Miyochin fittings maker info requested.

[brannow]

Hi Guys,

 

A month or so ago I bought I nice tanto with nice iron fittings.  I no longer have many books on tosogu so I'm wondering if there is any information on this maker.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Bill, 

this is a KOGATANA with KOZUKA, not a TANTO.

The blade looks very recently made, the KOZUKA may be older. I think the MEI reads MYOCHIN MUNEYASU, but I have no records of this artist having made KOZUKA. This name is more known as armour maker.

[Brian]

Jean, Bill is a looongtime collector and dealer. I'm 100% sure he knows this isn't the tanto (an understandable misunderstanding) but I expect he means this came fitted to the tanto.

[IanB]

Myochin Muneyasu was a Bakamatsu smith who ran a workshop / training centre in Edo. he published a diary in which he recorded some of his commissions as well as details of the pupils he took on. I am fortunate in having an armour by one such pupil, a Ki Yasukiyo, who stated on the dou, helmet, mask and kote that he was Muneyasu's pupil. From the diary I have calculated he was 19 when he travelled from Nagato to Edo where he stayed only three years so he must have been taught the basics in Nagato, being sent to Edo to learn the latest fashions.

Ian Bottomley

[uwe]

Yes Ian!

 

But how can we put it together with "應需" ("Ôju", ....if I have it right at all)?

[Pete Klein]

Scanned from Haynes Index and Wakayama TKMT:

 

I hope this helps.

[IanB]

Uwe,  According to Koop and Inada, 應需 can be read motome meaning to the special order of  川路君  -  read as Mr.Kawamichi.

Ian

[SteveM]

應需 川路君

 

Could also be Kawaji. In any event, a fairly rare last name. 

 

Kawaji-kun no motome ni ōjite

 

應需　 is kanbun, but as Ian says, it means "made for" or "made to order for". Markus also has an article that touches on this.

https://markussesko.com/2013/02/17/about-the-correct-translation-of-certain-sword-signatures/

[IanB]

Markus never fails to impress by his erudition. My knowledge of Japanese grammar, and the complexities of word order when read, is so minimal it could be written on the back of a stamp but somehow the sense seems to get through. Returning to the object in question, it is remarkable that Muneyasu would undertake such a minor commission as a kozuka. Perhaps Mr. Kawaji (or Kawamichi) was quite important. As I said, he was running what amounted to a 'finishing school' for armourers as well as turning out armours himself. The signatures on my armour are quite definite about Muneyasu being Yasukiyo's teacher yet the diary states the pupils were actually taught by a Munechika and the mask on my armour is an exact copy of two others I have seen signed by Munechika and are quite different from those signed by Muneyasu. So, it looks as if Muneyasu's workshop was a busy enterprise with quite a few involved in manufacture and teaching.

Ian Bottomley

[uwe]

I also had “Mr. Kawaji”, but missed the reading “motome”. That left it fairly confusing to me......

 

Thanks Ian/Steve!

 

PS: Time to buy Koop-Inada, Ian...

[Guest]

Hi Bill,

 

The Kamon is called: Kikou Ni Mitsuboshi (Three stars within a six sided turtle shell lozenge)

 

[brannow]

Jean,  This is the Kozuka for the Tanto koshirae!  I am not saying its the tanto! 

 

Bill

 

Bill, 

this is a KOGATANA with KOZUKA, not a TANTO.

The blade looks very recently made, the KOZUKA may be older. I think the MEI reads MYOCHIN MUNEYASU, but I have no records of this artist having made KOZUKA. This name is more known as armour maker.

 

[brannow]

Thanks guys!  Here is the whole koshirae and blade which are both quite nice.  Unfortunately the Koshirae is missing the tsuba and menki.

 

Bill

 

 

[lonely panet]

could that be a gassen blade?

[brannow]

Hamfish,  It is a possibility.  I would love to polish and paper it but I have too many other biggies in the pipeline.

 

Bill

[Brian]

That would make an awesome restoration project. Really has potential.