Help Undertanding Suriage Mei

[Ron STL]

At our sword meeting Saturday, I was curious about this nakago inscription  on a suriage katana by Higo no Kame Hata Mitsuyo. On the nakago ura it reads that the sword was suriage (shortened) by Owari Nobutaka. There is a date of Kyoho 2 (1717). The upper inscription puzzles me. I see tetsu saku koreo, but I can not understand the kanji before this. I'd appreciate a character x character reading and meaning of this please.

Mitsuyo worked in Owari around  ca.1673 so I can see Nobutaka being there to suriage the sword, but the date on the nakago seems to possibly be the date of suriage and not when the sword was forged. This is a well made sword although Mitsuyo is rated "chu jo saku" by Fujishiro. It's not my sword, but I think the nakago inscriptions are interesting and need to be fully understood. Translation and any comments, appreciated.

RON STL

[Kronos]

I think it may be "ko kuwa o motte kore o saku" meaning made with the steel of an old hoe.

[Kronos]

There's a Nagayuki with this inscription in Markus' Shinto Kantei if you wanted to double check.

[SteveM]

Close, but I think this is 

 

以古鍋鐵作之

 

motte ko nabe tetsu saku kore

 

I don't know how to read as kanbun. If I take a clue from James's (and Markus's) work above, I would say Ko-nabe tetsu wo motte, kore wo tsukuru

Note the nabe used in the inscription is a variation of the kanji for nabe (鍋) in use today. 

 

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot... nabe means pot or frying pan. 

[Ron STL]

Very interesting and strange, too, since this is carved above the newer mekugi ana on the surface that was part of the blade before suriage. I'll see if I can find this inscription on Marcus' site. It's no wonder this stumped me! Looking around for examples of Mitsuyo's work, I found one example in Art and the Sword, Vol. 2, p.44 (article on Owari), and in Fujishiro Shintohen p.419. Later I found several examples in Shinto Taikan p.723. Another thing I found interesting, Yoshikawa calls the smith Mitsushiro whereas Fujishiro (translation) calls him Mitsuyo. Any idea why this is?

Ron STL

[SteveM]

Both shiro and yo are viable readings for the kanji 代. In this case, I see other instances where the reading is Mitsushiro.

 

http://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p2015_%E8%84%87%E6%8C%87%E3%80%80%E9%8A%98%E3%80%80%E8%82%A5%E5%BE%8C%E5%AE%88%E7%A7%A6%E5%85%89%E4%BB%A3.html

 

I don't know what the definitive reading is. 

[Jimmy R]

Nabe is an umbrella term that means cast iron. The lady across the street has an old potbelly stove in her back yard and she called it Nabe-something. She fires Raku Chawan in it. Has anyone else heard this term used that way?

[SteveM]

Nabe is an umbrella term that means cast iron. 

 

Hmm, I'd have to argue against this.

Cast-iron (鋳鉄) is a different thing. Nabe refers specifically to a cooking utensil: a pot or a pan. The cooking utensil may be made out of cast-iron, but you wouldn't use 鍋 as an umbrella term for any kind of cast-iron. 

[Jimmy R]

It is hard to understand the older Japanese people. I will ask her what it is and post what she says. It could be that she was saying it was for cooking???

[Ron STL]

Any more thoughts on why this "motte ko nabe tetsu saku kore" statement is placed where it is, on the area that would had been the surface of the blade prior to suriage??? 

Ron STL

[Kronos]

The 2 reasons that spring to mind are the smith doing the suriage copied it from lower down the nakago that was removed or it's gimei, probably the former considering all other things.

[Ron STL]

That's an interesting thought, James.