Questions about sword name: sodeyuki (袖雪 “snow [on the] sleeve”)

[neo1022]

Hi,

I’m doing some research on a TH katana with the name sodeyuki (袖雪 “snow [on the] sleeve”) inscribed on the ura side of the nakago (and transcribed on the kanteisho as well).  I suspect it’s the name of the sword.  I’m aware of the tachi in the Chidō Museum with a kinzōgan mei reading 「袖ノ雪」 (Sode no Yuki), and I’m curious whether anyone knows of other examples bearing this name.  
 

A quick Google search yielded a Japanese Wikipedia page that references the following:
 

「袖雪号」と切りつけられた、水心子正次の刀 [A sword by Suishinshi Masatsugu (水心子正次) engraved with the phrase “Sodeyuki-gō” (袖雪号)].
 

「袖の雪」と切りつけられている、豊後守正全の脇指 [A wakizashi by Bungo no Kami Masazane (豊後守正全) engraved with the phrase “Sode no Yuki” (袖の雪).]

Both are sourced to:

Fukunaga Zuiken "Nihonto Encyclopedia" Volume 3, Oyamakaku Publishing, November 20, 1993, page 163.

If anyone has a copy of this work, I’d really appreciate a photo of the page(s) that discuss 袖雪 / 袖の雪.  Also, if anyone else has thoughts/information related to this sword name / poetic allusion, I’d be interested…

Thanks!

Edited October 24 by neo1022
Formatting

[Shugyosha]

It might be an allusion to its cutting qualities in that the object cut falls with the same motion as snow slides from a sleeve. I don’t think my description does it justice but you can perhaps imagine a frictionless separation of two objects that have been cut by something really sharp. 
 

I believe I’ve read of another sword’s cutting qualities being described as cutting “as snow slips from a gate post” and another in the same way that a dew drop slides from a leaf. It may have been in a Markus Sesko article but I’m stretching my memory.

 

Here you go: Sasanoyuki- like snow from a bamboo leaf, sorry I conflated two ideas. https://markussesko.com/2014/02/18/cutting-ability-nicknames-of-swords/

Edited October 24 by Shugyosha

[neo1022]

Yes, I’ve read the Sesko article you mention, and agree that it’s likely a poetic allusion to a keen cutter (“slices as cleanly as snow skips from a silk sleeve”).  The “snow on bamboo leaf” he cites is almost certainly a variant. 

[neo1022]

Here's a photo of the nakago inscriptions: