843-crew-gunto-mei/

Try this http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=7407&useutf8=false

The big letters say 兵器部 (arms/weapons section). The small letters on the barrel say 軍用 (military use). I'm a bit suspicious of the lettering...

You'd be surprised at what you can find if you sniff around. http://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=106 The details, however, are extremely important, which is why pictures are essential.

鉄収道人昭光作呈浅野氏 Tesshū dōjin Akimitsu saku. Tei Asano-shi. (Probably in kanbun style it would be something like "Asano-shi ni teisuru") Made by Tesshū dōjin Akimitsu for Mr. Asano

Hello Ed, What does the actual blade look like? I couldn't see it very well in the picture from the other thread. Does it have any of the characteristics mentioned on Fred Weissberg's site? Is the blade in good condition? Are there any obvious flaws or rust damage? We generally advise people to focus on the sword rather than the mei (although the mei is definitely an important thing), and this will lead to a better appreciation of the sword and of the craft in general.

Looks to be a collection of prints, assembled and published by a firm in Kyoto in 1927 (Showa 2). 浮世絵大家傳作集 Ukiyoe Taikadensakushū　(Collection of Ukiyoe from the Masters) You might get some interest from one of the stores in Tokyo that specialize in ukiyoe and ukiyoe-related books. The following is just one example. There are others. http://www.harashobo.com/english/ Ukiyoe are prints made from a woodblock, and so they are all in some form mass-produced. Generally, the more recent the reprint, the lower the value. Your prints would be a generation or two removed from the original printings.

A very slim entry in Wakayama. Listed under Yoshi (芳). Last name Takadake. Active end of Edo period. No exact dates listed. I am guessing at the reading of reading of Yoshiyasu, by the way - but it seems the most plausible.