Help Requested on Mei and Nengo

[tbonesullivan]

This is what we've been told is a stainless steel Type 98, with a leather covered wood scabbard.  The "signature" on the blade is a bit strange though, and looking at the usual Kanji charts I can only identify "本 金" in the Mei, which also is not on the usual side of the blade. It almost looks like a dedication, and the condition of the tang is pretty suspect.

 

The date is normal except for the year number, which looks like some combination of 十 and another Character.

 

Any help would be most appreciated. I'm stumped.

[SteveM]

洛陽千本金剛鍛錬所    囗囗

Rakuyō senbon kongō tanren-jō, then possibly a signature after this, but I can't make it out as it is written in a highly stylized version. 

Maybe 正貞 (Masasada?)

 

This would be the name of the forge where the sword was made, but I can't find any reference to this forge.

Presumably it is located in Kyōto (Rakuyō is another word for Kyōto).  

 

Date: 

昭和廿年七月日

Shōwa 20 (1945), July

This, it goes without saying, would be an extremely late date for a WW2 sword. But the late date may also explain why the sword is in such pristine condition. 

 

Maybe Bruce or one of the other guys has heard of this forge. 

 

[tbonesullivan]

3 hours ago, SteveM said:

洛陽千本金剛鍛錬所    囗囗

Rakuyō senbon kongō tanren-jō, then possibly a signature after this, but I can't make it out as it is written in a highly stylized version. 

Maybe 正貞 (Masasada?)

 

This would be the name of the forge where the sword was made, but I can't find any reference to this forge.

Presumably it is located in Kyōto (Rakuyō is another word for Kyōto).  

 

Thanks so much! I honestly had never seen the 廿 character for 20 before. I would also agree on Masa 正 being the first character. The second, I know I've seen that before, I just can't remember which sword I looked at before has it.  Maybe 久 HISA?

[Bruce Pennington]

17 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

never seen the 廿 character for 20 before

I've seen it 3 or 4 times, and it tricks me every time!

 

David, could you show a clear shot of the same'?  Is it fabric or canvas?  I have a mumei, stainless, Takayama-to, with similar fittings.  I was bothered by how new it looked and that the leather was brown, not died black like they were supposed to be.  But yours, while there are differences, is quite similar.  I'm thinking now, that mine was probably in the same time period - late 1945.

 

Here's a shot of mine:

 

and the canvas same'

 

Takayama tip:

[tbonesullivan]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I've seen it 3 or 4 times, and it tricks me every time!

 

David, could you show a clear shot of the same'?  Is it fabric or canvas?  I have a mumei, stainless, Takayama-to, with similar fittings.  I was bothered by how new it looked and that the leather was brown, not died black like they were supposed to be.  But yours, while there are differences, is quite similar.  I'm thinking now, that mine was probably in the same time period - late 1945.

 

The Same actually is black ray skin, probably faux. It looks like it was painted, and the paint has worn away inside the Kabuto-gane. I haven't seen that very often.

[Stephen]

Or snake skin.

[tbonesullivan]

On 12/2/2021 at 10:38 AM, Stephen said:

Or snake skin.

It is really rough for snake skin, so I definitely think it's Ray skin.

 

I think on the signature I'm going to declare the second character to be 久 and move on. It's not like I'll ever find information on that smith anyway. It definitely looks to be a three stroke cursive kanji, so I can't think of any others that would be in that shape. Only 之 would be as simple, but the shape doesn't really match up in terms of stroke order.

[SteveM]

It's definitely not Hisa.

I think given the very specific location, and given that we know at least a bit of info most of the smiths from this era, I would for now say "It's Masa-something", and just wait for a better reader of these things to chime in. 

[SteveM]

Hisa (久) in grass-script looks more like the following

 

[tbonesullivan]

49 minutes ago, SteveM said:

It's definitely not Hisa.

I think given the very specific location, and given that we know at least a bit of info most of the smiths from this era, I would for now say "It's Masa-something", and just wait for a better reader of these things to chime in. 

 

I even googled the hell out of it, and found a picture with two forms of it in the lower right, taunting me.

[SteveM]

That is a chart showing the Japanese script known as "hentaigana" - its a further step away from grass script. The particular characters you are thinking about are (I think) the ones in the red box - but these are highly abbreviated versions of the character 支, which isn't a character in the mei on your sword. 

 

 

 

Coincidentally, it also shows the abbreviated versions of 久, which are the ones in the blue box. 

[Bugyotsuji]

The son and successor to 正次　was 正幸 who made swords in Kyōto until WWII. (?)

http://www.mus-his.city.osaka.jp/education/publication/kenkyukiyo/pdf/no13/BOMH13_11.pdf

[tbonesullivan]

On 12/7/2021 at 2:03 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

The son and successor to 正次　was 正幸 who made swords in Kyōto until WWII. (?)

http://www.mus-his.city.osaka.jp/education/publication/kenkyukiyo/pdf/no13/BOMH13_11.pdf

Thanks! The character 幸 looks like it can be read as YUKI or YOSHI? 

[SteveM]

Piers I think you got it! 正幸　(Masayuki)

http://akarinoya.blog.fc2.com/img/20160104qPU9MEWw

 

[tbonesullivan]

WOOHOO!!! Thanks so much! I remember reading that for "common" Kanji they would use a very simplified version, with the idea that everyone would know what it was. It's great if you know all of the shorthand, but if you don't....