Edward G Posted February 11, 2016 Report Posted February 11, 2016 Hello All: I hope someone can translate this cloth sword bag. The sword and sword bag was a war souvenir from the battle of Iwo Jima by a local Marine, whose daughter asked my assistance. The sword itself appears to be an oil tempered Katana measuring 25" nagasa. Further the sword contained in the bag appears to be a WW2 Showa Period Katana in civilian mounts with the tang revealing a showa seki stamp and a two character sword smith signature of HideToshi. The enclosed photos are of what I believe to be an original Sword Transportation Bag/Identification Label. It has a message on both sides of the cotton bag. Any assistance with the translation of this cloth will be deeply appreciated. Edward G Quote
SteveM Posted February 11, 2016 Report Posted February 11, 2016 Hello Edward, The first one is an address and personal name (ranged in order from general to specific... i.e. the opposite of how we in the west address letters) Nagasaki-ken Minami Matsuura-gun Narao-chō Iwaseura-gō UOTANI Shigetsugu The last picture is slightly strange because it says "unsigned", but clearly both the sword and the bag have names on them, so its a bit unusual. At any rate it says: Name: Unsigned Length: 2 shaku, 5 sun (shaku and sun are old Japanese units of measurement) Quote
Mark Posted February 11, 2016 Report Posted February 11, 2016 2 shaku 5 sun is close to 30".... maybe the bag is for a different sword, a 30" unsigned sword Quote
Edward G Posted February 11, 2016 Author Report Posted February 11, 2016 Thank you both Steve & Mark. Your assistance is very much appreciated ! Edward G Quote
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