Interpreting kanji on samurai sword

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

Hello! I am a goldsmith and am designing a piece of jewelry for a client of mine. He has a Samurai sword that has been passed down in his family, and wants to incorporate the Kanji that are stamped into the tang of the blade into a chain I am making him. Because they are stamped, the writing of the kanji isn't super clear, So I am hoping someone can read them and give me the correct characters to search in order to find a clearer version of their proper writing structure, rather than me trying to trace over the stamped version.
Thank you for your help!
-Everett

Toritoribe · 23 Mar 2022

源任功
Minamoto no Tadakatsu/Yoshinori (or other readings are possible)

Probably it's the name of the swordsmith.

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

I just need to know how to write it properly, and am worried if I trace the stamping it wont look correct

Toritoribe · 23 Mar 2022

ewiethorn said:
I just need to know how to write it properly

It totally differs depending on what style/script you want to use (regular, semi-cursive, cursive, seal, clerical, etc.) . Furthermore, there also are many fonts for each script.

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

Thank you! the top font looks like it would work great.

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

If i wanted to search these Kanji on google to pull up different font/scrypt stiles, is there a name for them in english that I can search?

Toritoribe · 23 Mar 2022

Here's a pdf file of the font you like (regular script). You'll be able to get the most appropriate size of the kanji to trace.

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

The top scrypt one you sent in the first example had a bit more line weight and calligraphy style which will work better for this project, but its to blurry to scale up. Is it possible for you to send another example like this? or is there something i can search in google to pull up more examples?

thank you so much for your help

Toritoribe · 23 Mar 2022

ewiethorn said:
If i wanted to search these Kanji on google to pull up different font/scrypt stiles, is there a name for them in english that I can search?

The font I used was HG正楷書体－PRO HG Seikaishotai-PRO (HG True Regular Script-PRO).

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

thank you, But I am still not sure how to search those specific characters

Toritoribe · 23 Mar 2022

Here's the pdf file of all the script I posted and a calligraphy version of regular script.

ewiethorn · 23 Mar 2022

perfect! thank you so much for all your help

Interpreting kanji on samurai sword

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