Mark S. Posted July 8 Report Posted July 8 Picked up a Terukado katana. Need help with a few characters. Thank you in advance. 1 Quote
Shugyosha Posted July 8 Report Posted July 8 Hi Mark, 以地金下 Motte jigane shita… Made with “jigane” which Jisho defines as unprocessed ore or an ingot. Then the kanji “shita” meaning below or beneath which I guess may be part of the smith’s name and which probably has other readings. Hope that helps some. 4 1 Quote
Mark S. Posted July 8 Author Report Posted July 8 Not sure if I needed to mention, nakago is signed on both sides. Katana Mei side is Tanba no Kami Fujiwara Terukado. Just trying to understand the context of the side in question…. Other than Made in Kuwana with …. ??? Quote
YourBabyBjornBorg Posted July 9 Report Posted July 9 A similarly signed Terukado in Imamura Oshigata. This kind of Soe-Mei by Terukado is recorded in many Meikan. This paper confirmed my initial guess that this is about Oroshigane (卸し鉄, 下 can be read as Oroshu/下ろし, 金 is 鉄/Kane), so this might reads more like Jigane Oroshi (wo) Motte. Oroshigane, by definition, is the process of adjusting the carbon content of the otherwise unusable iron ingredient, oftentime implies using pre-Edo old iron, when used in Jigane (地金), this process translates to unusual patterns...... At least this is how I understand it, but I've never really fully read the Scientific Study on Nihonto by Tawara Kuniichi Sensei, which emphasizes heavily on this subject. It's so long and so technical...... 6 1 Quote
Mark S. Posted July 11 Author Report Posted July 11 Thank you for all the help! I’m not sure I completely understand how this translates into a sentence. “Made in Kuwana with refined old iron in the Zenjo School style? “ Quote
SteveM Posted July 11 Report Posted July 11 In this case, I would just translate as "Made at Kuwana using "oroshigane". For a detailed explanation of oroshigane, I think Markus's article here is super helpful. While Markus doesn't mention Terukado specifically, or the exact construction of "地金下", I think its clear from Terukado's habit of mentioning "namban tetsu", etc.. in his mei, that Terukado is claiming here that he made the sword using his own self-made brand of steel (possibly incorporating old iron implements in the steel). It's a kind of marketing phrase. https://markussesko.com/2018/09/30/oroshigane-mentioned-in-signatures/ 5 1 Quote
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