tsuba mei help request

[misterg]

Greetings all...I would appreciate your patience, as I'm a stone cold newbie. Any help in translating the mei on this tsuba would be wonderful. I've attempted to match the characters to those provided on the "kanji for mei" link above, but had no success. I'm actually just trying to get an idea of the age of this item. Thanks in advance for any of your responses.

 

Greg

 

[Nobody]

The mei looks like;

豫劦æ¾å±±ä½ (Yo-shu Matsuyama ju)

正阿弥 x x (Shoami + something).

 

I cannot decipher the last one or two characters. They could be 家久 (Iehisa???)…... only a guess.

[misterg]

Koichi, thank you so much for the input. By searching the name Yoshu Matsuyama, I found a pic with a similar mei (other then the last two characters)....but then again, maybe I'm trying to force it! This evening, I will provide some measurements. I hope the owner of this pic does not mind the link...

 

Greg

 

http://www.lebujutsu.net/photoview.php?lng=fr&pg=328

[Pete Klein]

This is most likely an Iyo Shoami tsuba made by Moritsugu as there are mei examples very close to your's in Wakayama and Kinko Meikan. Interestingly Torigoye states, "Iron plate is rare and its quality is usually inferior to those made with soft metal plate". (see page 109 - 111 Tsuba Aesthetic Study). Age is probably around late 17th century.

Hope this helps a bit.