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more photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/artur_drogamiecza/albums/72177720322889049/ Thanks for watching!

拾月 = 10th month An auspicious day in October, 1942.

@Slaborde Sara below is an edited version of your summary hopefully suited to your family history. I cannot offer further to what has been provided. SWORDSMITH KANEYOSHI His swordsmith “art” name is 兼義 Kaneyoshi. His family name is 岡田 Okada and his given name is 武 Takeshi. He was born in the town of Seki in Gifu Prefecture in Meiji 42 (1909) on October 30. From when he was young, around age 14 in 1923 (Taisho 12) he began training in the making of agricultural tools under his uncle who was a qualified blacksmith toolmaker. They likely experimented with making swords at that time, as they made edged farm tools. He later went to Oshu (now called Fukushima Prefecture) in northern Honshu, to train further as a blacksmith, after which he returned to Seki to train as a swordsmith in traditional methods in the tanrenjo forge. He looks to have completed his apprenticeship in 1933 and was then making swords. A 1937 official survey notes he had trained under Niwa Kanematsu Kanenobu (兼信 丹羽 兼松) who was born in 1874 and worked in Kamo-gun in Gifu Prefecture. Kanenobu was an experienced swordsmith who died in 1941 age 67. From around 1935 he took on his older brother 兼定 Kanesada (岡田 定男 Okada Sadao) as a deshi (apprenice); he was born in 1905. The 1937 report notes that at that time Kaneyoshi had his own forge at Otsu in Seki but then did not have an apprentice. In 1939 (Showa 14) on October 20 Kaneyoshi registered as a swordsmith in Seki City and at that time had moved to Yoshida-cho in Seki. He then focused on training new tosho (swordsmiths). Noted students of his were: Okada Kanesada (brother), Ikeda Kanetsuna, Takai Sadatsugu and Isaji Kanehiro. Kaneyoshi became a promoter of traditional sword-making by koshiki tantren (the old style of forging, emphasizing traditional methods and materials). He was then working in the Seki Token Kaisha (company) and was head of the tanren-bu forging section. Later he became a full time employee of Noshu Nipponto Tanrenjo Kabushi Kaisha (share holders). In 1942 he was recorded to be living at Seki-machi, Ikuta-cho. He was well trained in traditional methods and considered to be a well above average swordsmith. During the war he largely produced well made “showa-to” non-traditional blades as required but also some custom traditional Nihonto. As with many swordsmiths he entered Sword Exhibitions, which were judged competitions in which swordsmiths were ranked. 1939: At the 4th Shinsakuto Exhibition his first submission won Kinpai (Gold Medal) 1941: At the 6th Shinsakuto Exhibition there were 250 blades evaluated. He was ranked 4th level of 5 (Chu Jo Saku) (superior medium level) 1942: Tosho Banzuke (national ranking of 400 swordsmiths) 5th level of 7 (Chu Saku) (medium level) 1943: At the 1st Rikugun Gunto Tenran Kai Exhibition run by the Army; 300 blades were submitted. He won Chairman’s Award (Kaicho-sho). Post-war swordmaking was permitted from 1954 and Kaneyoshi registered as a swordsmith on October 12, 1971 at age 62. However, he died on March 15, 1972 only five months later. Based on material in “Nihonto Message Board” and “Japanese Swordsmiths in Gifu 1937, Malcolm Cox, 2021”.

10 grand for this... https://www.ebay.com/itm/136528944051? John C.

Well...one out of two isn't bad! John C.

I will be there!

Thanks, Mal. I just went through that list. I did have most of them, however there were 2 newer listings I didn't have. Unfortunately, they didn't show pictures of the nakago. I list them anyway as "seller description only." Thank you very much, John C.

Thanks Mauro and Ed. For Tadahisa, Haynes has this to say: F: Shoami W: Kyoto D: ca. 1700 NTs: a classic Kyoto Shoami sukashi style iron plate tsuba with leaf, ink stick, and two brushes in the round, with gold nunome inlay. SCE. R.E. Haynes collection, 1947 So seems to be a tsuba with the same theme by him.

“Shouriken“. I would go with your translation… 勝利 - conquest, triumph, victory 剣 - sword

Hi Brian, nice tsuba here. The full transcription for the first tsuba should be: 江戸神田住 伊藤甚右衛門政方 - Edo Kanda jū Itō Jin´emon Masakata. The subject of the third tsuba is Tanabata (七夕), the festival in the seventh month, when boys used dew left on mulberry leaves to create the ink used to write wishes. So the oval emblem is karasumi (唐墨), Chinese ink bar.

Could be a case of a 3rd party hijacking the real sellers listing and making a profit on the actual sales price. 3rd party buys for 17,300 and sells for 35,300 JPY. Seems like a lot of work for little reward. Happens a lot on Ebay where items the seller doesn't have get posted for 30%+ more than the item can be bought for on Jauce/Yahoo.jp auction site.

is it the same item/auction? The seller's name seems to be different on the closed auction than the bid record. maybe i don't understand how it works, i have never used this service