Imperial Era date question

[John C]

Hello:

I've seen a few swords with the  Koki ni sen roku hyaku nen (1940) dates, however I have not seen one with a month or season listed. I was wondering if there were a specific month or season in which these were usually made?

 

John C.

 

[mecox]

@John C   John, here's some notes on "Empire" dates and months.

Also in my paper in NMB Downloads of Taguchi Masatsugu (Hizen/Saga) at end are numerous examples he uses in this form.

 

         

[John C]

Great, Mal. I just read your write-up and saw the examples of listing the month after the "2600" date. 

Follow-up question: If there is no month listed, would we then assume either Feb or Aug based on tradition?

 

John C.

p.s. I'm trying to file my Kanehide references in date order. I have a Feb and July 1940 and an trying to figure out where the "Koki ni sen roku hyaku nen" date would be filed if there is no month listed on the nakago. 

[mecox]

I dont think you can assume a month, and so just list under the year, and if date is "Koki ni sen roku hyaku nen" then it is 2600 years (1940).

[Bruce Pennington]

I've run into the same issue, John, in my charts.  I've just grouped the year-only dates at the beginning (or end) of the dates with months.

[John C]

That's how I have mine grouped as well, Bruce. But the imprecision makes it difficult to determine if sporadic mei changes are linked to various life events. For example, in January 1945, Kanehide used the older, more common variant of "Kane" before reverting back to his war-time signature in Feb. Also in January of 45 he was honored by having his name recorded at Kasuga Shrine. Did this event prompt a signature change (rhetorical)? The only way to make an educated guess is to look at life events compared to mei changes and see if there is a pettern.

 

John C.

p.s. He could have an autobiography in Japanese that would answer the question, which I don't have access to.

[Bruce Pennington]

That's cool stuff, John.  Keep up the good work.

[mecox]

@John C @Bruce Pennington   John we often see over a 10 year period (1935-1945) that certain smiths mei form and style can change quite a bit, and this seems often the case in Seki/Gifu.

These include things like wording of mei, is it katana-mei or tachi-mei, style of cutting some kanji, does yasurime change, and is there any relation (or not) to stamps.  This also relates to evolution of their career (e.g. ranking, if RJT, retained as "exclusive" tosho).

Certain factors look to be relevant:

# who  paid for the blade or where sold (e.g. shop, shop custom, individual,  officers club).

# where was smith working/employed when made (e.g. individual forge, group forge, production workshop, or arsenal).

# was blade made for an exhibition or was a donation / dedication (mostly in shirasaya).

# the above factors also influence whether blade is Showato, "semi-traditional" or traditionally made Nihonto and what iron/steel was used.  

[John C]

Great info, Mal. Those will be useful in developing possible lines of inquiry when a change occurs at a given time. 

I currently have 61 examples of his mei, including 2 tanto and 1 kogatana. And there are some definite patterns with his changes. But I'm still missing anything from that 19 year gap between 1954 and 1973. I know he was submitting swords for competition / awards during this time, however I have not found any referrences or pics of these swords as of yet.

 

Thanks to both you and Bruce for the amazing assistance.

 

John C.

Edited Wednesday at 04:44 AM by John C
added content

[mecox]

John here are some Kanehide both war & post-war links, you may or not have:

Core Tokyo Web

Japan Sword Japan Sword Sword Noshu Sumi Kanehide (with saber) Showa 20th New Year|Japan Sword Sword Sales E-Sword [e-sword]

Sword inscription Noshu Sumitomo Kanesaku June day of Showa 61

Kanehide August | https://isao-machii.org/2017/09/29/兼秀　昭和十八年八月

Sword Noshu Sumikane Hidesaku Showa 46th February auspicious day |

KANEHIDE, NAKATA – Yakiba.com   

刀剣小町　刀　銘 : 濃州関兼秀作　昭和十七年十月吉日　拵入　(Katana、 Noshu Seki Kanehide saku Showa 17 October day)

katana signed Noshu-ju KANEHIDE-saku In the 6th month, the 61th year of Showa

－　濃州住兼秀作 昭和四十七年仲秋 Noushuju Kanehide　－　日本刀の通信販売　明倫産業株式会社       - Noushuju Kanehide - Mail order of Japan swords Meiren Sangyo Co., Ltd.

Yahoo! Auction - [Change] Gifu Prefecture Important Unmarked Cultural Property Kaneshu Showa 19th Year ...

Yahoo! Auction - [Yu] Gifu Prefecture Important Intangible Cultural Property Noshu Sumi Kanehide 2 shaku 4 ...

 

 

[John C]

Thanks, Mal. I just went through that list. I did have most of them, however there were 2 newer listings I didn't have. Unfortunately, they didn't show pictures of the nakago. I list them anyway as "seller description only." 

 

Thank you very much,

John C.