Meaning of Kanji and Katakana on fittings

[PNSSHOGUN]

Seeking some help to make sense of the following found on all Seppa and also on a small section of the Saya liner. Am familiar with Kanji or numbers but Katakana is somewhat new and I'm not sure how to transliterate them (is it a name or phrase?). 

 

シノツカヨト

 

Next are these Kanji in an ink stamp, I have another sword with a similar stamp but different Kanji (Shimada (嶋田)).

 

柄順

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

柄 means hilt, grip, handle, haft, etc.

順 means (in) order as in 1,2,3 or a,b,c…

 

Would it be possible to see an example of the katakana lettering? Do we read from left or right, and do we break it up into words? There are several possibilities from either direction, but nothing immediately obvious. 
 

Tsuka could be 柄 as above… and ノ could be part of a name like Shino, or it could be the preposition ‘of’.
 

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thank you once again Piers, they are diabolical to photograph but the Fuchi shows them well enough. 

 

They are in roughly the below format with each Seppa mixing up where "ト" appears, sometimes being directly below "ヨ":

 

ト     シ

         ノ

         ツ

         カ

         ヨ

[John C]

John:

I think phonetically it is: to  si

                                              no

                                              tu

                                              ka

                                              yo

But what that means, I have no idea.

 

John C.

[SteveM]

Its a surname - Shinozuka 篠塚. The ヨ (Yo) would be the first part of the given name. Yosuke or Yoichi, etc. 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Agreed. 

'Yo' could be the artisan's mark.

 

Sometimes you see face alignment marks for the order of tsuba, seppa and tsuka.

[PNSSHOGUN]

The ヨ (Yo) character is connected to the other characters on all fittings but the "ト" is often disconnected and is the only character to appear on the Tsuba.

 

There was a Lt. General Shinozuka Yoshio (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/篠塚義男) but that would be a little ambitious until further research... It came with an old bag with very faded writing, if it can be deciphered that will solve the mystery.

 

Once again very much appreciate all of your help.

[Bugyotsuji]

Well ’Yo’ fits nicely with Yoshio, John. Keep the possibility open!

 

So where's this bag? 

[Kiipu]

On 10/23/2023 at 2:12 AM, PNSSHOGUN said:

シノツカヨト

 

A minor correction in that the third character down is ヅ.  Note the two tick marks in the upper right corner.

Dakuten and handakuten

[PNSSHOGUN]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:52 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

Well ’Yo’ fits nicely with Yoshio, John. Keep the possibility open!

 

So where's this bag? 

Hi Piers, well therein lies the mischief. Wondering if it needs to be investigated by some sort of forensic laboratory as it could be Kanji or english. 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Aaarrrggghhhh… no, I take it all back, John!

 

Actually it does look like a typical three-line address in Japanese, down to the house number, owner name too(?).

 

定本 Sadamoto?

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Thank you Piers, I'll see if I can work out a way to manipulate the lighting/contrast more.

[robinalexander]

[Bryce]

G'day John,

The tsuka of my 1938 Gassan Sadakatsu has the same kanji.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[robinalexander]

20 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Actually it does look like a typical three-line address in Japanese, down to the house number, owner name too(?).

Wow ...you guys must have x-ray vision! .....'looking' fwd to your next installment because I certainly cant see anything on the bag 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Have a gander like this… 

 

PS I also see pyramids and faces on Mars.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Piers, you have no idea how much I appreciate these efforts. I attempted some 300DPI scans but they didn't really come out any better.

 

Negative view seems to make it slightly clearer

 

[robinalexander]

John I really have no idea but would ultraviolet yield anything else?

[ckaiserca]

As Rob said above, perhaps UV light will reveal more...

[Bryce]

G'day Guys,

I noticed that in the past, Neil has posted some Yasukunito with Suya fittings that also have scratchings on the tsuba and seppa. My Gassan Sadakatsu with Suya fittings has Gassan scratched on them. In this case could the scratching be shorthand for Yasumitsu maybe? Perhaps if other Yasukunito owners could check their gunto fittings we may be able to decipher this?

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Bryce, the scratchings are usually the owners surname and I've seen/owned a few that follow this pattern. Sometimes they are Japanese numbers, your example does seem to be unique in having the smiths name.

 

I did try with UV light but my dinky UV torch is not powerful enough to do much.

[Bryce]

G'day John,

Mine isn't unique. Here is another example I found on the net. It would be good to see other examples of Suya fittings with known blades. I guess they may have used the blade maker sometimes and the owner at other times?

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[robinalexander]

3 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

I did try with UV light but my dinky UV torch is not powerful enough to do much.

I will put my larger UV torch on the list to bring over next trip.  If mystery is not solved by then (don't make it too fast...I'm enjoying this!)

[Kiipu]

@vajo Photography help & tips?

[vajo]

Hard to say Thomas. 

Look not directly on the picture, more from the side. 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Here is one more sword with similar characters on the fittings, also with the Suya stamp

 

On all the fittings:

マツサキ - Matsusaki

 

In very faint ink under the Fuchi:

丙/両貞 - Hei/Ryōsada?

 

It looks suspiciously like the Kanji above with the left parts missing.... 柄順 ?

 

 

[Bryce]

G'day John,

I agree, I think it is the same ink stamp.

Cheers,

Bryce

[vajo]

Looks really similar to me.