I came across this in the one piece anime, so it might easily be just chicken scrawls, but I thought why not ask.
imgur link Some update, gathering what has been brought to my attention by all of these fantastic comments
- you can't read it without special calligraphics training, even if you're japanese
- the name of the writing style is sosho (the most cursive one)
- the writing uses a special type of kana called hentaigana
- it is a notification for bystanders that there will be an execution of insurgents by command of "shogun orochi" (whoose name is written in somewhat regular katakana in the second line)
A transcription has formed. Unbelievably. This actually makes sense to people!
This font has hentaigana and the website lists a lot more than my other link.
INTRO There are not many active participants in
/swords and Reddit doesn't work great as a reference site, but I want to find ways to help this sub "help itself" when it comes to nihonto (Japanese edged weapons).
One skill that many beginners assume is beyond them is translating the mei (signatures) found on some nakago (tangs) of swords. In reality this exercise can be at least attempted and often accomplished by someone with no initial Japanese knowledge. It does get easier with practice, and some mei are very difficult to read, but the basic process is simple.
I hope that by providing a guided approach, I can encourage long-term members of this subreddit to attempt the next translation request themselves. Also, perhaps a periodic "mei challenge" might be a fun diversion when things are slow.
This first post will concentrate just on reading typical dates.
THE GO-TO GUIDE
The very useful free resource for this is the Nihonto Kanji Pages by Rich Turner of the NTHK. There, you will find:
If you just open all those pages, you will probably be overwhelmed. "If all these are just the 'common' kanji, how am I supposed to find anything at all? This is too hard!"
If you have to compare a single kanji against every single kanji in a list (or every kanji in the entire language!) without being judicious, of course it will be impractical. But we can be smarter than that. Mei follow predictable forms, so we can narrow down our search by a lot.
KANJI AND MEI BASICS
Kanji are Chinese characters which the Japanese borrowed and attached their own sounds and meanings to. These are the characters that appear in 99% of mei (some rare exceptions exist, like sosho grass script, and gunto military swords have various stamps, but let's keep it simple).
Kanji in mei are always written vertically, top to bottom. By the "top" of the nakago, we mean towards the blade.
On Japanese swords, there is a front side (the omote), which faces outwards when worn or displayed, and a reverse (the ura). On katana, which were worn edge-up, the omote is the side you would see when the blade is pointed up with the edge to the left. Tachi (the older form of the Japanese sword) are opposite, since they were worn edge-down.
Authentically signed blades are called "shoshin mei," but there are MANY historical fakes (gimei) and unsigned blades (mumei) as well. Even when there is a mei, there is not always a date or even province. Short blades and very old swords especially often only had nijimei (two-character signature).
Mei are supposed to be the last point of appraisal, considered within the context of the actual-factual sword in hand. Judging a sword from its workmanship requires study and guidance, however, and is outside the scope of this guide. The point however is to not rely on mei to know for sure what your sword is; get expert help.
THE URA (REVERSE) NAKAGO – READING DATES
I like to start with the "back" side of the nakago, because if there is anything written there, it will usually be a simple date – and dates are easy to translate. Also, a date will help narrow down the smith later.
The good news is that most of a given date requires recognizing very few kanji (bottom of this page):
年 Nen (year)
月 Gatsu (month)
日 Hi/Bi/Nichi/Jitsu (day)
吉 Kichi (lucky/fortunate, often used with Jitsu "day")
秋 Aki (autumn)*
*(spring, summer, and winter – 春, 夏, 冬 – are not as common)
元 Moto/Gan (first)
一 Ichi (1)
二 Ni (2)
三 San (3)
四 Shi (4)
五 Go (5)
六 Roku (6)
七 Shichi (7)
八 Hachi (8)
九 Ku (9)
十 Ju (10)
Multiples of ten are indicated by n十, where n is a number less than ten. So 三十四 means 34.
The basic date form is Era n1 年 (year) n2 月 (month) n3 日 (day). For instance, (era)三年八月一日 would translate as "(era) sannen hachigatsu ichinichi," or "(era) third year, eighth month, first day" or "August 1 of (era) year 3."
There are a few expressions that crop up. If there is no number before 日, then it is simply "one day in ___" instead of "the nth day." 吉日 translates as "a lucky day" or "an auspicious day." Autumn is considered a "lucky" season for smiths, so sometimes swords are signed with 秋 (Autumn) instead of a month. Similarly, there are a disproportionate number of August blades (八月 hachigatsu).
Unfortunately, you still have to look up the nengo or era (unless you memorize them all!). With the uncommon exception of some zodiac-based dates, dates are based on counting a number of years from the start of a given era in Japanese history (page 2) usually based on the reigning emperor. Right now we are in the Heisei era, which began in 1989. So swords made by licensed smiths in this year, 2013, will be signed Heisei 25:
平 Hei-
成 -sei
二 Ni (2)
十 Ju (10)
五 Go (5)
年 Nen (Year)
"But wait," I hear you say. "2013 minus 1989 equals 24, not 25!" Yes, but be careful: the first year of each era is "year 1," not "year 0." So 1989 was Heisei 1; 1990 was Heisei 2; 2000 was Heisei 12; and 2013 is Heisei 25.
Because most swords brought back in the USA were WWII gunto, the most common dates you will see are based on Showa (昭和, 1926) and Taisho (大正, 1912), or maybe Meiji (明治, 1868). Beyond those, a neophyte simply has to look it up the hard way, by going through the lists.
Still, be smart about it! The nakago can tell you a lot about a sword's age, based on the patina and other clues. You can get a rough idea of when to look – modern, Edo period, or Koto. Swords from before the Kamakura era are extremely rare (and never signed with the date anyway), so ignore the Heian period and earlier. And since nengo (eras) are written using two characters, it is much easier to find potential matches; you can focus on the clearer kanji of the two, its position within the pair, and/or look for the pair as a whole.
EXAMPLE DATE 1
Let's put all that together and read some examples.
The first is a relatively easy one.
STOP! Don't just skip ahead to the answer! Use what I wrote in the last section and look for yourself.
Can you get it?
Here's a tip: there's a difference between computer kanji fonts and hand-carved kanji. Don't get too hung up on exactness. If it looks close, it's probably right.
Also, don't feel you have to translate it in order. Jump around, starting with the easier kanji and then moving onto the ones that give you more trouble.
Finally, nothing exists in isolation. Notice the clean nakago with crisp filing marks and very little patination – obviously this is a recent sword, and you should be thinking recent eras.
OK... let's see how you did.
If you got 平成七年秋吉日 Heisei shichinen aki kichijitsu (a lucky day in autumn, seventh year of Heisei = 1995), then good for you!
I borrowed this example; it is a katana by the modern smith Watanabe Shigehira, currently for sale on Aoi Art. Shigehira has won several sword forging prizes in the annual NBTHK contest.
EXAMPLE DATE 2
Here is another good learning example.
Again, don't jump down to the answer. Go back to the kanji and see if you can pull out some of the obvious ones first.
Hint: look at the nakago. See how it has a deep, even patina? Clearly this is an older sword, and you will probably have to check the lists for the era.
Another hint: the rest of this date is pretty straightforward. Try getting that part done first. Remember, handwritten kanji (especially old kanji) and computer fonts are not always exactly alike.
I'll wait.
Done? Great!
Did you get 万治三年八月日 Manji sannen hachigatsubi (one day in August of the third year of Manji = 1660)? I hope so! Looking up the kanji for "Manji" was probably the hardest part, but it was pretty clearly written in this case, so it shouldn't have taken too long.
This is another example from Aoi Art, a katana by Musashi Daisho Sakon Korekazu. It shows the typical shallow curvature and long cutting edge of the early Edo period.
CHALLENGE EXAMPLE (FIXED)
My original challenge was unfair because the first kanji in Oei is different from the modern kanji, so I scratched that one. For the record it reads Oei ni-ni nen sangatsu hi (a day in March of the fourth year of Oei = 1397). The "ni-ni" bit was also a little unfair although you could get it with kindergarten logic. I wanted to point out, this is a tachi nakago – notice how it curves the opposite way from the other examples posted. Here is the full sword.
Here is the new challenge (a tanto this time)! Just the ura nakago is fine, don't worry about the omote yet.
I will give you one freebie, which is that it's very hard to see in the photo but there is a very small 日 near the bottom of the nakago.
Other than that, the only hint I will give is to look at the nakago as a whole: notice the dark patina and pitting, and think what that might mean for the age (and which nengo page you should check first).
This is a slightly more challenging mei. I look forward to seeing which of you (if anyone) gets it first. Good luck!