Help With Tsuba Mei

[Peter Bleed]

I beg the wise guidance of this forum. I think I can read the first and third characters of this tsuba mei, but I am not sure about the middle character

Is it

Minamoto Hisa mitsu   ???

[Bugyotsuji]

If you say so, then I think I can see that too! 源久光　Some kind of Rorschach test!　

[Stephen]

Kiyotsugu kao

[Bugyotsuji]

Stephen, is that a definitive answer, or something else to toss into the pot?

[Shugyosha]

If you say so, then I think I can see that too! 源久光　Some kind of Rorschach test!　

 

Can't you see the naked lady?

[Stephen]

Just what i see...right or wrong IDK

 

清次

[Peter Bleed]

well, gee! could see that, too. Hmmm

But I still see a MITSU at the bottom. Peter

PS. And maybe the naked lady is killing a snake...

[Stephen]

I see marks but not mitsu but then im blind in one and cant see out of other.

[Bugyotsuji]

Peter, could we have a couple more shots in different lights, and upright for my neck, please?

 

(If an iPhone, edit the photo in some way and click Done. It will stay oriented.)

[Peter Bleed]

NMBers!

Thank you for this discussion.

Here is another image of the tsuba.

Peter

[kyushukairu]

A further possibility for the middle character is 之, which could be Minamoto Yoshimitsu (源之光). In saying that, I had a quick search through Sesko's meikan, and couldn't find any tosogu smiths named 之光. I also searched for just 源, though no one comparable appeared. The closest match was Minamoto Yoshiyuki - I've included the image so you can see how '之' is written and hence my suggestion as the second kanji

[Bugyotsuji]

Yes, I had a look at Yuki, Kyle, and like you found no record of such a smith in my Kinko book. That is not to say that such a person did not exist. Let's hope the pressure on this issue builds!

 

Lay your bets, Ladies and Gentlemen!