Help with one character please

[Wim V]

Hi all,

 

I am once more trying to decipher the mei on a katana for a friend in our To-Ken club. I am pretty sure I have nearly everything correct, but one character is not clear to me. Please take a look at the pictures below.

 

This is what I have:

 

尾嵜長門守?子天龍子正隆 Ozaki Nagato (no) Kami ?? Tenryushi Masataka

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[John A Stuart]

I believe your missing kanji is 'Mago" Usually this kanji is written 孫 I can't find the one as on the sword. Something doesn't fit right here. Where 'mago' should be for this smith there is an extra 子 'shi' , now 孫子 can still be read 'mago' but the Fujishiro oshigata has the 孫 standing alone. I am not sure about this mei. All indication of the mei say it should be the Grandson (mago) of Suketaka, but, is different. John

[Markus]

The missing character is "chakushi" (嫡子), meaning "legitimate son" or "heir".

I am not aware in which context this stands to the rest of the signature

(heir of whom?). Am just about to leave the house, so maybe someone is

able to check the connections of Masataka to shed light on this one...

[John A Stuart]

Markus, Masataka would be a legitmate heir of Ozaki Nagato no Kami Suketaka so it fits. His mei having grandson (mago) at times. This way of signing was not in the book. John

[Wim V]

That makes perfect sense, thank you very much Markus and John

[Markus]

John, thanks for the update.