Translation Help Needed.

[MikeBP]

Hello,

 

My name is Mike, my wife and i have recently moved from New Zealand to her native homeland of Hungary to organise her deceased Grandmothers estate there. I have been tasked with internet research as my Hungarian is not so good but my google Fu is strong.

 

There were a few old swords hanging on the wall and what i thought were a couple of holiday souvenir type Katana. One had a bone Tsuka and Saya which i instantly thought would be priceless and upon inspection was barely holding itself together and the blade was made from thin very bendy mild steel. The other was fairly uninteresting, the Tsuka and Tsuba were rattly and loose due to beng held in with a rust bent nail and the blade was pretty well used with no Hamon that i could see so i took photos and put them in a corner out of the way.

 

After i did a bit of research and looked at the photos i thought i could see a very feint Hamon, So when we visited the house next i retrieved the blade and brought it back home. After i removed the bent nail I found the Mei on the Nakago and then i spent a lot more time on the internet and after a couple of interesting weeks i find myself here as i really dont think i can go any further without some help.

 

So the Mei as far as i can tell reads KANE NAGA SAKU

 

However the KANE and SAKU dont look quite right and i think i may be making them fit.

 

There are no other marks on the sword and i originally thought it was a plain steel copy however the more i looked and researched it does seem like it could be a genuine Nihonto, however i have discovered it has a Hagire roughly halfway up the blade. 

 

I'm sad the blade has a fatal flaw but it means it is likely worthless and i get to keep it and it not get sold with the estate. 

 

I apologise for the pictures, i cannot for the life of me seem to take a decent photo of it for some reason, the Mei is hard to read in person so i hope someone can make it out in the photo. Also any photography tips wont go amiss.

 

I would appreciate any information anyone can give me regarding this especially at this time of year.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Mike

 

 

[Stephen]

Yes you have it Kanenaga saku,nice sword and great story.

 

Lots of Kanenaga's well need to see sugata and hamon and kissaki to narrow down to which one, most signed with full title, yours may have just had the name added to mumei years and years ago.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Stephen

[MikeBP]

Hello Stephen,

 

Thanks for your reply. 

 

I am learning all the time from this. I Just took these, sorry for my ignorance but a bit of googling tells me Sugata is the shape of the blade? 

 

The Hamon is hard to see unless you get the light just right.

 

Hopefully these are what you require.

 

Mike

 

 

[Stephen]

Mike i use thoes words so youll look them up and learn.  

sugata photos should be free of all fittings, what is the nagasa? 

hamon is most def Mino sanbon sugi so things are looking good,

i have to leave the house for a bit so others may share there feelings as well.

[Ron STL]

The sword looks worthwhile but of course condition is less than desired. I don't see obvious sanban hamon (Mino) but maybe it's just not jumpingout at me. Certainly needs closer study to determine what it is. Mei is of course "katana" mei. Nice namban tsuba which looks a bit large for the sword which is not all that important. All in all a surprising "wall hanger" to find when the other blades were such lesser items. Don't disregard this sword too quickly. Not seeing the complete nakago, it could be ubu.

[Greg F]

Hello Mike, welcome and congrats on the sword. The flaw aside it's still a nice find IMO.

 

Greg

[uwe]

Lucky guy, Mike!

Seems to come just right up for Christmas and might be a candidate for restoration. Can you photograph the "hagire area"?

[MikeBP]

 

Good Morning everyone,

 

Thanks for the replies.  

 

I have taken a photo of the Nakaga and i think it may be Ubu?  

 

I am heading out this morning and will track down a tape measure and let you know the Nagasa. I will get a couple more photos of the blade with no fittings in natural light with no flash this afternoon.

 

Thanks again

 

Mike

 

 

[MikeBP]

 

Here are few more pictures including the Hagire and some measurements.

 

The Nagasa is 74 cm

 

Overall length including the Nakago is 93 cm

 

Sori is 23mm

 

Anything else that might help and i will do my best

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Mike,

is the HAGIRE visible on both sides of the blade? 

[Stephen]

not so sure it is a crack

[MikeBP]

Hi,

 

Sadly the crack is right through here is a picture from the other side.

 

Mike

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, unfortunately that is a real killer crack!

[Stephen]

confirmed sorry 

[uwe]

It's a pity. But the whole package stays quite nice!

[MikeBP]

I'm being philosophical about it as I never hoped I'd get to own a genuine nihonto so a flawed blade is still better than nothing.

 

So I have been doing a bit of reading and there were a lot of Kanenaga smith's is there any way of narrowing it down to a certain period. I am happy to do the reading if someone can point me in the right direction.

[Stephen]

I like your attitude Mike, it still carries a lot of history, did the Samurai cause the crack do to heavy battle use, well never know, but that is a bit of history there and the mystic that goes with it. Still a nice pick up. 

[MikeBP]

Hello again everyone,

 

I hope everyone has had a good start to the year, i am here to pick your brains again regarding my sword. I have been trying to research the sword not to much avail however its giving me something to do in the cold nights here.

 

I have been obsessing over the Tsuba lately, just trying to find anything similar as it isnt signed and i quite like it however in doing this i hadnt noticed that the Fuchi does have a Mei. 

 

I have been looking at the swordsmith Kanji on Japanese sword index to try and translate but again i am struggling a bit. 

 

So far all i have is   XX-XX-XX-Mitsu_XX 

 

Again any help i can get will be much appreciated.

 

Mike

 

[John A Stuart]

Check out Shigemitsu John

[MikeBP]

Thanks John. Much appreciated.