Wakizashi translation needed

[Bruno]

Hello,

 

Posting here on behalf of a friend.

 

It has inscriptions on the blade, nakago and shirasaya.

 

Any help with translation would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you very much.

Edited Friday at 07:00 PM by Bruno

[ROKUJURO]

Hi Bruno,

interesting KIRI HA ZUKURI blade, signed AMAHIDE. You have already been interested in AMAHIDE in 2012, but this blade looks older than WW II to me.

As you may know, date and smith's name are chiseled and read vertically, so it is a great help to orient especially the NAKAGO images accordingly.

The NENKI is not quite clear to me. It looks a bit like ANSEI 7 but that would not make much sense, so I don't know.

[Toryu2020]

following...

[Bruno]

Hi Jean,

 

Thanks for the translation and sorry for the wrong orientation.

 

Different AMAHIDE indeed. I was quite sure it was shinshinto and not WW2 Showa FUKUMOTO AMAHIDE.

 

Original owner has vague translation and asked me if I could post his wakizashi here.

 

He is following the answers here and is very gratefull for the past help you guys provided.

 

I am more a gendaito guy and not of much help when it comes to older blades.

 

Thanks again

Edited Friday at 07:09 PM by Bruno

[ROKUJURO]

P.S. The long text on the blade is probably only advertising....

[oli]

AMAHIDE (天秀), Bunsei (文政, 1818-1830), Musashi – “Amahide” (天秀), “Suishin´ō Amahide” (水心翁天秀),

“Suishin-rō Amahide” (水心老天秀), “Suishinshi-rō Amahide” (水心子老天秀), this was the name of Suishinshi

Masahide (水心子正秀) with which he signed from the first year Bunsei onwards after giving the name “Masahide” to

his son Sadahide (貞秀), it is said that this name actually reads “Masahide” (天秀) and not “Amahide,” in other words,

he kept the reading of his name but changed one character

 

Big name.....interesting blade

[SteveM]

刀剱造法其理明而不畏古之冶工雖然亦不侮是唯以鍛錬去
鈍滓全鐵氣而不泥刄文陰陽相和鉾刄清利難折難撓無所疑

 

According to the site below, the meaning is:

The principles of swordsmithing are well understood, and although I do not believe it is impossible to surpass the old masters, I cannot say that I am better than them. The most important thing in swordmaking is to continue forging (folding) the steel until all the impurities are removed, preserving the essence of the iron, and to not become preoccupied with the shape of the hamon. The blade will become pure and sharp when the yin and yang are in harmony, and it will doubtless become difficult to break, and resistant to bending.

 

https://www.touken-world.jp/search/38586/

 

[eternal_newbie]

@SteveM This blade seems like it would make a good memento/talisman for a swordsmith to own.

[lavigne]

Hello everyone, thank you for your help. SteveM, a big thank you for the internet link. It is indeed from the same origin as my wakizashi; mine is dated: 8th month of Bunsei 7, the text is similar. Indeed, Masa Hide gave his name to his son and called himself Ama Hide (his son died three years later). Ama Hide died on the 27th day of the 9th month of Bunsei 8 (1825) at the age of 76. Here are some internet links about him.  When I found this blade, I imagined it was a testamentary blade.  

 

https://www.nihontocraft.com/Suishinshi_Masahide.html

 

 

 

[SteveM]

I didn't really dig into the lore behind this inscription. I'm not sure who it is intended for, and why there seems to be multiple items with this same inscription. Maybe they are a kind of commemorative item from the master to his disciples or colleagues as he was winding down production? 

[lavigne]

Hello, I've named this wakizashi "testamentary blade." The nakago (handguard) is signed and dated, as is the shirasaya (handguard). Ama Hide, 8th month of Bunsei 7.
Suishinshi Masa Hide passed away on the 27th day of the 9th month of Bunsei 8.
Here is a modern translation of the engraved text:
The principle of sword making is clear, and I am not afraid to measure myself against the swordsmiths of old, but that doesn't mean I despise them. This art simply consists of bringing the iron to a perfect state by eliminating impurities through forging, and there's no point in obsessing over the temper line (the hamon). There is no doubt that the harmony of Yin and Yang makes the blade pure and sharp, and difficult to break. I've attached another photo found online of his signature, Ama Hide, placed in the same spot and truncated by the mekugi ana (handguard).

It would be interesting to learn why he made this (these) blade(s)..

 

[ROKUJURO]

Bonjour Michel,
 

NAKAGO (= tang/la soie) photos should be oriented straight vertically (blade-tip upwards), so a signature can be read.

NAKAGO, SHIRA-SAYA, and MEKUGI-ANA are not handguards; you got something mixed up. A TSUBA is a handguard.

[lavigne]

Hello Jean, thank you for the comment. However, I'm using automatic translation, so I'm not linking this translation, which added "(handguard)" on its own.

I'll reiterate my question: why did Masa Hide create this wakizashi (apparently in two or three copies, to my knowledge)?
Here is the mei (dark color) on my wakizashi and another mei found online (gray color) placed in practically the same position.

 

[ROKUJURO]

Michel,

one of our experts will tell you more about it, but generally said: It is easier to fake a signature than a blade, so in comparing your sword with a certified example, you have to look at the work itself. All features of a blade have to be considered, and the MEI (signature) is the last factor of evidence.

A "good" faker would perhaps have had an original at hand to copy, but many just had an OSHIGATA (if at all) as template.  

[oli]

Masahide was a researcher of old smith technics and wrote some books about. So this inscription maybe about his research. 

 

From Markus Sesko Book:

MASAHIDE (正秀), 1st gen., Kansei (寛政, 1789-1801), Musashi – “Dewa

Yamagata ni oite Fujiwara Terukuni kore o saku shin jūgomai kōbuse-gitae”

(於出羽山形藤原英国作之真十五枚甲伏鍛, “made by Fujiwara Terkuni in

Dewa´s Yamagata in the kōbuse technique by using 15-times folded steel”),

“Suzuki Saburō Takuei shin jūgomai kōbuse” (鈴木三郎宅英・

真十五枚甲伏), “Terkuni” (英国), “Suishinshi Masahide” (水心子正秀),

“Kawabe Gihachirō Fujiwara Masahide” (川部儀八郎藤原正秀), “Kawabe

Gihachirō Fujiwara Masahide” (川部儀八郎藤原正日出), “Akimoto-shin

Kawabe Gihachirō Fujiwara Masahide saku” (秋元臣川部儀八郎藤原

正秀作), “Ushū Yamagata no shin Kawabe Gihachirō Fujiwara Masahide”

(羽州山形之臣川部儀八郎藤原正秀), “Suishin Fujiwara Masahide” (水心藤原正秀), “Suishin Masahide”

(水心正日出), real name Kawabe Gihachirō (川部儀八郎). Masahide was born under the name Suzuki Saburō

(鈴木三郎) in the third year of Kan´en (寛延, 1750) in Akayu (赤湯) in Dewa province. Or, to be more precise, in the

village of Nakayamamura-Suwahara (中山村諏訪原) in the Yonezawa fief (米沢藩) of Dewa, because he was “only”

raised in Akayu namely by his mother´s Toyama family (外山) after the early death of his father. First he worked there

as a village blacksmith and it is said that he had learnt the craft of forging from a certain Yoshizawa Sanjirō

(吉沢三次郎) from the close village of Nagai (長井). But Masahide had decided early for himself to become a

swordsmith and his first station in this goal was Sendai where he became a student of a later generation Kunikane

(国包). His smith name was Takuei (宅英) at that time. After this initial training he moved to Hachiōji (八王子), in

Musashi province, where he learnt from the local Shitahara master Musashimaru Yoshiteru (武蔵丸吉英) who was in

turn a student of Musashi Tarō Yasukuni (武蔵太郎安国). With this master-student relationship he changed his name

to Terukuni (英国) and was hired by the Akimoto family (秋元), the daimyō of the Yamagata fief (山形藩), in the third

year of An´ei (安永, 1774) whereupon he changed his name again, namely from Terukuni to Masahide (正秀), and his

entire real name to Kawabe Gihachirō (川部儀八郎). But Masahide “experimented” with his signature, that means he

also signed Masahide with the characters (正日出) and (正日天). His gō was Suishinshi (水心子) and it is said that he

also signed it in the variant (水神子). He developed his koku´in seal from the characters for “hide” (日天) which he

used from the third year of Bunka (文化, 1806) onwards. And his kaō is composed of a displacement of the strokes of

the characters for “hide” (秀) (see picture below). With his employment at the Yamagata fief he was able in terms of

money to travel further and further, to take lessons in the Bizen tradition at the Ishidō school (石堂) and in the Sōshū

tradition under the 10th generation Tsunahiro (綱広). There exists for example a blade from the eighth month of Kansei

three (寛政, 1791) which is signed with the supplement “Kamakura-jūnin Masamune-masson Minamoto Tsunahiro

Sōden no kitae” (鎌倉住人正宗末孫源綱広相伝鍛之, “forged in the Sōshū tradition of the Masamune-descendant

Tsunahiro from Kamakura”). It is said that he was not satisfied with the then status quo of the sword world, i.e. to

remain stuck to the Ōsaka-shintō and the danger of falling into oblivion of the kotō-era forging techniques. Suishinshi

Masahide was, apart from learning from the mentioned masters, for the most part an autodidact. He tried more or less

single-handedly to rediscover and revive the old forging techniques of the Heian and Kamakura period and turned more

– 515 –and more his back on the Ōsaka-shintō style. After devoting himself extensively to the Sōshū tradition he came to the

conclusion that a wide, too nie-laden, hamon was not equal to a sword blade with a chōji-based hamon in nioi-deki into which

already the Bizen smiths had focused. Apart from that, Masahide also worked of course in the Yamato, Yamashiro and

Mino traditions and summarized his studies in publications like the Tōken Jitsuyō Ron (刀剣実用論) and Tōken Buyō Ron

(刀剣武用論), both can be translated “Essay on the Practicality of Sword Blades (from the Heian and Kamakura era),”

the Tōken Bengi (刀剣弁疑, “Sword Almanac”), or the Kenkō Hiden Shi (剣工秘伝志, “Secret Forging Techniques”).

These publications in turn stimulated the sword literature of his time, and the movement which evolved out of

Masahide´s ambitions is called fukkotō (復古刀, “sword revival movement”). In his early years he tempered a tōran-midare

with thick nie and nioi in the style of Sukehiro (助広) or the notare-midare of Inoue Shinkai (井上真改). After this phase

he started to work in notare-midare with nie-kuzure and hitatsura of the Sōshū tradition and in later years he shifted to a

chōji-midare in the Bizen tradition and to a suguha. The reasons for the latter change have been described in chapter 1.4.

Works in the Yamashiro tradition show an elegant sugata with funbari which reminds us of kotō blades. The jihada is a

beautifully forged ko-itame, the hamon a chū-suguha-hotsure in nie-deki which, by trend, shows little hataraki, and the bōshi is

ko-maru. Sometimes he also forged a masame-hada in the style of the Yamato tradition. Works in the Bizen tradition

comprise copies of different kotō-sugata. The hamon is tempered in nioi-deki and appears as ko-chōji-midare with long and

somewhat slanted nioi-ashi, or as koshi-no-hiraita midare mixed with chōji-midare in the style of the Ōei-Bizen school

(応永備前). Hard-looking, dark spots might appear in the hamon and the nioiguchi is neither bright nor tight. In the case

of the Sōshū tradition he tempered an ō-midare, as mentioned a notare-midare with nie-kuzure and hitatsura, or an ō-gunome-

midare which he described himself as modelled on Kamakura-era Sōshū works or on Masamune. Regarding the shintō-

tokuden, the jigane and jihada of the Ōsaka-shintō copies or homages are quite beautiful and the hamon consists of thick nioi

and nie but, unlike the originals, Masahide´s blades have less hira-niku and the tōran-midare

in general and the size of the individual midare elements is not that uniform. There are nie

of different kinds of roughness in the habuchi and the yakigashira show as mentioned dark

spots. The jigane looks soft and the jihada tends to muji, and the ha towards the base

might appear somewhat dull and subdued. This peculiarity should become a

characteristic feature of the Suishinshi school. The ji-nie is inferior to that of Sukehiro in

terms of quantity and quality. Masahide made sunnobi-tantō or rather hira-zukuri ko-

wakizashi in Enbun-Jōji-sugata combined with a Sōshū deki, or standard-length tantō with

uchizori combined with a dense and beautifully forged jihada and a chū-suguha-hotsure in the

style of the Yamashiro tradition. Occasionally we also find tantō in katakiriba-zukuri or

osoraku-zukuri and from time to time also works where he engraved his own horimono,

with the mention „hori-dōsaku“ on the tang. But most of Masahide´s horimono were added by his student Honjō Yoshitane

(本荘義胤). They comprise designs like suken, sankozuka-ken and kenmaki-ryū in the hi, whereas the scales of Yoshitane´s

dragons looks like overlapping coins. Masahide´s tangs are by trend rather long and end in his early years with a

pronounced ha-agari kurijiri. Later he applied a shallower ha-agari kurijiri. The yasurime are sujikai with keshō, and for

Ōsaka-shintō-utsuri the tangs are also finished like the originals. Suishinshi Masahide was also famous for training

– 516 –countless students, at least more than one hundred according to transmission, which the fiefs had sent to his workshop

after he had settled and made a name for himself in the Hamamachi district (浜町) of Edo. The famous master students

are described in chapters of their own. Well, in Bunsei one (文政, 1818) he left his name Masahide to his son Sadahide

(貞秀) and called himself Amahide (天秀). With the name change to Amahide he also used the gō Suishinrō (水心老)

and Suishin-rōō (水心老翁) which both mean “the old Suishin.

” Masahide died on the 27th day of the ninth month of

Bunsei eight (1825) at the age of 76 (the picture to the right shows him at the age of 62). saijō-saku

[lavigne]

Hello,

A big thank you to OLI

Thank you, I know all that about the gemai, I'm not worried about that possibility. I'm still hoping for a "testamentary blade"; if anyone has a way of finding the email address for the link Steve M shared, I'd be grateful. I'd like to try contacting this museum...

[oli]

Maybe contact NBTHK https://nbthk.eu , but is it not sure if this blade I a gimei. So I think you need to send to Shinsa in Japan.

I am not sure if something like "testamentary blade" exists. 

[Toryu2020]

Contact Touken-World here

 

info@token.co.jp