Learning to read

[Matting2]

What is the best way to learn to read the Mei? I have quickly discovered that google translate is useless. Are there online resources to smiths names and how to read dates and locations. I fascinated

how so many here can so quickly interpret the Mei.

[EdWolf]

Hi Mark,

The following site has some good info 

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kanji/kanji1.htm

[cju777]

Lots of practice looking at different mei. I’m nowhere near as good as many folks here, but I am a fan of @Grey Doffin’s flash cards to get a good foundation. 

[Brian]

Get Grey's flash cards

[Shugyosha]

Try to get a feel for the nuts and bolts of how kanji work in terms of stroke counts and radicals and try to read something every day. You’ll quickly improve. 

[Mark S.]

I also suggest you download Markus Sesko’s Nihonto Compendium located in the Research section at top of this site next to NMB logo.  Lots of good info and kanji listed by stroke count.  

[Mark S.]

I’ll make another suggestion to everyone who wants to learn more about stroke counts and the differences between formal/semi-formal/informal forms of writing and Japanese calligraphy.  The book is: Shodo - The Quiet Art of Japanese Zen Calligraphy written by Shozo Sato.  It is a VERY REASONABLY priced book for what you get.  Hardcover and beautifully put together.  While not directly related to Nihonto, it really is enlightening to see step by step how different kanji are written, the transition of the same kanji through the different forms, and how the strokes work and are counted.  The Zen aspect of the book is extremely interesting as well.
 

I have no monetary connection to the book.  However, the author was my chanoyu (tea ceremony) instructor for several years.  Such a wonderful person.  Sato Sensei excelled in chanoyu, kabuki dance, calligraphy, painting, ikebana, etc.   I highly recommend any other books he has written… I have them all.

[Peter Bleed]

Lots of good advice here, - and I will be marked as a moss-back old timer, BUT I still believe that there is great utility in scanning the character sections of John Yumoto's book. And once you have a feeling for how to count stroke. Robinson's wonderful character chart if very useful.

Peter

[PietroParis]

This site is also useful, you can identify a kanji starting from the "radicals" it contains:

 

https://jisho.org/

[Toryu2020]

From a moss-backed old timer...

Learn the nengo

Learn the Ju-nishi

Learn the provinces

Learn the common kanji used in swordmaker names (Yumoto)

Learn the common order for information in signatures (Place, title, family name, artist name...)

 

It is actually not that much to memorize compared to the amount of kanji one needs to read a newspaper. Besides the above when I asked Fukunaga Sensei what was the best way to learn to read mei he answered "Study Calligraphy" (as suggested above...)

 

-t

[Peter Bleed]

Tom makes a very good point. The first step in learning to read characters is learning what characters you have to read. Look at lots of tangs  and see how they are laid out. Almost all the time, what you need to start with is the last two characters (well, mebbe the last three). And of those two, the place to start is the first one. That is the one to go to work on. In general, it is more useful to begin by counting strokes - every line/dot is one , oh and sometimes what looks like two line is only one.

To approach all this go vist other collectors. Looks at swords. Page thru sword books translating as you go.

Peter

[Bruce Pennington]

I like @IanB’s article Reading Signatures  in the Member Downloads.

[Kanenaga]

Self, J and Hirose, N:  Japanese Art Signatures.  Bamboo Publishing Ltd., London, 1987.

 

This little book seems not to be very well known, but it's my go-to for translating mei.  It doesn't deal with stroke count, instead teaches image-recognition based on radicals, and is focused specifically and exclusively on signatures, so it deals with a (somewhat) restricted range of kanji.  In addition to the actual artnames, it has very helpful sections on how to analyze a signature, and on how to read numbers, dates, places, ages, family/clan names, and titles.  Most of the content is relevant to swords, though it does pay attention also to metal workers, lacquer artists, and netsuke carvers. 

 

It was OOP for a long time, and hard to find, but it was reprinted in softcover in 2006. Not dirt cheap, but recommended if, like me, you are image-oriented and mainly want to learn about reading signatures. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Art-Signatures-Handbook-Practical/dp/1891640097

[Bruce Pennington]

8 hours ago, Kanenaga said:

reprinted in softcover in 2006

Thanks Les, just ordered it!

[Sunny]

On 8/25/2021 at 5:28 AM, Matting2 said:

What is the best way to learn to read the Mei? I have quickly discovered that google translate is useless. Are there online resources to smiths names and how to read dates and locations. I fascinated

how so many here can so quickly interpret the Mei.

I stared at the internet for 2 hours to 10 hours a day for a year 

Looking at everything 

I’m a visual person though and I just have to see it once and that’s it

I mostly look at old swords though

i say test yourself 

look at the mei and go through every single picture and article on the web

till you find part of it 

someone writing about it

soon subconsciously you’ll say the name when you see it 

I brainwashed myself into Japanese sword identification 

I have and will always have a long ways to go

Don’t get overwhelmed 

That’s what I did 

Brians flash card idea 💡 is great too
Everyone has good ideas

[Surfson]

You have gotten lots of great advice.  I also endorse the order of priority that Tom advises.  Finally, when it comes to names, a very good general book for translations based on stroke count is Koop and Inada.   Japanese Names and How to Read Them.

[PietroParis]

1 hour ago, Surfson said:

Finally, when it comes to names, a very good general book for translations based on stroke count is Koop and Inada.   Japanese Names and How to Read Them.

 

I case anybody doesn't know it yet, that book is available for free here:

https://archive.org/details/japanesenameshow00koopuoft
 

[PNSSHOGUN]

This is very helpful as you can write what you see: https://kanji.sljfaq.org/

[Matting2]

Thank you all for the great information. I know that I have a lot to learn on my new quest. I appreciate all of the support that I have received from everyone on this site. The welcoming nature and effort at teaching a newbie about Nihonto has been unbelievable and welcome. Thank you all for all that you do and thank you Brian for running it. A donation to help with the effort will be coming soon.