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Katana Translation


Smelon

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Good afternoon all,

 

Long time lurker and first time poster. Having tried, using the amazing resources here, to translate the kanji on this tang, I am a bit stumped. A would really appreciate any help on this. 

 

So far I have:

十 - 10

九 - 9

 

I would really appreciate any help with the rest.

 

tang.jpg.8fa6a179dc4c00c33cfc1622e6c14e9f.jpg

 

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Hello Scott,

So far you are correct. If you have 10 + 9 (or almost any other numbers), you should be thinking, "this must be a date". And if you suspect its a date, the kanji before the numbers are very likely an era name. (And the kanji behind the numbers is equally predictable). Given that it’s probably a date, and given the very choppy inscription style, hopefully you can get one side of the tang. 

 

The name on the opposite side is slightly more tricky. (If you have the date, you can very likely guess what the first kanji of the other side might be, since it is a kanji that is very common to swordsmiths of this era/location.)

 

 

 

 

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36 minutes ago, SteveM said:

Hello Scott,

So far you are correct. If you have 10 + 9 (or almost any other numbers), you should be thinking, "this must be a date". And if you suspect its a date, the kanji before the numbers are very likely an era name. (And the kanji behind the numbers is equally predictable). Given that it’s probably a date, and given the very choppy inscription style, hopefully you can get one side of the tang. 

 

The name on the opposite side is slightly more tricky. (If you have the date, you can very likely guess what the first kanji of the other side might be, since it is a kanji that is very common to swordsmiths of this era/location.)

 

 

 

 

Hello Steve,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for your help. And for pointing me in the right direction. Am I heading in the right direction with the below?

昭和 - Shôwa

十 - 10

九 - 9

I am unsure of the last kanji on this side. It sort of look like 作 Saku? 

I haven't even started on the other side yet...

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Scott and Marco are right with the Era name. And Marco got the 年 (year) on the end of the date. 

If you look at the tang and think, "how will I ever pick out these kanji out of the 10,000 to 20,000 kanji in use in Japan", it is quite daunting. But if you look at it knowing there is a good chance one of the inscriptions is a date, it narrows the focus to a huge degree. If you are looking at a modern sword, your focus gets narrowed even more, and the task becomes a lot less daunting. 

 

Names require a bit more practice, but this too is made a lot simpler if you know that most names are a two-kanji composite, with a lot of the same kanji popping up over and over again. In this case, the first kanji of the name is 兼 (Kane) which has to be one of the top 3 kanji in use for swordsmith names, and very commonly found in names of Mino (aka Gifu, Nōshū, Seki) smiths. WW2 blades often come from the Gifu/Mino area, so Kane is quite common on WW2 blades. 

 

The second kanji of the name on this sword is sort of an intermediate/advanced level kanji, not because it is unusual, rather it is made difficult by the inscribers' very cursive style. The kanji has been greatly reduced or abbreviated from its normal, printed form. 

 

Spoiler

兼武 Kanetake 

 

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13 hours ago, SteveM said:

Scott and Marco are right with the Era name. And Marco got the 年 (year) on the end of the date. 

If you look at the tang and think, "how will I ever pick out these kanji out of the 10,000 to 20,000 kanji in use in Japan", it is quite daunting. But if you look at it knowing there is a good chance one of the inscriptions is a date, it narrows the focus to a huge degree. If you are looking at a modern sword, your focus gets narrowed even more, and the task becomes a lot less daunting. 

 

Names require a bit more practice, but this too is made a lot simpler if you know that most names are a two-kanji composite, with a lot of the same kanji popping up over and over again. In this case, the first kanji of the name is 兼 (Kane) which has to be one of the top 3 kanji in use for swordsmith names, and very commonly found in names of Mino (aka Gifu, Nōshū, Seki) smiths. WW2 blades often come from the Gifu/Mino area, so Kane is quite common on WW2 blades. 

 

The second kanji of the name on this sword is sort of an intermediate/advanced level kanji, not because it is unusual, rather it is made difficult by the inscribers' very cursive style. The kanji has been greatly reduced or abbreviated from its normal, printed form. 

 

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兼武 Kanetake 

 

Good morning Steve,

 

Thanks for taking the time to break down the process and for all the tips. Super helpful! I learnt a lot in the process too!

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