Jump to content

Miyochin fittings maker info requested.


brannow

Recommended Posts

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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/

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

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.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...