Help With Mei Please

[Mark]

i have a katana dates Keio 2 (1866).  The mei is giving me some trouble. ?? ??(place) Ju Fujiwara Mune ??? (yoshi, hide, Soei )

 

any suggestions appreciated.

[Ray Singer]

The first kanji may be 奥 (first kanji for Ōshū 奥州). The mei appears to be Muneyasu (宗泰).

[Ray Singer]

To follow up, perhaps that is an alternate way of writing Ōshū. There seems to have been an Aizu smith who used the mei Muneyasu with those particular kanji. 

 

[Mark]

i had thought Yasu was an option but checking my Hawley's and Markus index i did not see any Muneyasu listed using those kanji, maybe i am missing something

 

thanks for the picture, that sure looks like similar kanji

[SteveM]

Okuai would be my guess at the reading of the first two kanji

 

奥會住宗泰

 

Okuai jū Muneyasu

I have never seen this combination of 奥會 before.

Either a contraction of 奥州 and 会津, or literally "deep/remote Aizu" 

[Mark]

thanks Ray and Steve. Maybe this is a little know maker, he is very late so probably not a long career. I will keep looking for references.

 

thanks again for the help