Help with mei on a kai gunto

[paul griff]

Hello,

         I would welcome any advice as to the correct translation of the mei on a kai - gunto recently purchased......My attempt  has come up with : Chikushu Yanagawa Ju Yoshikuni ? ....Being absolutely useless at reading  mei  any advice on whether this is correct would be greatly appreciated....

                                                                                                                                                                                              Kind Regards,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Paul....

[Stephen]

Looking under Yoshikuni.

YOSHIKUNI (吉国), 1 st gen., Genna (元和, 1615-1624), Chikugo – “Chikushū Onizuka Yoshikuni” (筑州鬼塚 吉国), “Onizuka Yoshikuni” (鬼塚吉国), “Chikushū Yanagawa-jū Onizuka Yoshiuki” (筑州柳川住鬼塚吉国), he came originally from Tanagura (棚倉) in Mutsu province, he followed according to tradition Tachibana Muneshige (立花宗茂, 1567-1643), the daimyō of the Tanagura fief, to Yanagawa in Awa province when Muneshige was transferred there in the sixth year of Genna (1620), there exists a blade with the date signature of the second month Kei´an three (慶安, 1650) and the information “made at the age of 77,” this calculates Tenshō two (天正, 1574) as his year of birth, later smiths of this school revived the name “Onizuka Yoshikuni” towards the end of the Edo period because the blades of this lineage enjoyed a great reputation as being very sharp and durable, in general the workmanship of the Onizuka school resembles that of Hizen Tadayoshi (忠吉) but can not compete in terms of artistic approach and aesthetics, the sugata is stout, has a shallow sori, and a thick kasane, the jigane looks hard and the the jihada is a ko-itame mixed with masame, the hamon is like ay Hizen Tadayoshi a chū-suguha but has lesser and not so uniformly appearing nie, mostly also some knot-shaped midare elements can be seen along the monouchi, wazamono, jō-saku YOSHIKUNI (吉国), 2 nd gen., Kan´ei (寛永, 1624-1644), Chikugo – “Chikushū Yanagawa-jū Onizuka Yoshikuni” (筑州柳川住鬼塚吉国), “Chikugo Kurume-jū Onizuka Shigekuni” (筑後久留米住鬼塚茂国), “Yanagawa-jū Onizuka Shigekuni” (柳川住鬼塚茂国), “Onizuka Yoshikuni” (鬼塚吉国), he signed in early years with Shigekuni (茂国), dense itame mixed with mokume and masame, gunome-midare, or suguha mixed with ko-notare in nie-deki with a wide nioiguchi, in the case of a flamboyant ō-midare also sunagashi occur, also the blades of the 2nd gen. resemble Hizen-tō, the bōshi has a komaru-kaeri but can also be a kaen with hakikake YOSHIKUNI (吉国), 3 rd gen., Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Chikugo – “Chikushū Yanagawa-jū Onizuka Yoshikuni” (筑州柳川住鬼塚吉国), “Chikugo Kurume-jū Onizuka Fujiwara Yoshikuni” (筑後久留米住鬼塚藤原吉国), suguha, gunome-midare, notare YOSHIKUNI (吉国), Keiō (慶応, 1865-1868), Chikugo – “

 

Nice smoke oshigata!!

Edited February 18, 2021 by Stephen

[paul griff]

Hello Stephen,

                         Thank you for that, very much appreciated......I used really old candles following the advice from a late collector /friend ....

Regards,

              Paul..

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Paul,

Smoke oshigata are not a good idea; the carbon (soot) can become part of the nakago's patina, changing it from what it was before.  Better to use oshigata paper and the ink stone; it leaves nothing behind and, with a bit of effort, does a much nicer job.

Grey

[paul griff]

Hello Grey,

                   Thank you for that.....learning all the time.....

        Best Regards,

                                Paul..

[Bruce Pennington]

That's a really nice kai, Paul.  Did it come with the tassel and retention cord?  The retention cord is fairly rare.

[paul griff]

Hello Bruce,

                     Yes , bought it as it is complete with knot and cord.....Couldn’t resist buying it...my photo’s don’t do it justice.... ! Blade   has a nagasa of 21 inches with a lovely notare midare hamon...

Regards,

               Paul..