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Japanese Sword Character Translation


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Hi,

I've got a friend that needs some characters on a sword translating. Though there are certain characters in Chinese are similar to Japanese, my folks can't translate the ones in the pic as they are purely Japanese.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lab. :)

post-7161-1138715689_thumb.jpg

Edited by IceDragon
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There are books which describe sword markings, but it is like learning to swim from a book. The signatures show who made the sword and when. Of course, there have been many forgeries over the last 1200 years, and some of the forgers have become highly valued in their own right. Best bet is to find a local sword collector and go from there.

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Pulling forth from my knowledge of the obscure facts of the swordmakers art I can conclusively state that the sword pictured is a genuine Hattori Hanzo work.

References: Kill Bill vol. 2

My avatar shows me as a youngster testing one of his short swords for proper temper.

Edited by Merlin Orr
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I suppose it's hard to write clearly on steel, but that doesn't look like any kanji characters I know. Almost looks like katakana with a couple extra blobs.

I'll ask my mom next week and see if she knows, unless anyone comes up with the answer sooner.

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"Keep out of reach of children."

"Contains no trans fat" :P:P

Okay, all kidding aside....I know a couple of folks who have actually bought blades in japan. I'm sending them this thread to see if they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Edited by carinab
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Hi,

I've got a friend that needs some characters on a sword translating. Though there are certain characters in Chinese are similar to Japanese, my folks can't translate the ones in the pic as they are purely Japanese.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lab. :)

The stuff in the picture is certainly ot Japanese kanji. As Mark said they look like katagana with meaningless blobs nearby. It's certainly a mystery to me -- and I've been studying, using Japanese for 35 years now.

Are you sure it's a Japanese sword? I couldn't tell from the picture.

Sam Spiteri

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:D -Hehehe. You guys n girls sure are funny. :)

Thanks to those who have kindly referred this thread to other parties. For those who asked, my mate said it was supposed to be of Japanese origin. Era-wise, I haven't mentioned because I forgot. -Again, I was told around WWII era, I think.

For those who asked, there's some more pics attached to this message.

Thanks again,

Lab. :)

PS-Keep the gags coming if you want. :)

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post-7161-1138791386_thumb.jpg

post-7161-1138791496_thumb.jpg

Edited by IceDragon
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Forwarded your pictures to a friend of mine.

He said it looks like a WWII Era Gunto Naval Officers sword (due to what looks like "rayskin" on the saya, the single hanger, and the poor quality of the blade) the but that date characters are typically found on the tang, not on the blade itself.

He also forwarded this link..

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/showato.htm

Hope this helps.

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