I see your point Ken, assuming the nakago is ubu. Saw it so far only on shortened, or remounted blades. It makes no sense, considering the smith itself punched the peg hole.
However, several scenarios maybe conceivable......
Hi Bojan,
it's not a mei in the sense of a craftsmans signature. I guess more or less a hint, how to put things together or something similar.
Hesitate to post my bungled attempts, cos I was totally out of track at my last two tries
The fittings alone were worth the deal! Nice package. Cleaned nakago ,ok. But the overall shape is good.
BTW, I would never part a matching koshirae from it's blade.....
Jean,
a bit far fetched (I know), but can we read the mei as "Omi Ju Nagamasa tsukuru ?" Can't determine the last kanji with conviction:-(
Anyway, a mei on kogatana doesn't mean much......
Agreed.......
Hi Michael,
first (at least) two kanji are missing in your pictures. The remaining part might be "...ju..?..Yoshi(kane?)"
No warranty!
Ohh, missed the last pic.......
Whole Mei reads "Myochin Bungo no Kami Fujiwara Munetaka saku". Can't finde a matching guy from the Myochin line in the records. But the golden underlaid Mei points towards late Edo, IMHO. This assumption will rule out all other Munetaka except of Yabushi Munetaka. A pupil of Himeji Myochin Muneakira. Izumi, late Edo period. Hope that helps a bit. More pictures please
We should also consider, that sometimes clans used the first character of their family name as maedate!
Well, in this case..........
I tend to say modern?!
Hi Bojan,
Ian is basically right. Almost no chance for pinning down the families (clans) if there is no further information about the particular armor (-parts) bearing the mon. Not to disappoint you completely, here are some possibilities....
The kabuto:
The dou:
The fugikaeshi (second kabuto):
Guess, now you can imagin why Ian not named any specific family
Nice armor Guido!
I`ve to admit, that you are right in this case. It`s indeed a "shikami". I was a bit negligent with my first claim.
Oni
Shikami
Sometimes also seen "Fûjin" and "Raijin". Gods of wind and thunder......