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Interesting sword just sold

Surfson

By Surfson
in Translation Assistance

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Ray Singer Grand Master

Ray Singer

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This sword was floating around the various discussion groups and being emailed about all through the summer. Believe I first saw photos and offered a translation in early June.

It is a shoji mei stating ownership by Okubo Genba (no) kami Tadanari, at the age of 91 years. The inscription ends “kore wo sasu”, indicating that he used or carried this sword.

A friend provided this information: "He died at age 94 years. He was the fourth son of Okubo Tadayo and a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He fought in the seige of Odawara and the Battle of Osaka Castle."

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1tallsword Rising Star

1tallsword

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Seen this and watched it end. Was gonna buy it just for the history and fully respect it as such even in its current condition . however someone did take a heavy grinder to this blade which is a shame and I do hope it can be saved.good luck to the new owner, I wasn't willing to roll the dice to find out how deep the grinder went.

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Surfson Grand Master

Surfson

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i agree Ray.  There is no way to assess the veracity of the inlay, although this is true for most swords with extra information.  There must be a way to judge when the inlay was actually made, or even whose hand it was done in (i.e. who made the inlay).   If it was contemporaneous to the passing of Tadanari, the supposed famous previous owner, that might reinforce the possibility that it is correct, as opposed to it having been done in Meiji or late Edo.  

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Gilles Proficient

Gilles

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Gentlemen,

 

Here are the pictures of the nakago of the sword I own. It is signed KANESHIGE and is possibly from the end of the koto era or the beginning of the shinto era.

The mei seems to be quite the same but as I am not a specialist, details can escape me. Nevertheless I can see that two kanji are different.

 

Ray, is it possible for you give me the full translation of the two MEI and their differences ? Are those differences explicable ?????

 

I need some help on that one.

 

Please feel free to make comments.

post-42-0-81214700-1566752983_thumb.jpg

post-42-0-58211500-1566753015_thumb.jpg

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Nobody Grand Master

Nobody

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Perhaps someone here with more familiarity with the language can better translate '玄番頭'. I am uncertain if head-of-household is the best translation or if this is some other type of more formal title.

 

玄番頭 is a mere official rank.

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Nobody Grand Master

Nobody

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Dear Nobody,

 

Is it possible for you to translate the whole signature of my sword ?

Except its date, Ray correctly translated the inscription in his posts (#3, #20).

 

寛文八年戊申五月吉辰 - Kanbun 8th year Tsuchinoe-Saru (1668), 5th month, a lucky day

大久保(Okubo) 玄番頭(Genba-no-kami) 所持(possession) 九十一歳(91 years old) 指之(wears this)

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Gilles Proficient

Gilles

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Dear Nobody and Ray,

 

Thank you so much for your help. :thumbsup:

 

One last thing eludes me.

 

If I understand right, the sword on EBAY was signed :

 

Okubo (大久保) Genba-no-kami (玄番頭) Tadanari (忠成) kyu ju ichi sai (九十一歳)  kore wo sasu (指之) which can be translated  "Okubo Genba (no) kami Tadanari, at the age of 91 years used or carried this sword".

 

My sword is signed :

 

大久保(Okubo) 玄番頭(Genba-no-kami) 所持(possession) 九十一歳(91 years old) 指之(wears this) which can be translated "in possession of Okubo Genba (no) kami, at the age of 91 years used or carried this sword".

 

Am I right in the translation of my sword ????

 

On my sword, does the mention OKUBO GENBA-NO-KAMI was enough to identify a person ? or is the name of a person missing ?

 

Last but not least, was it a normal structure of phrase used at that time ???? In short does it make sense ?????

 

 

I promise that after that I stop the questioning. ;-)

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