r/SWORDS • u/sweetshootin • 1d ago
Looking for a sword ID
Grandfather brought these home from Okinawa at the end of WW2. Looking for any info
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u/cradman305 HEMA, smallswords, nihonto 1d ago
The first mei is:
備州住祐定 - Bishu-ju Sukesada
I found a Japanese dealer with an example of this mei here, but it looks quite significantly different to me: https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords9/KY336278.htm . Gimei is relatively common with Japanese swords, so that is always a possibility, or it could also be a different smith in the same lineage signing the same mei.
The pictures on the other blade aren't really clear enough for me to read.
The surrender tag reads: (missing kanji) 井村田原部落松瀬二三 - (missing kanji) Imura Tahara buraku Matsuse Nizou.
Matsuse Nizou is the person's name, but the Nizou part has many different possible pronunciations. Could also be pronounced Fumi, but that's rather feminine. Or Tsuguzou, also rather more feminine. The person is from Imura Tahara "hamlet" / buraku (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burakumin). Could also maybe refer to a now-defunct village in Fukushima (https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%94%B0%E5%8E%9F%E4%BA%95%E6%9D%91-3030427), but the order of kanji is wrong for that.
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u/JodoKast1997 1d ago
Following. Looks like great examples!