Question: Regarding Tanto Mei. Were dates used without mei?

[nihonto1001]

Hopefully somebody can shed light on this. Were tanto ever inscribed with just the date in place of, or excluding, the mei? Just curious if anyone has ever come across nakago with just the date inscribed.

 

Since the same kanji can be used for date, name, or province, I wonder if they can ever be confused.

 

Jon

[reinhard]

Provide us with an example, please. It will help us to understand what you are talking about.

 

reinhard

[george trotter]

Hi Jon,

I have never seen an inscription that is just the date, with no mei above it or on the other side of the tang.

I have seen inscriptions where there is a two character mei, followed immediately by the smith's age: eg (I'm making this name up) "Masazane roku jyu sai" which would translate as "Masazane 60 years of age".

Such an inscription, with heavy age/rust, could conceiveably be confused with a nengo and year.

Otherwise, I would have to say that I have never seen a date, but no signature. It would suggest that the mei has been removed?

Regards,

George Trotter

[nihonto1001]

Thanks for your replies.

 

I should have been more clear. Actually, I am referring to time period, not a specific date. I.E., Shocho (1428-1429) could also be read Masanaga 正長. Althought this is a purely contrived example, it gets the point accross. Did a smith ever sign with just the time period and nothing else? It does not sound like it.

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

[reinhard]

Did a smith ever sign with just the time period and nothing else?

 

No, they didn't. But it was said before that some mei were deliberately removed (mostly for commercial reasons). - There is a magnificent naginata (juyo token) in Europe, obviously made by Bizen MOTOSHIGE and with full-length nakago, but the mei (including the maker's name) was removed a long time ago. The traces of the removal can still be seen. All that's left is a nengo dating from 1343. Unfortunately this practice started a long time ago and some very precious informations are lost forever by now.

 

reinhard