Help for translation needed

[Takahashi]

I recently bought a koto wakazashi (at least the seller described it as one). It is not in perfect shape but as I am quite new to collecting swords I started off with buying a sword for a reasonable price. If I stick to collecting/admiring Japanese swords I will probably buy a sword in a better shape. But for now I am stuck with translating the mei on this wak. This is tougher than I thought since the kanji are hardly readable.

 

My guess is "fuyu" and "saku" but it could be that I am completly wrong as I cannot read Japanese at all. Therefore I had to compare the kanjis with those found on the Nihonto Kanji Pages and they did not match 100%. I hope someone of you may help me with the translation or at least give me a hint to translate them myself.

 

Thanks!

[SwordGuyJoe]

Kane something. But not sure the second character.

[Stephen]

Kanetsugu

[Takahashi]

Thanks for the fast response. I admit I never thought of those two kanjis. Shame on me I actually thought those Kanji were hard to read.

Stephen did you already know the signature or did you look it up? And if you looked it up, where did you look it up? I am still searching for a good introduction into mei translation and perhaps you could give me an advice on that as well.

[Stephen]

PMing you a chart

 

edit do you have the samurai sword by John Yumoto? you can see both in that book.

[Takahashi]

Thanks for the chart.

I got the book "Samurai sword" by J. Yumoto and will try again to compare the kanjis in there with the kanjis found on the sword. I probably just need a lot more experience to see the resemblance. I will train on pictures of mei found on the internet.

[saipan59]

To help with reading kanji, I suggest doing some practice in *writing* kanji. I'm not suggesting that you memorize how to write 100's of kanji, but rather learn some things about the radicals, the strokes that make them, and the correct order to write them.

This helps you recognize what other folks have written.

 

Pete

[sil]

I found this site on writing kanji. Might be of interest and assistance.

 

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kanji/

 

Sil

[Aloof Pegasus]

Childrens kanji books are another good resource. If you have an Int J school where you live or a J bookstore. kanji starter books are much easier than the kind of work sheets they give out in language schools. Course it can be a bit embarrassing if you practise in public. Just try not to dribble.

 

Philip

[Takahashi]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to learn reading and writing Kanji. I already went to a Japanese institute in my area and they offer basic Japanese courses :D

 

Cheers,