Translation for these papers. Please

[Shodan]

I have had these papers for about one year. I just recieved a katana. To my surprise, these papers are for this newly acquired sword. I require help with translation please.

[Ray Singer]

Appears to be a mumei Shinto katana attributed to Hizen (no) Kami Shizutomo -肥前守鎮知.

[Shodan]

I Thank You.

[reinhard]

Sorry Ray, but it is "Shigetomo" not "Shizutomo".

A line of smiths with this name and title was working in Iga province during 17th and early 18th century.

 

upper picture:

The paper was handed out by the NTHK and is stating the blade is "shoshin" (genuine) and is "o-suriage mumei" (fully shortened without a signature).

They attribute the blade to the school (den) of Hizen-no-Kami Shigetomo.

The paper was handed out in year 14 of Heisei era (2002 in Christian calendar).

 

lower picture:

The blade is described as o-suriage mumei.

Followed by specifications of hada, hamon, boshi etc.

It is said to be made in Iga province during Kan-ei era (1624-1643).

 

For whatever this "expertise" is worth.

 

reinhard

 

Edited February 23 by reinhard

[Ray Singer]

Sharing the entry below from Sesko's compendium. I've always seen this read as Shizu__ for this group of swordsmiths.  

 

SHIZUTOMO (鎮知), Enpō (延宝, 1673-1681), Iga – “Hizen no Kami Fujiwara Shizutomo” (肥前守藤原鎮知), 
real name Takada Mo´emon (高田茂右衛門), he came originally from Bungo´s Takada (高田) but moved later to 
Nabari (名張) in Iga province, he signed his name also with the charaters (鎮智), gunome-chōji-midare, suguha

[Bugyotsuji]

The reading Shigetomo is used by the 日本刀銘鑑; they do not offer 'Shizu' there for these Takada/Iga smiths.

[reinhard]

I can understand where this confusion is coming from.

It is based on the character No.4903 in Nelson's dictionary.

It is translated as CHIN or shizu(maru); also used as "shizu" in given names.

Doesn't mean much when it comes to given/artist names hundreds of years ago.

 

reinhard

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Many Japanese will choose to read some names ‘wrongly’ however, in order to immediately bring up a certain unusual character in another person’s mind.

 

Thus, if you say ‘ Shige-‘ something, the other person may immediately ask ‘Which Shige-?’ 
You might answer ‘Shizuka no Shige’.
 

To shorten the Q&A back and forth it often helps in conversation.

[Shodan]

I Thank You all.

[Brad737]

I am certainly no expert on Nihongo, but I do have some familiarity with the Iga Ishido school.  My two favorite swordsmiths are the Fujiwara brothers, Shizumasa and Shizutada. Shizumasa was the older brother and is ranked wazamono.  He used several different mei, and used both 鎮政 and 鎭正 in his mei.  Shizutada used several mei as well, but he always spelled his name as 鎮忠.  Of course, the kanji in question is the 鎮.  I’ve seen many, many ads that call them Shigemasa and Shigetada, but they still use the familiar 鎮, not 重.  From what I’ve been told, before the Fujiwara clan migrated from Bungo, their name would sometimes be pronounced Shige.  But from what I’ve learned, once they were established in Iga, it was always pronounced “Shizu”.  
 

I’m certainly no scholar, so when I talk about the clan, I always use Shizu.  But when doing web searches, I search for both Shizu and Shige.  

[Bugyotsuji]

(There are of course other commonly-used Kanji for 'Shige'.)

 

If as proposed by the 刀剣要覧 Token Yoran (p.56), they received these individual Kanji from Otomo Sorin (義鎮Yoshishige), then that would strengthen the case for a 'proper' Shige reading, but so unusual that colloquially I can imagine everyone choosing to read with 'Shizu'.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōtomo_Sōrin

[Bugyotsuji]

Actually I think that is the key to unlock all of our confusion around this character 鎮 Shizu/Shige.