Basho12

It appears to be a Chinese reproduction.

I assume not the buyers, since that would be interfering in a sale, and I doubt the seller wants to know. Probably best to stay out of it altogether.

I know it's seldom kosher to comment on active auctions so I'll leave off the link but, hypothetically, would it be out of line to point out that "Mitsunaga" and "Nagamitsu" are not the same smith?

After looking at a few more examples and seeing how "abbreviated" the gatsu radical is in several of them, I'm sure I was wrong and this is probably Katsumasa (possibly Kojima Katsumasa, Slough's, p80). My confusion came from the example oshigata I'd found above which was identified as Yoshimasa and I thought the kanji was very similiar to the mei on the sword, but I also can't find a kanji for Yoshi that looks like either one.

You're probably right; you certainly have more experience at this than I do. I'm not seeing the gatsu radical at all on the left, but that might just be the angle. Now I'm wondering if the example might be a mis-identified Katsumasa:

Looks like Yoshimasa, dated 1943.

Whew. I spent more time than I should have last night staring at the pictures. "Something just isn't right." Thanks for the explanation.

Interesting that the saya had a carpenter's chisel (nomi) and saw inlaid.

Looks right to me. He's listed as a Seki smith.

I'm no expert either, but IMO the seller's description is a contradiction in terms. If a sword is made of mill steel then it can't be traditionally forged or qualify as a gendaito as the terms are normally used. There's also a very good thread at the start of this topic on tang stamps and what they signify.

I usually get mine from Hyper-Cafe. They do get low stock now and then but they generally replenish. They're out of black urushi now but they have the red, and they have at least one tin of the black cashew lacquer as of a few minutes ago.

I can't help with the rivet question, but when was urushi banned? I ordered and received a tube just last month.

There's a smear of red that on a showato would either be a number or a recognizeable character. I'm no expert, but none of the characters look like anything I recognize. A look at the blade might be helpful, but if I had to bet, I'd bet "fake."

There was a Seki smith who signed with those kanji. Considering the cut of the mei I'd be surprised if it's any older than Showa.

I'm reading it as "Munenaga" (can't make out the first 2). there's a Seki smith by that name.