Mei Help - Showa Era

[CrysGreen]

Hello. New to the site. My name is Crystal and I have recently acquired a Showa era blade in type 98 koshirae. The mei on it has me scratching my head though. None of the possibilities I see come up in any WW2 era searches I do. There is also a Seki stamp if that helps. Any assistance would be hugely appreciated.

[Stephen]

First is Ichi or Kazu...looking to connect them.

[CrysGreen]

Right. I had it that far as well. The second character looks like Hiragana...maybe "wa" or "o" or "a"...but none are an exact match, and none combine with Ichi or Kazu to make any smith's names I can find in WW2 era. I'm stumped.

[Ed Harbulak]

It looks to me like it might be KazuYoshi, but let's see what other's have to say.

[ROKUJURO]

Just a guess: KAZUMOTO?

[SteveM]

一為   (Looks closest to me, but I don't think there is a Seki smith of this name)

一前   (Seki smith, but somehow I don't think this is the one)

一義

一寿

 

All of the above feel vaguely plausible, but none of them seem to hit the mark completely. The second kanji on the tang is grass-script calligraphy, and therefore it is a very reduced shorthand cursive form of the original kanji - alas I'm not very adept at deciphering grass-script. 

[CrysGreen]

I looked at "IPPO" as an option as well, but can't find any showa era smiths.

[Stephen]

ICHIBUN (一文), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tōkyō – “Umenokoji Ichibun” (梅小路一文), “Umenokoji Ichibun kore o saku” (梅小路一文作之), real name Umenokoji Sadao (梅小路定雄), born September 1st 1909, he studied from 1955 under Sakai Ikkansai Shigemasa (酒井一貫斎繁政), he lived in Tōkyō´s Roppongi (六本木) (see picture right)  ????

[CrysGreen]

It is dated 1942, so maybe not ichibun. Although I also looked at that as a possibility too.

[SteveM]

Possible to get a picture of the date? 

 

And, maybe this isn't a mei at all, but an inscription with some other meaning. 

I like your guess of Ippo... it is what got me thinking that this might not be a mei.

[CrysGreen]

Here is the date.

[SteveM]

Nice - it sure is an enigma. Hopefully Morita-san will give us a hand. 

[Stephen]

Doesn't look like Showa to me

 

seki stamp please

[CrysGreen]

It's the Kiko date system. It says 1942 I believe.

[SteveM]

Koki 2602 (spring)

 

皇記二千六百二年　春

[CrysGreen]

Koki, right. Not kiko. I'm learning.

[CrysGreen]

Given the date of 1942, I've narrowed the options to:

Kazuyuki

Kazumitsu

Kazunori

Kazutoshi

Kazuo

Ichishin

Ikko

Ippo.

Unless of course it is a phrase rather than a name. I have reached out to some friends that are MUCH more proficient in Japanese, but no luck so far. I very much appreciate the help from this group so far. If anyone else has any ideas, I'm desperately curious about this mei. It is a unique looking mei and the koki dating system was atypical for the time from what I understand...so it's very mysterious.

[SteveM]

The imperial dating system is actually pretty common for swords made during the war years. But the other inscription is a mystery. 

 

https://Japan-forward.com/how-to-read-date-inscriptions-on-Japanese-swords/

[Peter Bleed]

I have avoided this discussion, ChrusGreen notes pushed to to say that I have wondered from the start is this might say

KAZUO,

as in a first name

P