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SteveM

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Everything posted by SteveM

  1. Looks like two sakura flowers flanking a central aoi or tsuta leaf motif. I don't know what to call it, but you often see the three individual flower-in-circle motifs together in a trio like this. There must be some name for it. Usually all three are the same flower, as below http://www.jp-military.com/teiban/viphtml/70.html My impression is that this is a generic Japanese motif, and not one kamon of a specific family.
  2. Yes, 関天秀 (Seki Amahide). The same smith and signature as the one below: https://www.seiyudo.com/KA-098111.htm
  3. SteveM

    Yodogawa no zu

    I actually don't get the reference to Yodogawa, so if anybody can close that loop it would be appreciated. I looked around for "Yodogawa" references in other tsuba, but couldn't find them. I did find out where the "wagon wheels in water" theme comes from. Its apparently an auspicious reference to long life or rebirth, as wagon wheels were immersed in water to keep them from drying out, warping, and to prolong their life. Its found on other items too, lacquer-ware, ceramics, etc. But none of those references mention "Yodogawa" (Yodo river), which is a river in Osaka. The one site that mentions a river, says that wagon wheels were put in the Kamo river in Kyoto. I half-wonder if there is a regional bias here, with Kyoto-based people identifying this with Kamo river in Kyoto, and Osaka people identifying it with Yodo river. http://kinohana2.blog62.fc2.com/blog-entry-283.html https://tokka.biz/fittings/TS455.html https://blog.goo.ne.jp/tsuba_001/e/5ebb8e2695b2130ae517503359330d97 https://www.japaneseantiqueshop.com/product/22 (hako-gaki translation on the other thread)
  4. 丸形鉄地真鍮地 高彫象嵌小囗 平安城 名鐔也 昭和壬子囗秋 寒山誌(花押) on the lid 平安城象嵌 淀川図鐔 Maru-gata tetsu-ji shinchū-ji Takabori zōgan ko ? Heianjō Meitsuba nari Shōwa mizunoe ne ? aki Kanzan shirusu (kaō) on the lid Heianjō zōgan Yodogawa no zu tsuba Parts in blue are where I lack confidence in my reading. Parts in red I am completely lost. I think you can figure out the translation from here, since a lot of these terms are used in tsuba study both in Japan and abroad. The year should be 1972 (autumn) if my reading is right.
  5. The signature is a very, very poor rendering of 正宗 (Masamune).
  6. Mitsu - something - kimi yūran no go? I was thinking Mitsunari, but I can't quite pin it down. 光成君遊覧之号(?) It looks like a companion piece, or some related theme, to the piece to the below. 光君遊覧之内須みよし詣の図 / 芳虎 画 ヒカルノキミ ユウラン ノ ウチ スミヨシ モウデ ノ ズ hikarunokimi yūran no uchi sumiyoshi mōde no zu http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/bunko30/bunko30_b0295/bunko30_b0295.pdf
  7. Hello, This is a print from the 47 Samurai, or rather, a character from a dramatic portrayal of the 47 Samurai, done by Utagawa Yoshitora in the mid 1800s. It depicts the character Ōhoshi Yuranosuke (the dramatization of the real life person Ōishi Kuranosuke). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cishi_Yoshio
  8. 山嵜美將(花押) Yamasaki Yoshimasa (kaō) Interesting tsuba. A quick search on the internet didn't show any matches for that name.
  9. It is a reference to this shrine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taga-taisha The "Ta" written on the sword (夛) is a variant of the more common 多. Edit: I see you got the same info on the other thread. The shrine bears the name of the deity, but the deity in this case seems to be a medieval fabrication, or in any event, it seems to be combination of Japan's two founding deities Izanagi and Izanami. And even here it looks like a very regional thing. I don't think you would find any Japanese praying to the god "Taga", although they may well know and wish to visit the Taga shrine. In the sword inscription I think it is meant to invoke the Taga shrine, and it's ancient position as a shrine to Japan's founding gods. In other words, its a kind of patriotic emblem/totem.
  10. A couple of the kanji are wrong/missing 謹 大華鑛業株式会社作之 Daika Mining Co. (It might have a different name in English...I can't find an exact translation) 滿洲国建国十周年記念 Nitpicking, but sometimes tiny errors can cause search engines to go astray. In this case, even with the revised kanji I couldn't find many references to this company, and none which referred to sword-making. Assuming the inscription is legitimate (and I think it is) it may be one of a very limited production, or maybe even a sample.
  11. The paper comes from before the war. It has the name and address of a newspaper on it, and the newspaper was merged with another newspaper and changed names in late 1941 松陽新報 島根県簸川郡出西村大字求院 出雲国直江向下 大字求院 Shōyō Shinpō (← name of newspaper) (everything that follows the newspaper name is an address, located in Shimane prefecture) Shimane-ken Hikawa-gun Shussai-mura Ōaza-Gui Izumo-kuni Naoe mukaishimo Ōaza Gui
  12. 天満天神宮奉納願主作州津山住鍛冶囗大囗 正徳弐年辰八月十三(?) Tenman Tenshin-gu hōnō ganshū Sakushū Tsuyama-jū kaji Shōtoku 2 tatsu 8 gatsu 13 reverse side 久米 Kume (illegible) This is a votive offering (奉納), to one of the many Tenman shrines in Japan. The one that comes to mind is the Tenman-gū shrine in Osaka, dedicated to the ancient scholar Sugawara Michizane (aka Tenjin). Sakushū Tsuyama is a place name in Okayama prefecture. It would have been in Mimasaka-no-kuni in the old days, which is abbreviated here as Sakushū. Shōtoku 2 (tatsu = year of dragon) is 1712. I can't quite pick out the month and date, but it looks like August 13th. A closer shot would remove any doubt. I can't read the part at the bottom, so I'm not sure if it is a name or more location information. It has what kind of looks like a kaō at the end, but I think the name of the smith is on the other side. On the other side is what looks like 久米 (Kume, which is a location name, and by extension a family name) associated with Tsuyama. But I can't figure out the bits after that. This part looks like it would be the name, but I can't be sure.
  13. SteveM

    Tsuba Mon

    I agree with Ed. At first I didn't think it was myōga, but now I think it must be a depiction of myōga (just not the one we typically see on kamon). I don't know if its intending to be a kamon, or just a motif, but I don't think it could be anything else.
  14. Or it could be something other than 重. It looks too faint to be sure. Possible to get a better picture of this last kanji? Edit: Maybe something like 常? (There was a Kaga smith named Kiyotsune 清常)
  15. Here is a bit to get you started. Since the writing starts midway from the top section, it is missing some context. Give a shout if this doesn't get you what you want to know. ナル姿態を呈し志津風に大和気質が混在シ 沸付き金筋湯走りかかり其の特色が窺ハル優品也
  16. It is for sure Kunihiro (see the oshigata below). Just a very, very stylized way of writing 国. See the middle page of the second link. Real name of 片岡愛, and like George I am unsure of how to pronounce the given name. Chikashi, Yasushi? https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihir2.jpg Kuni variations https://moji.tekkai.com/zoom/%E5%9B%BD/page.html Edit: Stephen beat me to it.
  17. Hello, This is a very interesting inscription. As usual, it begs for the rest of the sword to be shown, but unlike many garden variety WW2 swords, this one seems as if it may have some historical significance. 滿洲帝国協和会々長張景恵閣下恵存 大日本興亜同盟總裁陸軍大将林銑十郎囗贈 まんしゅうていこくきょうわかいかいちょうはりけいけいかっかけいぞん だいにっぽんきょうあどうめいそうさいりくぐんたいしょうはやしせんじゅうりょう?おくる Presented to Concordia Association Chairman, His Excellency Zhang Jinghui From the Chairman of the Great Japan East Asia Alliance, General Hayashi Senjurō 昭和十七年八月吉日 用本渓湖高純鐡靖廣勤作 しょうわじゅうしちねんきちじつ ようほんけいここうじゅんてつやすひろきんさく Showa 17, August Made by Yasuhiro from pure iron from Lake Benxi Zhang Jinghui (in Japanese pronunciation: Chou Keikei) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Jinghui Lake Benxi (in Japanese: Honkei-ko) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benxi
  18. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/samewrapping.html But I question the comment that says ray skins were imported from south seas. I think rays are also found in Japan (at least, that's what wikipedia tells me), and I find it slightly hard to believe that there would have been sufficient south sea trade in ray skins to meet Japan's needs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowtail_stingray Edit: I think there must be other threads on this topic. As I recall there is always some disagreement over exactly what type (genus) of rayskin is used.
  19. Possible to see pictures of the blade? The handle is interesting, but the blade is the thing. The mei could be genuine and authentic to the time it purports to come from, and then again it could be some post-war addition, scratched into the blade to make it look like a WW2 blade. Anyway, the mei reads: 三州足助住長運斎重光作之 Sanshū Asuke-jū Chōunsai Shigemitsu saku kore - Chōunsai Shigemitsu of Asuke town in Sanshū province (present-day Aichi) made this 昭和十九年八月日 Shōwa 19 nen, hachigatsu jitsu - August 1944 Also, can we get your name? Forum rules.
  20. More importantly, does the sword look like a Kunimichi sword? Because even if the signature matches existing signatures, it doesn't mean anything if the sword is inconsistent with a Kunimichi sword. Likewise, if the signature looks strange for Kunimichi, but the sword is everything a Kunimichi sword should be, it makes one more confident that one has a real Kunimichi sword. So this is a not-so-subtle way of encouraging you to avoid chasing signatures, and start looking at the sword itself. Find out what kind of swords Kunimichi made, what kind of shape, hamon, tip, nakago, hataraki, etc. Then, if you think your sword stands up to that standard, see if the signatures are close.
  21. 濃州関住佐光信光玉鋼之鍛 Nōshū Seki-jū Sakō Nobumitsu tamahagane kore kitau
  22. 濃州関住兼俊作 Noshu seki ju Kanetoshi saku is my guess As the posters above mention, this type of writing is not unusual on WW2 blades. I wouldn't suspect it is gimei.
  23. Hello Derek, I think this is something for the militaria collectors. If its in good condition, with no obvious flaws, and nobody has taken any power tools or sandpaper to it, people will be interested in it, especially if it has its original scabbard and other parts. But its not a multi-thousand dollar heirloom-quality, sword. Most WW2 swords seem to hover around the $800 - $1000 range, with extra fine examples going for over $1000.
  24. Included as a spoiler for those who want to try to figure it out. Of the three kanji, the top one is easy, the middle one is almost a given (considering WW2 swords) and the third one is tricky.
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