Wakizashi sword

[Arheoleg]

Dear users, could you tell me please about an origin of this sword, its creation date and blacksmiths name. Sorry for my bad english. Im from russia

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Oleg,

Your sword is signed Dewa no Kami Hokyo Minamoto Mitsuhira.  Mitsuhira was a leading smith of the Ishido School; he worked in the mid 17th century.  My 1st real sword was by Mitsuhira; nice find.

Grey

[Arheoleg]

Greetings Grey Doffin.

Thanks a lot for your reply. If i've understood correctly, it was made by a guy, called Mitsushira in 17th century?

[Arheoleg]

And could you tell an approximate price for it

[Geraint]

Dear Oleg.

 

Welcome to NMB!  As Grey says, a nice find.  If you would like a guide price then a lot depends on the condition of the blade.  Can you show us pictures of the bare blade and give us the dimensions?

 

All the best.

[ROKUJURO]

1 hour ago, Arheoleg said:

Greetings Grey Doffin.

Thanks a lot for your reply. If i've understood correctly, it was made by a guy, called Mitsushira in 17th century?

Oleg,

if you want to do some research, the correct name is MITSUHIRA.

[Arheoleg]

1 hour ago, Geraint said:

Dear Oleg.

 

Welcome to NMB!  As Grey says, a nice find.  If you would like a guide price then a lot depends on the condition of the blade.  Can you show us pictures of the bare blade and give us the dimensions?

 

All the best.

I've got only this picture of the blade so far. But next days i'do some more photos and take the dimentions. Thanks a lot for your replies guys!

[Arheoleg]

Exuse me. One more question: could somebody tell me more exact translation of this signature, accurate date e.t.c.

[DoTanuki yokai]

If it is dated that would be placed on the other side of the nakago. 

[ROKUJURO]

Grey gave you the signature: Dewa no Kami Hokyo Minamoto Mitsuhira. That means: Swordmith MITSUHIRA from DEWA prefecture/province made this. Honorary title is KAMI (Lord of), family/clan name is MINAMOTO. Compare to https://www.aoijapan.net/katanakikumon-dewa-kami-hokyo-minamoto-mitsuhira/.

Production time seems to be early EDO period in case the signature is authentic (which is often not the case).

[SteveM]

出羽守法橋源光平

 

Dewa-no-kami Hokkyō Minamoto Mitsuhira

 

Dewa Province was a province in the far north of the main island of Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewa_Province

 

"Kami", as Jean says, is an honorary title granted to some swordsmiths. It usually translates into English as "Governor" or "Lord", but its really just an honorific. The title comes from far back in Japan's history, when it was actually applied to generals and warlords and administrative officials. By the time this sword was made, it had lost any administrative meaning. 

 

Hokkyō is a kind of rank given to people who are studying buddhism. It means the swordsmith was an aspiring buddhist priest.

 

Minamoto is a historical clan name. A name associated with a long, distinguished heritage. Whether or not this smith was actually related to the Minamoto clan is probably unknowable at this point. A lot of people, even powerful Daimyo, claimed to be related to the Minamoto clan so they could add some respectability to their own origin story, even if the evidence for such a connection was very thin. 

 

So, "Lord of Dewa Province, Hokkyō Minamoto Mitsuhira". 

[Arheoleg]

Thanks a lot Steve for such interesting  educational iformation. Thanks to you, i know almost all about this sword creator!

[Arheoleg]

I think this sword came to russia with one of soviet soldiers who fought in Japan in 1945. So many people like these swords, even soviet soldiers did. That thing attracts you like a magnet, and if you hold it, you cannot release it from your hands

[cisco-san]

Hi,

 

from Markus book:

MITSUHIRA (光平), Meireki (明暦, 1655-1658), Musashi – “Heianjō-jūnin Heki Dewa no Kami Minamoto Mitsuhira Bushū Edo-shō Akasaka ni oite tsukuru” (平安城住人日置出羽守源光平於武州江戸庄赤坂造, “made by Heki Dewa no Kami Minamoto Mitsuhira from Heianjō [= Kyōto] in Edo´s Akasaka in Musashi province”), “Heki Mitsuhira tsukuru” (日置光平造), “Heki Dewa no Kami Minamoto Mitsuhira” (日置出羽守源光平), “Minamoto Mitsuhira Nyūdō Hokkyō” (源光平入道法橋), “Taishin Hokkyō Minamoto Mitsunobu” (泰信法橋源 光平), “Dewa Nyūdō Taishin Hokkyō Mitsuhira” (出羽入道泰信法橋光平), Edo-Ishidō school, he came originally from the Gamō district (蒲生郡) of Ōmi province but moved later to Kyōto and subsequently to Edo, we know date signatures from the third year of Shōhō (正保, 1646) to the third year of Tenna (天和, 1683), one blade with the date of Shōhō five (1648) bears the signature “Bushū Edo ni oite” and the information “made at the age of 29,” this calculates his year of birth as Genna six (元和, 1620), regarding his honorary title Dewa no Kami, the earliest extant blade which is signed with that title is dated with the eighth month Jōō two (承応, 1653), he entered priesthood in the third year of Kanbun (寛文, 1663) and took the gō Taishin (泰信), he also signed his priest rank hokkyō, he focused on the Bizen-Ichimonji style, the jigane is a dense itame with a clearly visible midare-utsuri which comes quite close to the original, only the masame in the shinogi-ji identifies the jigane clearly as shintō work, the hamon is an excellently hardened chōji in nioi-deki which can also show ko-nie and which can be quite densely arranged, the bōshi is sugu with a ko-maru-kaeri, he signed occasionally with roundish characters and the family name Heki in a kind of seal script, he was the older brother of Tsushima no Kami Tsunemitsu (対馬守常光), jō-saku

 

[b.hennick]

Hi Steve:

I love that you did this:

出羽守法橋源光平

 

Dewa-no-kami Hokkyō Minamoto Mitsuhira

Any one who reads this knows exactly how kanji were translated. You just raised the benchmark. 

[Brian]

I missed that. You are right Barry. Steve, you did indeed just raise the bar

[cisco-san]

Yes great idea!!!!

出羽守法橋源光平

Dewa-no-kami Hokkyō Minamoto Mitsuhira