Help w/Tanto Translation

Good Afternoon all:

Please help with Tanto Inscription on Blade Itself (above Habaki).....Unusual Shape of blade appears to be possibly Kissaki-moroha-zukuri, and appears handmade with Hi (Horimono) on both sides of blade.

Thanking you for any information in advance

Edward G

Looks to me like part of a cut down/broken sword/naginata made into a crudely shaped tanto

End of WWII action perhaps ?

KM

The end of the war and crude part are correct, but this is not a piece of something larger....These were made in large numbers, usually in Seki, as souvenirs and the like. They are commonly referred to as kamikaze daggers, hara-kiri knives, etc. Whenever you see a few crudely cut kanji on the blade and a mekugi-ana located towards the bottom of the nakago, you can almost bet it is a souvenir piece....or just a piece....

Thanx for the info Chris I thought to see a broken item in the shape.

Last month on Yahoo JP auctions I saw several broken swords of which some (the tips) were made into tanto....

Hence the idea i got with this one.

KM

Thank you Chris & KM for the information, I appreicate the comments and discussion. I knew it was Showa Period....do you happen to know what the Kanji on the blade says?

Edward G.

Please help with translation of inscription. I have a posted a close-up of the below. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated

Edward G.

Sorry Edward, its total gibberish to me.

Looks like someone tried ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform writing on the blade....

KM

....with a screwdriver.....

Thanks again Men for looking at the picture.

Edward G

Hi,

I continued thinking about this "inscription" for several days.

Several strork of kanji are slipping out from right place.-----This means,chiseled by an amateur.

Although it is not sure, the inscription looks like an owner's family name "Terashima".寺　島

Your opinion?, Moriyama-san.

I was also thinking it for several days.

I was sure that the second kanji was 島, and I thought they meant the owner's family name. However, I could not be sure about the first kanji. It looked 生, 牛, or 年 to me, but any one of them seemed to be the answer.

I am still unsure, but 寺 might be the correct answer.

Thank you,Moriyama san. :D

So, our collective view (opinion) is a family name "Terashima".寺　島

Thank You greatly Moriyama san, and k morita....This information is more than I had hoped to recieve !!!

Edward G.