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Post by oldmarine on Jul 22, 2023 13:34:39 GMT
I inherited a WWII Katana that I've tentatively dated to the 1930's. It was a bring back by an uncle from the Okinawa battle. I'm not particularly interested in valuation, but would like to have a English translation of the Kanji on the tang. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 22, 2023 17:26:08 GMT
I inherited a WWII Katana that I've tentatively dated to the 1930's. It was a bring back by an uncle from the Okinawa battle. I'm not particularly interested in valuation, but would like to have a English translation of the Kanji on the tang. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.
It bears a Showa acceptance stamp, so it's most likely a non traditionally made "showato". I'm working on the mei. It seems to be some Kane-this-or-that from Seki, but I'm not certain yet. Is there an inscription on the other side? If so, it would be the date it was made. And may we please see photos of the whole sword and not just a stingy little crop of one side of the tang? Believe it or not, it helps us figure things out.
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 22, 2023 18:18:32 GMT
I think the last 3 kanji are "Kanesada saku" (Kane sada made-this). Working to puzzle out the rest. This guy wasn't a great chisel calligrapher.
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Post by oldmarine on Jul 22, 2023 18:25:55 GMT
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 22, 2023 18:40:31 GMT
Thank you. I have the smith name as Kanenaga (not Kanesada), but am still working on the rest of it.
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 22, 2023 18:43:27 GMT
BTW, rust is left on the tang intentionally. Removing it would decrease the sword's value. I'm having a storm here, so I'm shutting down for a while.
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Post by oldmarine on Jul 22, 2023 19:06:20 GMT
BTW, rust is left on the tang intentionally. Removing it would decrease the sword's value. I'm having a storm here, so I'm shutting down for a while. I know about the rust, etc. thing. Stay safe, it's that time of year here (MS).
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 25, 2023 23:07:35 GMT
BTW, rust is left on the tang intentionally. Removing it would decrease the sword's value. I'm having a storm here, so I'm shutting down for a while. I know about the rust, etc. thing. Stay safe, it's that time of year here (MS). Thanks. While I'm not totally certain, this mei seems to be a rare variant signature of Watanabe Kanenaga, a well known Mino smith of the Showa (Hirohito) Era. nihontocraft.com/Mino_Gendai.html The "wata" in Watanabe is using a kanji I've never seen before. It could conceivably be very badly chiseled katakana, but it certainly isn't hiragana, so I feel that it's most likely a rare, archaic, or erroneous kanji.
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Post by oldmarine on Jul 26, 2023 1:07:35 GMT
I know about the rust, etc. thing. Stay safe, it's that time of year here (MS). Thanks. While I'm not totally certain, this mei seems to be a rare variant signature of Watanabe Kanenaga, a well known Mino smith of the Showa (Hirohito) Era. nihontocraft.com/Mino_Gendai.html The "wata" in Watanabe is using a kanji I've never seen before. It could conceivably be very badly chiseled katakana, but it certainly isn't hiragana, so I feel that it's most likely a rare, archaic, or erroneous kanji.
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Post by oldmarine on Jul 26, 2023 1:59:26 GMT
Thanks. While I'm not totally certain, this mei seems to be a rare variant signature of Watanabe Kanenaga, a well known Mino smith of the Showa (Hirohito) Era. nihontocraft.com/Mino_Gendai.html The "wata" in Watanabe is using a kanji I've never seen before. It could conceivably be very badly chiseled katakana, but it certainly isn't hiragana, so I feel that it's most likely a rare, archaic, or erroneous kanji. Ok. That would corroborate my dating of the sword then, lacking any kanji date. I'll let you off the hook for further translations, and thank you very much for your help with this.
One additional question. You stated earlier that the last 3 were the signature. I'm assuming that's reading from left to right in the image I posted?
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 26, 2023 2:11:11 GMT
Ok. That would corroborate my dating of the sword then, lacking any kanji date. I'll let you off the hook for further translations, and thank you very much for your help with this. One question however. You stated earlier that the last 3 were the signature. I'm assuming that's reading from left to right in the image I posted? Rotate it 90 degrees right, and read it top to bottom. There are 5 kanji, wata nabe kane naga saku. For an introduction, check out this site: japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm
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Post by oldmarine on Jul 26, 2023 2:23:20 GMT
Ok. That would corroborate my dating of the sword then, lacking any kanji date. I'll let you off the hook for further translations, and thank you very much for your help with this. One question however. You stated earlier that the last 3 were the signature. I'm assuming that's reading from left to right in the image I posted? Rotate it 90 degrees right, and read it top to bottom. There are 5 kanji, wata nabe kane naga saku. For an introduction, check out this site: japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htmOk. That helps. I read the link, and it stated he had 18 students. So is it possible the sword was made (or at least the signature was chiseled by) one of his students?
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 26, 2023 2:28:39 GMT
Rotate it 90 degrees right, and read it top to bottom. There are 5 kanji, wata nabe kane naga saku. For an introduction, check out this site: japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htmOk. That helps. I read the link, and it stated he had 18 students. So is it possible the sword was made (or at least the signature was chiseled by) one of his students? Yes, and that sort of thing especially happened during the war, when swords were being produced in large numbers in Seki.
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