Translation help

[reeder3]

I'm having trouble on a pair of swords.

Guess I didn't get the first character in the picture:
?? ?shu ju ?da masa? Saku kore



Bit-chu kuni ju ??

[GHP]

Sword #1
〜〜 心
尾州住 [?] 田正弘作之
Bishū jū [?]da/ta Masahiro saku kore

No luck on getting a hit ... I cannot find the kanji that precedes 田. And ... what are the kanji above 心 ?
Hopefully one of our experts can tell who the smith is.

Sword #2
備中国住勝直
Bitchū Kuni-jū Katsunao

Edit: that given name just might be Katsumichi.
勝道


--Guy

[Bob Coleman]

When taking pictures of a sword nakago for evaluation, you must always photograph the entire nakago, not just the kanji. You are providing only a part of the information required to determine if a mei is correct.

[reeder3]

Guy, thanks. Looks like Shibata Masahiro. Guess it was there all along and just missed it. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/masahir5.jpg

Will get the whole Nakago of the Katsumichi when I get back home. I was torn on To/Michi/nao when looking it up.

[Bob Coleman]

Guy, thanks. Looks like Shibata Masahiro. Guess it was there all along and just missed it. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/masahir5.jpg

Will get the whole Nakago of the Katsumichi when I get back home. I was torn on To/Michi/nao when looking it up.

Please also include the Katsunao. Thanks.

[reeder3]

More pictures of the Bitchu blade.

[GHP]

Guy, thanks. Looks like Shibata Masahiro. Guess it was there all along and just missed it. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/masahir5.jpg

Will get the whole Nakago of the Katsumichi when I get back home. I was torn on To/Michi/nao when looking it up.

That's funny! The exemplar on the Japanese Sword Index site is mirror-image reversed. You'd need to flip it for it to be accurate.
柴田正弘
Shibata Masahiro






--Guy