Help Identifying Signature on Sword

[tharris]

Hello. I'm very new to the forum, so please excuse me if I post this in the wrong location. I inherited a katana my great uncle brought back from the Korean war back in the 1950's. It appears to be a Japanese military sword, with menuki which indicate it was carried by a naval officer. It has a wooden saya, and the signature on the tang is 5 characters. There is no arsenal or star stam on the tang. I will try to attach a picture below. Any help with identifying who made this sword will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to decide whether it is worth restoring it or not.

[tharris]

Submitting pic didn't work. Any suggestions?

[Mark Farrar]

Email the pic to me at m.e.farrar@ntlworld.com and I will post it if you want.

[tharris]

Pic sent. Thanks for the assistance. :D

[Mark Farrar]

I have adjusted the contrast a bit to make the signature stand out. Not sure about the first two characters but the others look like Toshi/Shun Mitsu Saku.

 

Im sure someone else can translate it fully (and accurately lol)

 

When trying to post pics in future you need to resize them and make them smaller so the file size isn't so big. I use Photoshop, when resizing make sure the image is 1024x1024 pixels or less.

[tharris]

Mark,

Thanks again for the assistance. Maybe someone will recognize the smith's signature.

[QuangD]

Tharris,

 

I first Kanji is "Ishi" and the second is "Naga". The last three are "Toshimitsu Saku"

[fan]

quang,

that second word looks like water, so would that be mizu?

eric

[tharris]

Thanks for the help QuangD. Would an accurate translation be, "made by Ishinaga Toshimitsu"? If so, at least I have a place to start looking for information on the smith.

[QuangD]

Tharris,

 

I am not sure if this is the smith of yours: "Imaizumi Toshimitsu" but his kanji are a little different from you. Perhaps, if there are any missing kanji in your tang that has not showed up clearly

[tharris]

I checked the tang when I got home, and there are no other markings. I've tried to find a picture of the signature of this smith on the web, but haven't been able to find anything yet other than this mention of the smith in Osafune

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ColHartle ... tterTo.htm

 

It mentions him as the sole remaining smith in Osafune. If this is the same smith, there surely must be examples of his work somewhere.

[tharris]

I just recieved an email informing me that the first two characters may be "Sukenaga". Has anyone ever heard of a smith named Sukenaga Toshimitsu? Performing a Google search doesn't yield any results.

[Yoshii]

Hi Tharris,

although i'm very new on this forum, i'm already 25 years in collecting and studiing swords.

The name Sukenaga suggest it is a sword of the Yokoyama school.

The name Toshimitsu was first used by Sukesada V, who was active during 1745 - 1771.

There are also two swordsmiths who are related to the school.

Tos 185, active around 1966, and Tos 187, active around 1954.

So perhaps the reading means made by Toshimitsu in the style of Sukenaga, you should look for resemblence tothe style of the school on your sword.

Tos 185 used itame hada and a o choji hamon.

greetings Yoshii