Adlermilitaria - Top
Display your banner here
Results 1 to 10 of 10

Help with Mei

Article about: Hello all, I just received these photos and was hoping to get some help on the Mei Unfortunately the photos are not very good and to me the engraving looks a bit crude any help appreciated

  1. #1

    Default Help with Mei

    Hello all, I just received these photos and was hoping to get some help on the Mei Unfortunately the photos are not very good and to me the engraving looks a bit crude any help appreciated
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Help with Mei   Help with Mei  


  2. #2

    Default

    大和国則長 Norinaga of the Land of Yamato(Japan)

  3. #3

    Default

    Thank you very much Nick! That is the first time I have heard of this phrase "Of the Land of Yamato" do you happen to know if this phrase was a common addition to swords made during the WWII era?

  4. #4

    Default

    Signing blades with Yamato as domicile seems to be a practice much earlier than WW2, although Yamato always meant Japan. For instance, "the Japanese Spirit" is "Yamato Damashii" in Japanese.

  5. #5

    Default

    From Markus Sesko's book, Swordsmiths of Japan. There were four generations of this Norinaga; only Gen 2 signed "Yamato-no-Kuni Norinaga."

    NORINAGA (則長), 1st gen., Shōō (正応, 1288-1293), Yamato – “Yamato Norinaga” (大和則長), “Yamato Norinaga saku” (大和則長作), “Yamato no Kuni Shikkake-jū Norinaga saku” (大和国尻懸住則長作), “Yamato Shikkake-jū Norinaga saku” (大和尻懸住則長作), first name Tarōzaemon (太郎左衛門), Shikkake school, according to tradition the son of Norihiro (則弘), because there are no blades extant by Norihiro – who is considered as ancestor of the Shikkake school – the 1st gen. Norinaga as often regarded as actual founder of the school, he worked according to tradition in the vicinity of the old marketplace of Kishida village (岸田) in the Yamabe district (山辺) of Yamato province, he was active from about Shōō to Ryakuō (暦応, 1338-1342), there exists a tantō with the date signature of the third year of Bunpō (文保, 1319) and the information “made at the age of 48” and a tantō with the date of the third year of Ryakuō (1340) and the age of 69, that means we can calculate his year of birth with Bun ́ei nine (文永, 1272), there are tachi, tantō, and naginata are extant whereas tantō can also be in kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri or shōbu-zukuri, tachi have a shallower sori than contemporary blades, the jigane is an itame mixed with masame, ji-nie, chikei, and some yubashiri, and appears as so- called “Shikkake-hada” (mokume along the shinogi and masame along the hamon), the hamon is a suguha or suguha-chō mixed with uniform ko-gunome elements in nie-deki, in addition hotsure, nijūba, kinsuji, and sunagashi appear, the bōshi ist sugu, runs out as yakitsume, and tends with its hakikake often to kaen but can also appear as midare-komi, some hamon interpretations with uniform ko-gunome remind of the Dōei school (道永), this characteristic feature is already mentioned in the Keifun Ki (解紛記) which was published in Keichō twelve (慶長, 1607), ō-wazamono, jō-saku ◎

    NORINAGA (則長), 2nd gen., Jōji (貞治, 1362-1368), Yamato – “Yamato no Kuni Norinaga” (大和国則長), “Yamato Sakon no Jō Norinaga saku” (大和左近允則長作), “Yamato no Kuni Shikkake Norinaga” (大和国尻懸 則長), son of the 1st gen., successive generations Norinaga continue to work in the style of the 1st gen. but from the start of the Muromachi period a noticeable decline in quality can be seen, old records of the school say that short signatures of the kind “Yamato Norinaga saku” belong to the 1st gen. and longer naga-mei with the supplement “no Kuni,” “Shikkake,” or “Sakon no Jō” (左近允) to the 2nd gen., but recent comparative studies of extant signatures have disproved this, i.e. no conclusions can be drawn just on the basis of the length of early Norinaga signatures

    NORINAGA (則長), 3rd gen., Ōei (応永, 1394-1428), Yamato – “Norinaga saku” (則長作), “Yamato Shikkake Norinaga saku” (大和尻懸則長作), “Yamato Shikkake Norinaga” (大和尻懸則長), according to tradition the grandson
    of the 1st gen.

    NORINAGA (則長), 4th gen., Eikyō (永享, 1429-1441), Yamato – “Norinaga” (則長), “Norinaga saku” (則長作), “Yamato no Kuni-jū Yamato Norinaga kore o saku” (大和国住則長作之), “Yamato Norinaga” (大和則長), suguha, gunome


    -- Guy

  6. #6

    Default

    Thank you very much Guy!

  7. #7

    Default

    I was also wondering what the symbol at the bottom of the Tang Indicates? I haven't run across this type of kanji before???
    Attached Images Attached Images Help with Mei 

  8. #8
    MAP
    MAP is offline
    ?

    Default

    That is an old blade! Wow! Any more photos of it all?
    "Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated

    My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them

    "Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)

  9. #9

    Default

    No more pics but may be able to get some if I can get it in my hands..

  10. #10

    Default

    Quote by Geoff Ward View Post
    I was also wondering what the symbol at the bottom of the Tang Indicates? I haven't run across this type of kanji before???
    George,

    Hopefully someone will have some insight, but it strikes me as a kao. The same symbol is in the center of the kao of Kanekado. It must represent something!
    Attached Images Attached Images Help with Mei 

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Marna Militaria - Down
Display your banner here