New acquisition, need help please

[drb 1643]

Hi everyone, this is a new gendaito that I just picked up in shirasaya. I have the date as December 1935, but am having trouble as in lost when it comes to the swordsmith. Can someone please translate the mei?

 Thank you very much,

Tom

[kyushukairu]

The mei is Nōshū jū Akinobu (濃州住亮信)

[SteveM]

And I think the year is 昭和十八年　(Shōwa 18), so 1943. 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I don't see a "Akinobu" on the RJT list, which actually does happen on rare occasion.  Are we completely comfortable with "Aki"?  @SteveM?  What about Sukenobu: 亮信 (Sukenobu)?  He's on the list: Noshu (no) ju Sukenobu

[SteveM]

I'm not sure but I think he's in Markus's book as Akinobu, with the reading of "Sukenobu" listed as an alternate reading . (Actually, I think I read that here on NMB..). I know if you search on the internet you will find sources listing both readings. And I think on the "Oshigata of WW2 Smiths" site you will find him under Sukenobu. Need to dig a bit more on this one. 

[Bruce Pennington]

Slough doesn't have either.  NihontoClub doesn't have a 'Akinobu' but they often don't have smiths I'm looking for; but they do have this on 'Sukenobu':

濃州関住土岐亮信

nōshū seki ju toki sukenobu

 

And here's a Jan '44 Sukenobu from one of @mecox' articles, citing Fuller & Gregory:

 

[SteveM]

Here is the NMB post I saw on this

 

excerpt from Markus's book (originally posted by Klaus).

 

AKINOBU (亮信), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Akinobu” (亮信), “Nōshū Seki-jū Toki Akinobu saku” (濃州関住土岐亮信作), real name Toki Yūichi (土岐雄一), born January 2nd 1907, student of Kanenobu (兼延), died May 14th 1993, he was working as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō and member of the local Seki Tōken, PLC (関刀剣), he is also listed under the reading “Sukenobu”.

 

Ohmura calls him Sukenobu. I don't know if we'll ever get a definitive answer on this. He may always be known as "Akinobu, a.k.a. Sukenobu".

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

6 minutes ago, SteveM said:

Here is the NMB post I saw

Perfect, Steve, thanks!  Seems there were a number of smiths that did this during the war.

[drb 1643]

Thank you all very much, great information! It's very interesting how some smiths had aliases. As far as the date goes I thought those two little ticks were part of the next kanji. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Tom

[PNSSHOGUN]

There is also another Akinobu, ranked Jo Saku:

 

幡野 昭信 (Hatano Akinobu)

[Bruno]

On 2/8/2022 at 12:53 PM, drb 1643 said:

Thank you all very much, great information! It's very interesting how some smiths had aliases. As far as the date goes I thought those two little ticks were part of the next kanji. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Tom

Tom,

 

Do you mind posting photos of the hamon please? Also nagasa (length)?

 

Thanks

[drb 1643]

Hi Bruno, here are the pictures you requested. The nagasa is 26.25 inches 

[drb 1643]

Two more.

Tom

[Sunny]

50 minutes ago, drb 1643 said:

Two more.

Tom

Very cool hamon ..thanks for sharing the pics ....I can imagine it in full new polish and it would be amazing.

Cheers  

[Bruno]

Thanks Tom. Indeed the hamon looks well controlled. 

 

To me, the Kanenobu, Sukenobu, Mitsunobu trio made good blades.

 

A bit sad the nakago has been cleaned and the blade acid enhanced though.