John Rich

[JCR1099]

Can anyone translate the Japanese writing on this sword?  My friend’s father brought it home from the Pacific after WW2. He was in the Navy. 

Thanks,

 

John Rich

 

[Ray Singer]

This mei is for the smith Tsunemitsu. Record below from Markus Sesko.

TSUNEMITSU (常光), Keian (慶安, 1648-1652), Musashi – “Tsushima no Jō Tachibana Tsunemitsu” (対馬掾橘常光), “Bushū-jū Tsushima no Kami Tachibana Tsunemitsu” (武州住対馬守常光), “Tsushima no Kami Tachibana Tsunemitsu” (対馬守橘常光), “Tsushima no Kami Tachibana Nyūdō Tsunemitsu” (対馬守橘入道常光), “Chikyū Tsunemitsu Nyūdō” (知休常光入道), “Heki Ippō” (日置一法), “Heki Tsushima no Kami Tsunemitsu Nyūdō” (日置対馬守常光入道), “Tsushima Nyūdō Tsunemitsu” (対馬入道常光), real name Heki Ichinojō (日置市之丞), he changed his first name later to Saburōzaemon (三郎左衛門) and Hachizaemon (八左衛門), there exist also blades which are signed with the characters (恒光) for Tsunemitsu, he was the younger brother of Heki Mitsuhira (光平) and he used the gō Chikyū (知休) and Ippō (一法), there is also the theory that the latter was not the gō of Tsunemitsu – see also “IPPŌ (一法), Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704), Musashi” – however, Tsunemitsu came originally from Ōmi´s Gamō district (蒲生) and moved via a stopover in Yamashiro province to Edo where he settled in the Yotsuya district (四谷), he and other Edo-based Ishidō smiths are referred to as Edo-Ishidō, his works remind of kotō-Ichimonji masterpieces and show an ōbusa-chōji-midare but there appears masame at the Edo-Ishidō smiths and the utsuri is “too regular” for a kotō work, there exists a blade with the date signature of the 13th year of Genroku (元禄, 1700) and the information “made at the age of 73,” that means he was born in the third year of Kan´ei (寛永, 1626), we know date signatures from the first year of Keian (慶安, 1648-1652) to the 16th year of Genroku (1703), it is assumed that he died shortly after Genroku 16, because of his quite long active period the theory was forwarded that there were two generations Tsunemitsu, he signed the character for “Tsu” (対) in the old version (對), ryō-wazamono, jō-saku

[JCR1099]

Thank you so much!  If only the sword could talk, the stories it could tell.  My friend is going to will the sword to his son and now he has a neat history to go with it. Again, thanks!