Kogatana Translation Help Please

[barnejp]

I have attached a photo of a kogatana...any help is appreciated. I also added a photo of the kozuka..perhaps the same age?

[ROKUJURO]

KOGATANA may read MASAKANE. KOZUKA is not necessarily age-related.

[uwe]

Jean,

a bit far fetched (I know), but can we read the mei as "Omi Ju Nagamasa tsukuru ?" Can't determine the last kanji with conviction:-(

Anyway, a mei on kogatana doesn't mean much......

[Markus]

Yamaguchi Mondo no Shô Masakiyo (山口主水正正清).

 

Two possibilities:

1) Gimei and aiming at the famous Mondo no Shô Masakiyo.

2) Made by a local Yamaguchi (Nagato province) smith who arbitrarily used that "good-sounding" name and title.

 

I find several Nagato-based Masakiyo smiths (shinto and shinshinto) so I tend 70:30 towards possibility 2. These kozuka mei were anyway taken with a grain of salt.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Agree, with Markus' 70:30 towards possibility 2, and while cut less 'chippy' than many of these signatures are, this ko gatana mei still comes across as a bit too rigid, imo.

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Markus,

while I have to agree on the SHO and on the last KANJI (KIYO), I don't see the second SHO/MASA. Can you please explain? 

[SteveM]

I would have guessed 包清 (Kanekiyo). But my enthusiasm for this rendering is dampened because I can only find one, slightly suspect example of this smith on the internet (another kogatana), and I prefer the safety of numbers...

http://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/f151651201/

 

I wouldn't have thought Masa, just because it is so unlike the previous Masa. This could be a case where, as Morita-san says, the a duplicate kanji is written in a different style in order to conform to calligraphy conventions. But it does seem a step too far from 正 for my liking.  

[ROKUJURO]

Steve,

although I am not a NIHONGO expert, I have the same impression that it could be KANEKIYO.

[Markus]

Yes, it looks like KANEKIYO indeed. But I go with Morita's suggestion that the duplicate kanji is deliberately written different. There are more kozuka out there by this or these Masakiyo. On some of them, the MASA character is signed more "recognizable". Also the context of that there were indeed some Yamaguchi based Masakiyo smiths, that there are no Kanekiyo that would match, and that the Mondo no Shô title was used a (famous) Masakiyo makes me stay with the MASA reading.

 

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/227076454

http://nihontou.jp/choice03/tousougu/kk/kk/027/00.html

http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c578315480

[barnejp]

Thank you everyone for your help.