I am new to the study of Japanese swords and find myself overwhelmed at times. I have a simple question regarding the removal of mei without suriage. I don't really think I could recognize it after a period of time unless the file marks are removed and the patina was not there. I would be pleased if someone could help me with my question. I have read some of the explanations on why they may be removed, but not how. Thank you for your time and considerations.
Have a good evening.
Respectfully
Jack
mei removed
I don't know the exact answer, but here are some thoughts:
Using traditional methods, I can think of 3 ways:
1) File it. This should be visible in the overall shape, because a fair amount of material has to be removed.
2) Use a punch to push the displaced metal back where it belongs, then use a file to fix the yasuri-me. This is possible because carving a signature does not remove any metal - it just pushes it around. I've heard that damage done by clashing with another blade (on the softer back area) can be fixed this way, because there's probably no metal missing.
3) Carve out the signature area, and replace it with a patch. This is done in the main part of a blade to repair certain forging defects. Also, when signed blade is shortened, sometimes the signature is "saved" by grafting it onto the other side of the nakago. I believe that one technique involves folding the signature over the end of the nakago, resulting in the signature being upside-down.
Pete
Option 2
I would go with option 2 as it seems least invasive.