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Samurai Sword

Matthew01Matthew01 Registered User new member
in Help / Advice Forum
Please help, my wife bought me a Katana for my b-day a while back and I do not know what the writing says. Can anyone tell me what it means?


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Posts

  • garroad_rangarroad_ran Registered User regular
    Looks like names to me. The bottom one says Ishii Tarou (family name followed by first name), but I can't even begin to make a guess at the top one. Maybe someone who is actually fluent will be able to make it out...

    or maybe they won't. Often when I ask Japanese people how to pronounce a particular name they can't say for certain. These characters can have multiple readings, and they get particularly dodgy in names.

  • Beren39Beren39 Registered User regular
    I got my girlfriend to look at it, the Ishii Tarou translation is right on, the top one is either Masakazu 52 (go-jyu-ni) or Showa 52, the kanji can be interpreted in a number of ways but apparently the showa version is a little off, maybe some wear and tear. I guess it could be a makers mark to indicate it was made in the 52nd year of the Showa period or something like that. Gotta love the background bananas haha.

    Go, Go, EXCALIBUR! - Trent Varsity Swim Team 2009, better watch out for me Phelps!
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  • Matthew01Matthew01 Registered User new member
    thank you very much. I appreciate it!

  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    Beren39 wrote: »
    I got my girlfriend to look at it, the Ishii Tarou translation is right on, the top one is either Masakazu 52 (go-jyu-ni) or Showa 52, the kanji can be interpreted in a number of ways but apparently the showa version is a little off, maybe some wear and tear. I guess it could be a makers mark to indicate it was made in the 52nd year of the Showa period or something like that. Gotta love the background bananas haha.

    What good is a katana if it can't slice some fruit?

  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    davidsdurions wrote: »
    Beren39 wrote: »
    I got my girlfriend to look at it, the Ishii Tarou translation is right on, the top one is either Masakazu 52 (go-jyu-ni) or Showa 52, the kanji can be interpreted in a number of ways but apparently the showa version is a little off, maybe some wear and tear. I guess it could be a makers mark to indicate it was made in the 52nd year of the Showa period or something like that. Gotta love the background bananas haha.

    What good is a katana if it can't slice some fruit?

    Please don't actually do this.

    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • garroad_rangarroad_ran Registered User regular
    Showa 52 makes a lot of sense. That would make the sword from 1977. I thought I was seeing a lot of extra little strokes there so I didn't recognize the character for two at all!

    But yeah, if it is showa, the "wa" character looks pretty darn odd.

  • cckerberoscckerberos Registered User regular
    garroad_ran wrote: »
    I thought I was seeing a lot of extra little strokes there so I didn't recognize the character for two at all!

    But yeah, if it is showa, the "wa" character looks pretty darn odd.

    The 和 looks fine to me. I'm not completely sold on the 2. It's pretty dark and hard to see, though.

    There are more formal versions of the characters for numbers, since it's pretty easy to change the simple ones (see here). I'm guessing his girlfriend saw the last character as 弐.

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  • Matthew01Matthew01 Registered User new member
    edited May 2014
    the only sad part is that there is no signature on the tang. that's alright though. so I do not know if the name Ishii is who it was made for or the person that made it. it does have a Iriyamagata Tang

    Matthew01 on
  • cckerberoscckerberos Registered User regular
    Thinking about it more, I think it says 昭和五年. That would be Showa 5 (1930). Do you have the scabbard?

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  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    VeritasVR wrote: »
    davidsdurions wrote: »
    Beren39 wrote: »
    I got my girlfriend to look at it, the Ishii Tarou translation is right on, the top one is either Masakazu 52 (go-jyu-ni) or Showa 52, the kanji can be interpreted in a number of ways but apparently the showa version is a little off, maybe some wear and tear. I guess it could be a makers mark to indicate it was made in the 52nd year of the Showa period or something like that. Gotta love the background bananas haha.

    What good is a katana if it can't slice some fruit?

    Please don't actually do this.

    Why not? As long as he cleans it afterwards, chop all the bananas, apples, and oranges you want!

  • Matthew01Matthew01 Registered User new member
    yeah I have the scabbard too.

  • VeritasVRVeritasVR Registered User regular
    chrishallett83 wrote: »
    VeritasVR wrote: »
    davidsdurions wrote: »
    Beren39 wrote: »
    I got my girlfriend to look at it, the Ishii Tarou translation is right on, the top one is either Masakazu 52 (go-jyu-ni) or Showa 52, the kanji can be interpreted in a number of ways but apparently the showa version is a little off, maybe some wear and tear. I guess it could be a makers mark to indicate it was made in the 52nd year of the Showa period or something like that. Gotta love the background bananas haha.

    What good is a katana if it can't slice some fruit?

    Please don't actually do this.

    Why not? As long as he cleans it afterwards, chop all the bananas, apples, and oranges you want!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kFgeZtkAb8

    CoH_infantry.jpg
    Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    Need to use a little more finesse than that, sheesh.

  • RaynagaRaynaga Registered User regular
    And that was a terrible blade.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    Those "swords" are clearly made from pig iron.

    An actual layered steel katana should be able to stand up to slicing some fruits...

  • PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    It doesn't really matter because you should never do what the presenter in the video did, with any katana (hit things with the flat of the blade). Even a good katana can break if it is mishandled.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Platypus Beirut wrote: »
    It doesn't really matter because you should never do what the presenter in the video did, with any katana (hit things with the flat of the blade). Even a good katana can break if it is mishandled.
    I'd append "or any other weapon, because dicking around with weapons is always a bad idea, as Dicky McStabmyself learned."

    But that's getting a bit off the topic.

  • SloSlo Registered User regular
    chrishallett83 wrote: »
    Those "swords" are clearly made from pig iron.

    An actual layered steel katana should be able to stand up to slicing some fruits...

    Neat enough, apparently katanas were usually crafted with pig iron, which is what made the smiths so adamant about proper techniques. It was the only way to make the sword not terribad.

  • wirehead26wirehead26 Registered User regular
    If you want a true Samurai weapon wouldn't you need a bow and arrow?

    I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!!!
  • PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    wirehead26 wrote: »
    If you want a true Samurai weapon wouldn't you need a bow and arrow?

    It depends on the time period! In the Edo period swords were firmly associated with nobles. But early Samurai focused on archery, it's true.

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Slo wrote: »
    chrishallett83 wrote: »
    Those "swords" are clearly made from pig iron.

    An actual layered steel katana should be able to stand up to slicing some fruits...

    Neat enough, apparently katanas were usually crafted with pig iron, which is what made the smiths so adamant about proper techniques. It was the only way to make the sword not terribad.

    Only a certain portion of katana blades were traditionally made with pig iron. The core was typically iron with a lower carbon content whereas the rest of the blade was a mixture of very high carbon containing steel mixed with pig iron. Almost all of the iron used in katana crafting was Iron Sand.

  • Draken50Draken50 Registered User regular
    A fair number of Showa era swords were made from scrap iron/steel as well, though it was a renaissance period of sword crafting. While there's bound to be junk from that era, there are some very good Showa era swords out in the world.

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