1761 Mei translation

[Alexis]

Good evening everyone,

 

Here is another sword belonging to my father-in-law. Based on my previous partial translation, I volunteered to translate his sword kanji but, as you can see, it was a lot harder than I expected.

 

I was only able to figure out the date, and found out his blade was made on "A lucky day of the 2nd month of the 11th year of the Horeki/or Horyaku era"

 

Which would date this blade from: 1751+(11-1) = 1761

 

I'd expect the kanji for year in between "Month Two" and "Ten + One" but instead there is this kanji that looks like an inverted "5". I thought about a Romaji or Hiragana character, but had no luck finding it.

 

There is also a character before the lucky day Kanji. I'm not sure if this means something or not?

 

The sword smith name and province is again a blocking point for me, except for the "Saku", "Kore", and what I think "Ta" as the second part of the sword smith name.

 

The whole 2nd side of the tang is unknown to me. I was used to one side being the date and the other side being the sword smith, which doesn't appear to be the case with this blade. I'm not even sure of the "Shu".

 

This sword has a family crest on top of the handle, which may be related to this second side of the tang, as being a family name and province.

 

Thank to everyone who may help with this one.

 

Alex

[cabowen]

Here are a few hints:

 

There is a zodiac kanji in the date. Look those up.

 

Next to the date it says Oite Edo Kanda saku kore (made in Kanda district of Tokyo)　於江戸神田作之

 

The other side mentions Nanban Tetsu　南蛮鉄

 

The smith's name is Yasunori 保則

 

See if you can fill in the blanks....

[Alexis]

Hello and thanks for your answer.

 

So is this a zodiacal dating method ? I frequently use this meiboku.info website and found this link :

 

http://meiboku.info/mei/zodiac/index.htm

 

So my inverted "5" is "Tsuchinoto", but per this same website, I should have another kanji with it to indicate the year and the cycle...

 

Alex

[k morita]

Hi Alex,

Not "Tsuchinoto" but "Mi" snake year.

[Surfson]

Is that the same Kanda that is now full of book stores in Tokyo?

[cabowen]

Indeed, though more correctly, Jinbōchō, properly known as Kanda-Jinbōchō (神田神保町), and is part of the former ward of Kanda. Kanda was a ward of Tokyo until they were reorganized and consolidated after the war.

[Alexis]

Thank you for your assistance Mr. Morita.

 

Alex