A loong, loong shot.

[Geraint]

Dear All.

 

I have had this jumonji yari for some time and have failed to decipher the much corroded mei.  I realise that this is a long shot but wondered if someone could perhaps recognise the mei?  The pictures are not the best  but they are what I can get at the moment.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions, I'm going cross eyed!

 

All the best.

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:34 PM by Geraint

[ROKUJURO]

...and only one of all the Princes who had come from far and wide to take part in the contest could solve the riddle, and he married the King's beautiful daughter and later became King himself. And if they didn't die, they are still living a happy life.... 

That is a difficult task with these photos!

[Geraint]

Jean, the photgraphs are actually better than I was expecting, in hand there really isn't much to go on.  I was hoping that someone who owns a sword with the mei might recognise the fragmentary bits and at least suggest a name to go on.  If not then it stays a mystery and I keep on going crosseyed. 

 

All the best.

[Shugyosha]

Well I think I can make out ju 住 and nori (or ki): 記. I can't see a place name and I'm nor sure if there is a character before nori but I think there is one after which looks like it has the saucepan lid radical at the top...does that win me the hand of the fair princess? 

[Geraint]

John, thankyou.  That's about as far as I have got with this.  I think there is something before nori/ki but I can't resolve it. I can't assign fair princesses but I reckon you are in good standing with St Jude.

 

All the best.

[Ganko]

Below the nori it looks like hiro.

[ROKUJURO]

2 hours ago, Geraint said:

.....I was hoping that someone who owns a sword with the mei might recognise the fragmentary bits and at least suggest a name to go on.......

In the long range, I hope this will happen. There are perhaps a few well-known smiths specializing in YARI which may narrow down the search. And of course, Ray and SteveM can read EVERYTHING....

[Shugyosha]

Someone with the electronic version of Sesko's meikan could do a search on the nori character and that would perhaps give a list of smiths whose name contains that character? The same could apply to the Nihontoclub database if anyone still has access.

 

In Sesko's compendium the only entry is for the character itself so we can presume that he wasn't one of the titled smiths or one rated wazamono etc. 

[eternal_newbie]

41 minutes ago, Shugyosha said:

Someone with the electronic version of Sesko's meikan could do a search on the nori character and that would perhaps give a list of smiths whose name contains that character? The same could apply to the Nihontoclub database if anyone still has access.

 

In Sesko's compendium the only entry is for the character itself so we can presume that he wasn't one of the titled smiths or one rated wazamono etc. 

 

Some possibilities for 記 based on the rough appearance of the kanji surrounding it:

 

南記重国 Nanki Shigekuni
英記直宗 Hideki Naomune
武州住内記康重 Bushu [Shitahara] ju Naiki Yasushige

[Geraint]

Rohan, thank you.  I really think you are onto something with that last one!  The kanji just after ju looks remarkably like the one for Naiki.  I'll do some digging.

 

Thank you all very much for your help with this.

 

All the best. 

[Toki]

On 6/6/2026 at 7:57 PM, Shugyosha said:

The same could apply to the Nihontoclub database if anyone still has access.

I did search for the 記 Character, unless I did something wrong there are not many listed.

[Geraint]

Dera Erik.

 

Thank you so much for checking this out.  You are right, that kanji is not common.  Rohan has nailed it with, 武州住内記康重 Bushu [Shitahara] ju Naiki Yasushige and indeed I have found one other jumonji yari by the same smith.

It was a very long shot but the combined good will and ability of the NMB has won out once again.  When we get some light here I will post a photograph of the yari just for interest.

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

All the best.

[eternal_newbie]

7 hours ago, Geraint said:

When we get some light here I will post a photograph of the yari just for interest.

 

Looking forward to it - Shitahara work in katana, wakizashi and tanto is usually quite distinctive so it will be interesting to see what it looks like in a jumonji yari.