Translation help with katana on ebay

[gtstcactus]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 926wt_1139

 

Could anyone translate the 2 sets of kanji on this sword?

 

I had a look thru my limted selection of references and drew a blank...

[Guido]

The smith is Yoshifusa 義房, the year January of Shôwa 20 昭和二十年一月.

 

Quite frankly, the signature and date take only a little effort to read/research, even for a newbie ...

[Brian]

Top of the forum, nice big link to "Kanji Pages" which should be the first stop for anyone wanting to translate a mei or nengo.

Once you get stuck, let us know what you managed to get, and what you didn't..and people will always gladly assist with the rest. The idea is to learn one or 2 kanji every time you try it yourself.

 

Brian

[gtstcactus]

Thanks guys,

 

sorry I looked through one of my books but failed this time..... I do manage to get them sometimes but I'm still really new at translations.... Now you've told me what it says I will still try and match it in my references (forgot about kanji pages) as it helps to see it and go oh yeah thats it.....

 

thanks again

[gtstcactus]

The smith is Yoshifusa 義房, the year January of Shôwa 20 昭和二十年一月.

 

Quite frankly, the signature and date take only a little effort to read/research, even for a newbie ...

 

 

I just been through my best book for translations (not sure that it's the best) and Yoshifusa has a different kanji, granted the one in yamatos book was active in bizen in 1213.

 

Now after seeing your translation and reading the kanji pages I've just got my head around stroke counts (not quite accurate at it but close) and was able to find the mei myself....

 

Now I can find Showa 20 and january I think. The 5th character is year? the last is day? What day?

 

Now you might say now see you could have done that yourself but it was actually a good excersice for me even with you giving the answer first.

 

Thanks again

[Veli]

Jason,

 

Please go to the Nihonto Kanji Pages -> Nihonto Kanji -> Common Kanji and re-check the kanji for "day" and "month"...

 

BR, Veli

[Stephen]

PM sent with kanji...ill email file if you like so you can print n save

[Guido]

I just been through my best book for translations (not sure that it's the best) and Yoshifusa has a different kanji, ...

There's only one Yoshifusa of note who used the Kanji 義房: Tamba no Kami Fujiwara Yoshifusa from Echizen, second half of the 17'th century - this is obviously not the one. Hawley lists two others, a Gendai smith ca. 1951, and a Shôwa smith ca. 1926, both from Mino/Seki. I'm not up to date on 20'th century smiths, but my best guess would be that it's the wartime one ...

[cabowen]

WWII era, mass produced, oil quenched, non-traditional gunto.....