Kanji for Mei

The following are Kanji commonly found on the nagako of Japanese swords and other Kodogu.
These have been laid out in stroke count. In most cases kanji can have between 1 and 24 strokes. In this instance I have listed only Kanji that are commonly found in sword and kodogû mei.
The Stroke Count is the number of strokes used to write a kanji character. A stroke is defined as a continuous or uninterrupted line or curve.
The left hand column of the table has been optimized to have more common kanji than the right hand column. It is recommended to begin your scan vertically, left column first, as this will result in a quicker find ( you will be scanning the most common of the common kanji ).

Counting Kanji Strokes.

Counting Kanji by strokes is not completely straight forward but you'll probably be close enough to quickly find the names of the sword smiths you are searching for. For example, ˆê = 1, it is just one stroke, so “ñ = 2 and ŽO= 3, simple enough. But Œû also equals 3, not 4 as you would suspect. The left hand side of the square is written first, then the top and right stroke is written as one stroke, followed by the bottom stroke last. We should also keep in mind that the most basic rule is that individual strokes are drawn from from left to right and from todiv to bottom and the Kanji are built up that way also. Of course all rules are made to be broken and yes, there are excedivtions to this rule as well.

So for a kanji like “c ( Ta or Da ) , you would start with the outer left of the box from top to bottom (1), then the single top and right hand stroke from left to right, then top to bottom (2), then the vertical stroke of the centre cross from top to bottom (3), then the horizintal stroke of the cross from left to right (4), followed lastly by the bottom stroke from left to right (5). Always working our way from left to right and todiv to bottom.

So “c is actually 5 strokes in total, not 6 strokes as you may have originally expected.

For more information on Kanji Stroke Count, visit the Kanji Stroke Order divage on Alan R Miller's Web page.



Alan Quinn's Meiboku

> Meiboku <

These pages are from the website, Meiboku, which belongs to Alan Quinn of the UK. about 2 years ago, Alan's website disappeared from the internet. I had these and some other pages backed up so I have hosted them on my own site, so that they may continue to be of use to other collectors in the community.
I am in no way, intending to infringe on Alan's hard work or break any copyright he has over his work or information. In fact, if he cannot maintain these pages any longer, I would happily host them for him, leaving full credit and ownership in his name. If anyone has any information on how to contact Alan, I would be very grateful if it was passed on to me so I can contact him.

Cheers

Rich Turner - NKP




Stroke Count 1
ˆê
Ichi, Kazu

2
“ñ
Futa, Ni
—¹
Ryu
“ü
Nyu
”V
No, Yuki

3
Taka, Yoshi
¬
Chika
‘å
Oo, Dai
ŽO
Mi, San
ŽR
Yama
ç
Sen, Chi
‹v
Hisa
Ξ
Aki, Hiro

4
—F
Tomo
ŒË
Ie (Iye)
‰î
Suke
ˆä
I
•û
Masa
“V
Ten
Œ³
Moto
“à
Uchi
Ž
Uji
—\
Shi
•¶
Bun, Fumi

5
•ï
Kane
•½
Hira, Taira
L O
Hiro
“~
Fuyu
‰i
Naga
‰E
Suke, Taka
³
Masa
•X
Kiyo
“c
Ta, Da

6
ˆÀ ‘S
Yasu
Haru
‹g
Yoshi, Kichi
¬
Nari
ŽŸ
Tsugu
‘½
Kazu, Tomi
s
Yuki
”N
Chika, Toshi
Žç
Mori
]
Nobu
Λ
Mitsu
‰—
Oite

7
‹ß
Chika
Hatsu
Suke
Š®
Sada
G
Hide
–M
Kuni
—˜ Žõ
Toshi
’A
Tada
Լ
Mura
ð
Jou

8
‘ š›
Kuni
Žá
Waka
š 
–å
Kado
–@
Hisa
–¾
Aki
‹à
Kane, Kin
˜a
Kazu, Masa
@
Mune
—Ñ
Mori, Rin
’è
Sada
®
Nori
’‰
Tada
Take
–[
Fusa
K
Yuki, Yoshi
’· –½
Naga
’¼ ®
Nao
Ž¡
Haru
Ñ
Sai

9
’å
Sada
•Û
Yasu
t
Haru
ˆ×
Tame
—S
Suke
­
Masa
P
Tsune
º
Aki
d
Shige, Nobu
ӟ
Yoshi
M
Nobu
‰m
Mitsu
‘¥
Nori
r
Toshi, Shun
Œv
Kazu

10
—Ï
Tomo
Ϋ
Moto
Taka
Take
Œ“
Kane
‘×
Yasu
‰Æ
Iye
Žž
Toki
–„
Ume
^ áÁ
Sane
^
Zane
—¬
Ryu, Haru
‰ƒ
Mori, Yasu

11
´
Kiyo
í
Tsune
N
Yasu
‰ƒ
Mori, Yasu

12
Ÿ
Katsu
•x
Tomi
“¹
Michi
‰œ
Oku
X
Mori
‘P Œ«
Yoshi
-
Œi
Kage

13
Š°
Hiro
–õ
Yasu
‹`
Yoshi
Œp
Tsugu

14
j
Tsuna
ŠÖ
Kan, Mori
šæ
Toshi

15
œA
Hiro

18
–›
Maro

21
èc
Tetsu


Copyright 2006. Richard Turner