Yukihiro Posted February 7 Report Share Posted February 7 This is in no way nihonto-related but, as a matter of fact, I feel I have reached an impasse as to the interpretation of what I think should be a painted number on the nakago of my gunto. Its fittings all bear the number 10 together with a Japanese character (ス= su?), so maybe the yellow painted characters are somehow related to them? At any rate, the yellow characters were deemed "unreadable/illegible" by other Japanese sword experts... There are many possible interpretations, among them maybe "formal" 10: 拾 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukihiro Posted February 10 Author Report Share Posted February 10 Actually, all I would need to know is whether the yellow painted numbers/characters could possibly be read as ス拾 , that is "su" + "formal 10". That way I would know for sure that the blade and the koshirae have been together since 1941 Regards, Didier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiipu Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 The only thing I see is yellow paint. Not much more I can do with this one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukihiro Posted February 10 Author Report Share Posted February 10 Thank you all the same for your reply, Thomas. I shall try to figure out by myself what the numbers or characters can be, then 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pennington Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 Now that I see the "SU" on your seppa & tsuba, I could easily see a sloppy Su 10 in that paint. It's missing the back "leg" of the Su, but like I say, it's sloppy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukihiro Posted February 10 Author Report Share Posted February 10 Thank you very much indeed, Bruce! I am nonetheless very surprised that there should be a 10 in Arabic numerals on the nakago, as, most of the time, they seem to be in kanji. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwe Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 Unfortunately, pure guesswork here! Bruce tried something, but the fact that non of our wizards jumped in might mean something… 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pennington Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 10 hours ago, Yukihiro said: Thank you very much indeed, Bruce! I am nonetheless very surprised that there should be a 10 in Arabic numerals on the nakago, as, most of the time, they seem to be in kanji. Remember the adage: "never say never, nor always with WWII gunto!" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukihiro Posted February 11 Author Report Share Posted February 11 As improbable as it may sound to some of you on here, @Bruce Pennington's theory might be the right one, as I have found two other such instances of gunto assembly numbers painted in Arabic numerals: The difference, though, is that the Arabic numerals were painted horizontally and not vertically, but the presence of the Japanese ス might explain that. Now I think somebody should move this post to a more adequate section... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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