Corroded Suriage Nakago - Help Needed

[Davis]

Good morning all,

 

I would appreciate some help with this mei, at the moment I'm in the process of elimination and trying to guess!  Kiyo.. maybe Nori..Can anyone assist?

 

Thanks

 

Mick

[ROKUJURO]

Mick,

KIYO might be a possibility, but the rest.....

Sometimes it is easier to find the smith via the features of the blade. SUGATA (is there FUNBARI?) and KATANA MEI let me think of SHINSHINTO (KOTO UTSUSHI). Patination/corrosion on the lower NAKAGO is heavy and may be a hint for KOTO, the upper part does not look that old. This might be an effect of the SURIAGE.

Just my personal thoughts on the basis of the photos, which do not show details; I may be way off.

[Kronos]

Looks like a nice sword, Early muromachi but dimensions would help. It could be the start of a first name like first name Seijirō (清次郎) but the Kiyo looks correct. I'd maybe check out Nio school and see if the workmanship matches. The second Kanji I can't get to match anything so far.

 

There's always the possibility of gimei so could originally of been a tachi :S

[Davis]

Jean

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree,  I've been studying the blade while trying to ignore the mei.  It's an exercise that makes me realise how very little I know. The nagasa is 66cm, motohaba 2.5cm tapering down to a saki-haba of 1.6cm.  Pronounced sori of 2cm, although this measurement would have been much greater before it was cut down. Kasane of 0.4cm.

 

My photos are not very good and don't show as much detail as I would like but I don't think that this is a copy of earlier work.  The corrosion on the lower nakago could be a "red herring" though.  Please see the pictures of the rust deposits on the inside of the tsuka.  This transfer of metal has probably taken place over the last 70 years.

 

James

Thanks.  I too think early Muromachi..... and tachi.  I belive that it's had a number of polishes and also a repair  ( see photo ).  It's very light  ( can't weigh it at the moment ) and very graceful but it's had a hard life.  Uchinoke and nijuba appear to be present but it's proving difficult for me to photograph.  Thanks for the suggested reading - I'll follow it up.

 

Regards

 

 

Mick

[Kronos]

With those dimensions it could even be kamakura, it seems like one of those that's probably hard to tell unless you're holding it. The reason my first thought was Oei'ish was the slight saki-zori, small kissaki and taper. But in a healthy example I'd expect 1.9cm+ saki-haba, 2.8cm+ moto-haba and a kasane around 0.7 or 0.8cm which is the most glaring thing that points to an earlier time. this is a very worn down Morimitsu for example: http://world.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/1008/4_morimitsu.htm And yet that still has 0.52cm kasane. There's a wide variety of shapes in kamakura so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. I guess the question is just how hard a life has it had.

[Davis]

Thanks for the link James.  Fortunately, sometime post 1945, the blade itself was thickly coated with grease, which solidified over time and kept it safe while the rust set in under the tsuka.  The blade, considering it's age is in remarkable condition and intact.  There are some scratches and blemishes that I believe can be dealt with.  I hope so.

 

Mick