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mekugi ana vs mei

leo

By leo
in General Nihonto Related Discussion

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leo Community Regular

leo

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Dear All,

 

there is one thing that bothered me for a while, as I have seen it now and then:

 

Has anybody seen a mei which deliberately was applied by the smith in order to leave room for a mekugi ana?

 

I am not talking about katana where there is enough space above the first kanji to place the ana appropriately.

I have seen this on small nakago of tanto or wakizashi where the nakago hardly supplied room for a long mei.

 

Where there any smiths who signed their blades after making the mekugi ana leaving a larger space between 2 kanji in order not to hurt the signature?

I am aware that most of such swords are gimei as the signature was added later, but where there exceptions anybody know of?

 

Best,

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ROKUJURO Grand Master

ROKUJURO

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.......He signed "Bizen Tomonari Go Ju Hachi Dai" (58th generation of Tomonari).....

Waow! In a straight succession and 25 years per generation that makes almost one and a half thousand years! Impressing! I'll go and talk to my children right away this evening!

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leo Community Regular

leo

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There are quite a few reasons why the western definition of a generation, which is simply an assumed cycle of reproduction, cannot be compared to the sometimes complicated Japanese succession system within the smith´s school and/or family.

 

Best,

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Adrian Mentor

Adrian

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The mekugi ana is placed a certain approximate distance down from the hamachi depending on whether the sword is a katana, tachi, wakizashi, or tanto, depending on smith.

 

A mei that avoids the mekugi ana is NOT automatically gimei.

 

 

So basically some smiths bothered to leave some space where they knew that the mekugi ana would be drilled, while others didn't?

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leo Community Regular

leo

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Thank you,

some interesting contributions! Again it seems that if there is one rule, it is that there is none.

 

Off course the sometimes calligraphic flow of a signature should not be interrupted by an irregular spacing, but a hole in the middle of a kanji is not very attractive either.

 

So I guess, even it it was rather unusual to avoid the mekugi ana, there was probably no law against signing a nakago after the ana was punched!

 

Best,

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george trotter Grand Master

george trotter

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Just as a matter of interest I looked through Slough and found that of the approx. 150 oshigata, about 45 had some part of a kanji pierced by the mekugi ana.

Most smiths put the mei so it was below where a mekugi ana would be. Some left a space (particularly the Gassan smiths) but even so, there are some small "cuts" of part of a kanji.

So, about a third of this sample are cut by the ana.

regards,

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