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Assistance with translation

Submitted by Mr Ronald Nall on Thu, 2013-03-28 16:37

I would appreciate your help in translation of the characters on the tang of the sword in the attached photos.

The first image appears to my untrained eye to read: ECHIZEN SAKU

The next two images are of the reverse side of the tang. My photographic skills were not good enough to make all the characters readable in a single image. I have been unable to decipher any of the meaning of these characters.

Thank you for your help.

Ron

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#1Submitted by kazarena on Thu, 2013-03-28 22:16.

Hirotaka

Dear Ron,

The signature reads:

越前住
echizen ju
伯耆守藤原汎隆
hoki no kami fujiwara hirotaka

Smith called Hirotaka signed this way. There's an example of his signature in Nihon Toko Jiten [1] which looks very similar to your sword.

Regards,
Stan

References

  1. Nihon Toko Jiten, Fujishiro, Matsuo , Volume Shinto, (1964)
#2Submitted by Mr Ronald Nall on Thu, 2013-03-28 22:44.

Translation

So that I don't waste anyone's time, I wanted to say that I deciphered the mei. Using the brute force method, I browsed the Swordsmith's mei index until I found enough clues to verify the swordsmith.

The first image reads "echizen ju".

The other side of the tang reads "hoki no kami fujiwara hirotaka".

So the swordmaker is Hirotaka" HIR169.

Thank you for the great website that help me figure out the first part of the puzzle that is my sword.
#3Submitted by Mr Ronald Nall on Thu, 2013-03-28 22:47.

Thanks

Stan,

I didn't see your reply until after I posted my discovery. I guess it was the excitement.

Thanks for for the infor mation.

Ron
#4Submitted by kazarena on Thu, 2013-03-28 23:14.

Excellent work, Ronald! I'm

Excellent work, Ronald! I'm glad you managed to figure it out yourself.

Stan