# 濃州関住茂廣



## JPFarell

Hello, forumers
I have this mei on a gunto-dressed sword. It has no armory seal so it could either be a 'gendaito' from the showa, or an older sword enlisted to serve in the war.
Best guess I have so far is  *Noshu Seki Ju Ujihiro(?) saku kore* 
Except I cannot find an Ujihiro that could match here, so I'm probably wrong...  please help?


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## Flaminius

The sword inscription reads; 濃州関住茂廣(=広)作之.

作之 is read 之を作る.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

Do you know how to pronounce it?
濃州（洲？）の関に住む茂広、之を作る?
Nosyu no seki ni sumu Shigehiro kore wo tsukuru.  

少なくともサンズイはあるように見えるのに、サンズイの無い”州”の旧字体？or 筆記体？になるのでしょうか？


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## JPFarell

Shigehiro it is, that one I can identify, a WWII tosho.
Thank you so much for your help guys!


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## Flaminius

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> Do you know how to pronounce it?
> 濃州（洲？）の関に住む茂広、之を作る?


An attempt at 釈文: 濃州関の住・茂広、これを作る。
Apparently 住 is a variant of 住人 (resident) widely used in sword inscriptions.  This is not the first time that the WR Japanese forum deals with such cases.

The second letter is 州 because 洲 is unlikely as part of the _ritsurē_ country names.  If 州 is conceived as 3 instances of リ horizontally lined up from left to right, the one on the sword has first two リ's stacked up vertically, to the right of which the third リ is attached.


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## JPFarell

Thank you so much, Flaminius!


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## JPFarell

Hello, forumers
Again seeking your assistance to help me read a sword signature. This one bears a Seki armory seal, so it's most likely a 'showato', but its manufacture is really beautiful.
I'm sorry for the diagonal pic, at this point it's the only one I can provide, since the sword itself has not arrived yet. I'll appreciate your help with the transliteration and pronunciation of the mei. Thank you!


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## Flaminius

天池正恒作


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## JPFarell

Thank you so much, Flaminius!
Is that Masatsune (amaike, or amaki?)


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## Flaminius

It is Masatsune Amachi.  Although the inscription is undoubtedly 天池, the swordsmith is called 天地 in all reference books I checked.  E.g., the latest 日本刀銘鑑 (2003).  How this can happen, I am afraid, is beyond my ability and the scope of the WR forums.


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## JPFarell

Thank you, Flaminius, I really appreciate you taking the time to look into this. 
You're right, Amachi does give plenty of results, other sample mei and some bio information. Enough to locate and confirm the author.
You rock, thank you!


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