Has anyone come across this mei before?

[SSt]

Has anyone come across this mei before?

 

Late Edo? The theme is from the Tale of the Heike.

Minamoto no Yorimasa is about to shoot down the Thrush Monster aka the Nue.

(A beast with the body of a raccoon dog, head of a Monkey, Tigers feet, and a Serpents tail)

 

Shinchu, Katakiribori carving. Shakudo zogan on the bow, arrow and hat rim.

Shakudo Hitsuana and Fukurin.

6.6cm x 6.4cm x 0.4cm

 

 

The previous owner read it as;

栄 村 作 Hidemura Saku

 

The first kanji eludes me, the second I read as;

材 sai

 

Thanks.

[Nobody]

I am unsure, but the first kanji could be Jo (乗).

[Ludolf Richter]

My guess would be "Munemura".There is only one in the Haynes Index:H06158 from the Umetada family and no further data.Ludolf

[Nobody]

An image flashed on me.

The name might be Kuwamura (桑村). Could be a big name, if not gimei.

 

I found that one variation of 桑 is 桒 ("kuwa" or "so").

[Rich T]

Sô as in Sômin or Sôyo There is a Sôson listed in Haynes but he uses an alternate Kanji for Sô instead of 宗. The work in the tsuba has that sort of Somin/Soyo look to it though not the quality in my humble opinion.

 

Just a thought.

 

Rich

[Rich T]

An image flashed on me.

The name might be Kuwamura (桑村). Could be a big name, if not gimei.

 

I found that one variation of 桑 is 桒 ("kuwa" or "so").

 

Just reading this Koichi, Sôson 桑村 can also be read as Kuwamura. (Haynes H08941.0) I have yet to find a visual reference of his mei. Still looking. Haynes mentiones he used a Kao, and does not mention Saku. On the subject of Sômin and Sôyo, they were very neat carvers of mei, I would assume Sôson would also be very tidy, this mei is quite loose and not well stuck at all. Gimei could be a strong possibility.

 

Rich

[Nobody]

I found that a tsuba with the mei of Kuwamura Katsuhisa (桑村克久) is being shown at the Tokyo National Museum. In that case, Kuwamura seems to be a family name.

 

However, that might have nothing to do with the tsuba in question.