Translation help with a mei and Hozon

[LastSamurai]

Hello guys,

Is it possible for someone to help translate the mei of my (shinto?) wakizashi, along with its Hozon origami? I tried using ChatGPT for the purpose, but the result was far from satisfying, in fact, it actually made things worse. I would really appreciate the assitance!

I have uploaded a high-res version of the image here: https://ibb.co/Jj5VTQZf

Sadly, the previous owner of the sword did not have any meaningful information to share about it, other than he bought it in Japan himself just in urge to acquire a nihonto while visiting there, so am also not able to share much... If something else is needed as far as images go, I will promptly provide.

Thanks in advance!

[Nobody]

濃州関住兼付作 - Noshu Seki ju Kanetomo saku

The paper was issued in May 23, 2019.

 

[LastSamurai]

Thank you, Moriyama Koichi! Do you, by chance, know/learned anything about the smith or the period he was active? Any bit of information will be indeed very helpful.

[Nobody]

Maybe late Muromach period.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

https://sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1133.html

 

(Some reading about three generations here. You can put the name into a search field and run searches.)

[LastSamurai]

Thanks everyone, you've been very helpful!

Late Muromachi would make it even older than I expected, if so. To be honest, that blade (even to my untrained eyes) looked a bit older than the middle Edo period I thought it was made...

[LastSamurai]

I wish to cincerely thank everyone who helped with the mei and Hozon translation thus far!

If, by chance, someone has the will to translate the whole Hozon, I would greatly appreciate the service! This will probably help me with my research about Noshu Seki ju Kanetomo saku and possibly to define the exact place and era the blade was made. As I wrote above, it is hard for me to trust ChatGPT, cause it already seriously mislead me once about the topic.

P.S. I do have pictures of sugata and up-close of the nagasa and boshi that I uploaded, if this could help with defining the age or give more information about which specific Kanetomo it is attributed to. Sorry if this is not the place for this, I am rather new to NMB, not been very active here, thus please forgive me in advance if I should ask elsewhere.

[Bugyotsuji]

There is no further information Yuliyan, except that it is designated 'Hozon Token', and the length of the blade is given as: 一尺八寸二分半 "1 shaku, 8 Sun, 2.5 Bu".

[LastSamurai]

Thanks, Piers D!

If it were for you to guess, would you consider the said blade to be Koto or Edo era? Others loosely suggested Koto, but I have a bit of doubt and would appreciate more opinions.

[Rawa]

Check for sori type: koshi-zori. If you have more doubts imagine shape before it was "suriaged".

As a start

https://swordis.com/blog/types-of-sori/

[Rawa]

Imo koto. Could you post here photos of this spots and more similar one's on thecother side?

[LastSamurai]

Here you go, Marcin!  This is as close as my phone allows me to shoot.
 

[Rawa]

@Rivkin I would like to hear your opinion on those spots. Is this shintetsu? Or is this some mixed mokume hada. How to aproach towards those hada elements spotted in ji? Rai-hada as I red somewhere was specific with shintetsu as smiths from that scholl didn't do usual layering and were mixinig soft and hard steel.

[LastSamurai]

Marcin, such an interesting thing you mentioned! I was of the impression that this is just mokume hada, as I've read in the sources provided above by the other contributors that such appearance is somewhat typical of Kanetomo's work. And even to my limited knowledge, as far as I can tell, in person it looks like mokume, but it very well might be shintetsu. Very curious to hear other opinions.

Worth mentioning is that the whole nagasa has practically no visible (to me) kizu, at least as delamination is concerned. I once did own a Koto era nihonto in pristine Japanese polish that exhibited a lot of kizu, obviously its lamination did not stand the test of time.

[Rawa]

Could you give moto/saki gasane? Blade gives a feeling being "fat" and with double bohi. It wasn't made for show.

[Rivkin]

Its hard for me to be sure. Sugata is late Muromachi, and typically Kanemoto we expect either Naoe or Seki work, though suguha was popular in many Mino lineages in the 15th century. This however looks like textbook Zenjo. Tight bright but maybe somewhat uneven nioiguchi, featureless hamon, tight itame jigane, and they do large mokume which encapsulates area where the hada is subdued. There is a bit more nagare than on a typical Zenjo, but the school's influence is apparent, even if it might be not Zenjo lineage.

[LastSamurai]

1 minute ago, Rawa said:

Could you give moto/saki gasane? Blade gives a feeling being "fat" and with double bohi. It wasn't made for show.

Of course. I have digital calipers, so the measurements should be rather precise. 

Motogasane: 0.655 cm
Sakigasane: 0.415 cm

Motohaba: 2.85 cm

Sakihaba: 2.05 cm
Omosa: 547 grams

[Rawa]

Thx a lot when you will have this sword in hand without mountings I'm sure it will give you tip heavy feeling.

[LastSamurai]

1 minute ago, Rawa said:

Thx a lot when you will have this sword in hand without mountings I'm sure it will give you tip heavy feeling.

Maybe a bit, yes. As I don't have formal training in Japanese martial arts and I'm relatively more used to European swords, most nihonto feel light to me, especially bare blade wakizashi. But yes, it seems thick and a bit tip heavy, as it wants to cut deep into something when in motion.
By the way, this is one of the sharpest antique swords I've had the opportunity to hold and admire. Very sharp.

[Rawa]

It's long blade. Its nagasa is 55,15cm/21,71 inch currently [If I translated correctly] and was in uchigatana/katana range. Nakago wasn't cut thats why I wrote "suriage". Looks like one hand sword originally.

[SteveM]

@LastSamurai I think you are getting a little bit stuck in the weeds. The NBTHK has already attributed it to Kanetomo (note this is a different smith than Kanemoto, who Rivkin mentioned, and also note there are several smiths called Kanetomo who use a different kanji for "tomo", so if you are looking at English sources only it can become confusing).

 

Your smith is Kanetomo (兼付) who was active in the early 1500s, and I guess if he had 2 or 3 successors who used the same name, they would also be early-to-mid 1500s. Anyway, the smith worked at the end of the Koto period. 

 

Often the only thing known about these smiths is where and when they worked, and sometimes their personal name (rather than their swordsmith name). The other bits have to be inferred from the work they left. 

[LastSamurai]

3 hours ago, SteveM said:

@LastSamurai I think you are getting a little bit stuck in the weeds. The NBTHK has already attributed it to Kanetomo (note this is a different smith than Kanemoto, who Rivkin mentioned, and also note there are several smiths called Kanetomo who use a different kanji for "tomo", so if you are looking at English sources only it can become confusing).

 

Your smith is Kanetomo (兼付) who was active in the early 1500s, and I guess if he had 2 or 3 successors who used the same name, they would also be early-to-mid 1500s. Anyway, the smith worked at the end of the Koto period. 

 

Often the only thing known about these smiths is where and when they worked, and sometimes their personal name (rather than their swordsmith name). The other bits have to be inferred from the work they left. 

Thanks for the support! Yes, with everything I've learned so far, I do believe it is the work of the first Kanetomo and the blade was made in the early 16th century, maybe around year 1510. It is a wonderful blade IMO, to my untrained eyes.

I wish to thank everyone who helped me and shared their opinion and knowledge on the matter! You guys are great!