Bought a Nice little (not so little) Navy Dirk, Looking for full translation

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Hello Everyone, 

Looking for the full translation on this nice dirk I just picked up! Looking forward to finding out more! 

 

Side A: 

 

Side B: 

 

And a little eye candy: 

 

 

Thank you! 

 

[ROKUJURO]

YASUNORI I think. TAISHO date?

[Ontario_Archaeology]

If the kanji is hard to make out I can try and play with the resolutions of the pictures to try and bring it out more if that is helpful. 

[xiayang]

大正[己?]未歲八月 = August of Taishō, year of the [Earth?] Goat (that would correspond to 1919 CE)

 

平賀守國上之 = shortened by Hiraga Morikuni

 

古銘 一文安則 = old mei: Ichimon Yasunori

[Ontario_Archaeology]

7 minutes ago, xiayang said:

大正[己?]未歲八月 = August of Taishō, year of the [Earth?] Goat (that would correspond to 1919 CE)

 

平賀守國上之 = shortened by Hiraga Morikuni

 

古銘 一文安則 = old mei: Ichimon Yasunori

Those are some big names on there. Would that mean it maybe a gimei?

 

 

[Peter Bleed]

Would that mean it maybe a gimei?

Or mebbe a neat little package...

P

[xiayang]

3 hours ago, Ontario_Archaeology said:

Those are some big names on there. Would that mean it maybe a gimei?

 

The answer to that question depends on what you mean by gimei in this context.  So let's break it down, in order of increasing speculativeness:

 

Was it created in 1919?

By shortening an older blade?

Was it Hiraga Morikuni who shortened it? 

Was there an original signature, and was it 安則?

If it had indeed been signed 安則, was it actually made by Yasunori of the Ichimonji school, or perhaps by some later smith who used the same characters?

 

I guess it may not be possible to answer all of these questions with certainty, but perhaps you could start with the last point: does the blade actually have the characteristics one would expect from a Kamakura era work by the Ichimonji school?

Here's Yasunori's entry in Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan:

 

Quote

 

YASUNORI (安則), Kenpō (建保, 1213-1219), Bizen – “Yasunori” (安則), Fukuoka-Ichimonji school, according to

tradition the third son of Norimune (則宗), called Gyōbu Saemon (刑部左衛門), there are two tachi of Yasunori extant,

one (designated as a jūyō-bijutsuhin) shows a suguha with ko-midare and ko-chōji and the kitae is a very dense itame-hada with

midare-utsuri, the other one (a jūyō-bunkazai and preserved in the Kunōzan-Tōshōgu [久能山東照宮], Shizuka Prefecture)

shows a hamon in ko-midare mixed with ko-chōji and ko-nie, this blade is a little more flamboyant than the former, the kitae

is about identical and shows utsuri too ◎

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

More likely to be the Shin Shinto Yasunori:

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/YAS356

[Brian]

The shortening would explain the shinogi zukuri tanto thing, which as well all know is a bit awkward and more suited to wakizashi. Maybe the front end of a broken longer sword that was completely redone.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Thank you everyone. It's definitely something very different, and for sure something I had never seen before, it's why i had to have it 🤣. 

 

The koshiere with a nice Mon menuki is also a nice touch. I'm suspecting someone spent a good chunk of change to have this all done during wartime (opposed to after). 

 

My next question would be is it possible to hunt down Hiraga Morikuni, a search of the forum and he is a bit of a mystery man, I assume it takes some skill to cut down a blade and re-sign it as it is. 

 

Thanks again, it's really a fun experience learning about this.