Help with Mei

[Alden83]

• Hi,

Back in 2017 I posted a topic regarding my old grandfathers sword that has been passed down to me.  After having it refurbished I wanted to try and find out more information about it so thought this was the best place to try at first.  Unfortunately I was unable to get any more info and have tried to find out through a couple of other places but no one seems to be able to help.

 

The man that refurbished the sword for me worked out the name of the sword smith as Masa Mitsu but he was not able to translate the other part of the Mei.  I thought I would try putting it back on here to see if anyone else may be able to help.

 

Kind regards

 

Joe

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[Geraint]

Dear Joe.

 

I'm afraid I can't open these as images of a size that is useful.  They seem to be thumb jpegs.  Can you post them as full images for us please?

 

All the best.

[Alden83]

Hi,

 

Hopefully these are better, I don't know why the others are not working

 

Kind regards

 

Joe

[ROKUJURO]

Joe,

someone who 'refurbishes' KATANA should be able to read signatures and define style, school and maker even without MEI. From the photos I do not have the impression of a traditional Japanese polish. 

I am sure one of our experts here can read the province (which might be HIZEN or BIZEN). Please try again in the TRANSLATION section.

Is there a date on the other side of the NAKAGO?  

[SteveM]

Hello Joe,

 

I think you got everything that could be "gotten" from the last posting。

 

旭都住正光

Asahito-jū Masamitsu

 

There is an Asahi (旭) town in Okayama, which is where the old province of Bizen was located. Often we see names with -mitsu in them coming from Bizen. But the shape of the sword and the hamon are equally important.

 

Alternatively it could be a reference to an Asahi town in Hiroshima prefecture (formerly known as Geishū 藝州) in which there lived and worked another smith named Masamitsu. His mei is quite different from the one on your sword, though.

 

In any event, a quick online search turns up no other examples of 旭都 (Asato, or possibly Asahito, or possibly Asahi-no-miyako)

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/22887-need-some-help-translating-my-grandfathers-old-sword/

[Alden83]

Steve, 

 

Thank you very much for the reply, I wasn't sure in the last post whether Asahi was correct or not and felt that the 都 hadn't been translated.  Please forgive my ignorance, it can be quite hard to work out whats right and whats not.

 

I would love to find out as much as I can about the sword as find it fascinating and a thing of real beauty.

 

Would you know of the best way that I could get a rough date of when the sword was made?  The renovator that I took it to thought it was 15 century but I would love to have a second opinion. He felt that the shape of the blade is what indicates that sort of age.

 

Thank you again for the response, I know practically nothing about all of this but quite an eager student.

 

Joe 

[Alden83]

Joe,

 

someone who 'refurbishes' KATANA should be able to read signatures and define style, school and maker even without MEI. From the photos I do not have the impression of a traditional Japanese polish. 

 

I am sure one of our experts here can read the province (which might be HIZEN or BIZEN). Please try again in the TRANSLATION section.

 

Is there a date on the other side of the NAKAGO?  

Hi Jean,

 

Unfortunately no date on the other side.  As to the polish, the man that I took it to firstly recommended a traditional polish however on closer inspection he then changed his mind.  This was due to the swords tip having been damaged at some point in its life. It was because of this that he didn't recommend the full traditional polish but have a polish that won't damage the blade but will make it look significantly better.  Which it has. 

 

Would you know the best way that I could get the sword dated?

 

Kind regards

 

Joe

[ROKUJURO]

Joe,

it is difficult to tell the age without seeing your blade in hand. The non-traditional polish did not bring out the HADA - at least I can't see it in the photos. The SORI is significant and could point to an earlier blade, but the MEKUGI-ANA seems to be drilled, not punched. The NAKAGO shows some age and related corrosion, but the YASURI-ME is still visible. 

If we had the signature of a noted smith, it would obviously be easy, but with these few facts, I would guess that you have an early EDO blade. But please consider that age has nothing to do with quality or market value. As the smith seems to be less known, there is a good chance that the signature is authentic. On the other hand, I don't know if your "renovator" might have changed some features while repairing the KISSAKI, so this might make identification and evaluation more difficult. 

As I wrote, take some good photos of the NAKAGO (showing the tip always up!) and go to the TRANSLATION section. Maybe our Japanese members could tell more. 

[Alden83]

Joe,

 

it is difficult to tell the age without seeing your blade in hand. The non-traditional polish did not bring out the HADA - at least I can't see it in the photos. The SORI is significant and could point to an earlier blade, but the MEKUGI-ANA seems to be drilled, not punched. The NAKAGO shows some age and related corrosion, but the YASURI-ME is still visible. 

 

If we had the signature of a noted smith, it would obviously be easy, but with these few facts, I would guess that you have an early EDO blade. But please consider that age has nothing to do with quality or market value. As the smith seems to be less known, there is a good chance that the signature is authentic. On the other hand, I don't know if your "renovator" might have changed some features while repairing the KISSAKI, so this might make identification and evaluation more difficult. 

 

As I wrote, take some good photos of the NAKAGO (showing the tip always up!) and go to the TRANSLATION section. Maybe our Japanese members could tell more. 

 

Jean,

 

Thank you very much, I have taken your advice and posted in the translation page.  

 

Kind regards

 

Joe