Hello, IRT E-mail conversation w/Stan, I would like to request a reading of my Wakizashi tang, if possible. I apologize for the pictures. I don't have a really good digital camera yet. I would appreciate anything you can tell me about this piece. Thanks, Justen |
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Mei
Hi Justen,
I've rotated the photos.
I'm afraid I'd need better quality photos to read it. Even if you make separate close-ups of different parts of the signature, it would help. The front side reads:
with ? being the first character of the name (unclear, but looks like 祐).
I can recognize some characters on the other side, but better photos would speed up the process.
If the reading is correct, it already gives the date when the sword was made - 8th year of Genroku (1695).
Regards,
Stan
Sukesada
I'm pretty sure that it's Sukesada.
Pete
cutting test
My wife looked at it - The back side appears to be a dated cutting test:
GENROKU 8 NEN, ? SEN JUu, NI-NO-DOu
SETSUDAN KIRI TE, INOUE GORO
Literally:
1695 (year)
? ? JUu (resident of )
NI-NO-DOu is the name of a cut, across the body under the ribs.
SETSUDAN KIRI TE means something like "cut off a hand".
INOUE GORO would be the name of the tester.
As Stan said, the signature is Bizen Osafune Juu Sukesada saku ("made by Sukesada, a resident of Bizen").
Pete
Well done
Excellent!
CUTTING TEST
Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for your information. I had someone else look at it, also. They seem to think it meant "Two bodies" that the blade cut through. I will see if I can get some better shots.
Thanks again, I appreciate it very much.
Justen