Sayagaki - not sure on a couple characters

[cju777]

A bit hectic lately and have not been on NMB much... trying to get back into things so taking a shot at a Tanobe sayagaki translated on one of my swords. @Ray Singer has done much of the initial grunt work and I’ve added in a few parts. Red sections are where I am not sure I for it correct. I have Chinese language, so that helps to recognize the characters and radicals, but reads like gibberish to me, and I know one stroke or radical can throw the whole character off.

 

Would be interested if the formal writing has any “read between the lines” context but can also save that for a post in the Nihonto section. Let me know if I am off to a good start with the right characters at least to dive into the deeper meaning, if any, when I get some time. As always many thanks to the help from the board! Any yes... I know I need to get cracking with my set of flashcards I got off @Grey Doffin

and finally learn some more.

 

*I know the common terms we use among ourselves, itame, maru, suguha, hakikake, etc... left them for the most part when I wrote the English parts out.

備後國古三原
Bingo kuni Ko-Mihara

Ko-Mihara of Bingo

 

大磨上無銘也
Ō-suriage mumei nari

Cut shortened, without signature

 

白氣映ノ立ッ板目ノ肌合ニ匂口ノ渧マル小沸来ノ直刃ヲ焼キ沺カニホッレガ洛彡
shirake no tatsu o itame no hada-ai ni nioiguchi no tei maru ko-nie-deki no suguha o yaki qiang kanihorrega raku ga marami

??? hada of itame, nioguchi, and suguha of small nie deki ??? ??? straight blade?

 

帽子ガ丸ノ掃掛クテ稍深ク 返ルナド  
boshi ga maru no hakikake ku te yahukaku ku kaeru nado

Boshi ga?-maru of hakikake ??? deep ???

 

南北朝期ノ同派ノ特色ヲ示ス優品也
Nanbokuchō-ki no dōkō no tokushoku o shimesu yuhin nari

Nanbokucho characteristics and workmanship are shown

 

長さ弐尺壱寸九分弱

Nagasa 2 shaku 1 sun 9 bu jaku

Length 2 shaku 1 sun 9 bu

 

寸在己亥厝霜月

Jizai Kigai Shimotsuki

[jizai? assume signed/dated] November 2019 (Yeah... took me awhile to realize it was the Sexagenarian calendar)

End with his signature and Kao.

 

[ROKUJURO]

Chris,

that looks a bit like the GENJI-MONOGATARI on the SAYA!

[cju777]

13 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Chris,

that looks a bit like the GENJI-MONOGATARI on the SAYA!

That's why I'm glad Ray took the first crack at it and narrowed down for me areas to focus on, haha.

It does look great when I have it out on the stand.

[SteveM]

白氣映ノ立ツ板目ノ肌合ニ匂口ノ締マル小沸出来ノ直刃ヲ焼キ細カニホッレガ絡ミ
Shirakeutsuri (also spelled shirekeutsuri) -no-tatsu itame no hada-ai ni nioiguchi no shimaru ko-nie-deki no suguha wo yaki hosokani hotsure ga karami

 

帽子ガ丸ク掃掛ケテ稍深ク返ルナド  
boshi ga maruku hakikakete yaya fukaku kaeru nado

 

南北朝期ノ同派ノ特色ヲ示ス優品也
Nanbokuchō-ki no dōha no tokushoku wo shimesu yuhin nari

時在己亥暦霜月

 

I'm not sure if he is just abbreviating the kanji 時, or if he is using a variant like 时. You can notice that the longer he writes sayagaki, the more confident and almost literary he becomes, often using a kanbun phrase (the date in this sayagaki), or unusual kanji rather than the standard kanji. This is evident with the use of 稍 as well. It is a seldom-used kanji meaning "somewhat" or "slightly". Also, note the difference between the big ツ and small ッ which can also cause confusion. 

 

You got most of it right, but a few things threw you off which (as you said) make the whole a bit difficult. The verbs and adverbs are accompanied by okurigana, so if you don't know you are looking at a verb (絡み) or an adverb (丸く) you are sort of guessing at the meaning. Of course, with kanji, you can often make a good guess at the meaning, but sometimes you can be way off. 

 

No need to look for hidden meanings in these sayagaki. I think its an honest, straightforward appraisal of the sword. Congratulations. 

 

[cju777]

54 minutes ago, SteveM said:

No need to look for hidden meanings in these sayagaki. I think its an honest, straightforward appraisal of the sword. Congratulations. 

 

Steve,

 

That's awesome, thank you so much. Makes a lot more sense now when I look up the characters. It's like when I used to have to go from modern to classical Chinese... almost a whole other language at times. I'll need to work on the finer strokes, this will help flag those for me for sure.

 

Cheers,

Chris