Shugyosha

Can be read “Aki” or “Suke” according to Marcus Sesko.

According to Wikipedia yes, it’s a daisho. A tachi and tanto certainly is.

Wow, 19k for an unsigned wakizashi in a shirasaya. Someone clearly knew way more or way less than me.

The problem in the UK is that the political or, if you like, legal climate, isn't on your side. It's legal to have a pocket knife with a blade of 3 inches or less providing it doesn't have a lockable blade but you know that if the police stop you, awkward questions will be asked, so it isn't worth it. To give an example that illustrates the feeling towards this over here, the paranoia is such that, when in April I sent my niece a corkscrew by way of a belated birthday present, the type that has a tiny blade on the back for cutting the foil caps on wine bottles, the delivery guy wouldn't hand it over until she had proven she was over the age of 18 (she's in her 40's). Needless to say, there has been no spate of corkscrew killings by minors in the UK. The lengths gone to in order to protect people from the tiniest perceived threat are becoming completely absurd.

Thanks for posting Justin! I would never have got that.

The dimensions don’t suggest Shinto to me: wide mihaba and thin kasane. For me there’s some Yamato influence from the hada but the jigane looks darkish and the hada is a little hadatatsu so I’m following Rivkin’s thinking with one of the Mino schools and will guess Naoe Shizu.

John, There’s no shame in owning a gimei blade. Don’t dismiss it out of hand: you feel it has some quality and the mei is aiming high so, whilst it may be a lesser smith, it may still be a decent one. Worth some further investigation in my view.

It would be great to see some pictures if you are happy to post them.

Hi John, Hasebe Kunishige. A very big name, so there’s a good chance it’s gimei. An example here: https://yuhindo.com/hasebe-kunishige-2/

Me neither.

Dave, Sorry if this is a dumb question but did you know that this gentleman is in Cairns too: It might provide you with a quick route to sourcing the part your'e missing.

Hi Dan, It’s this hiro: 廣. It’s the old version of 広.

Hi Bruce, I think they are all Kanehiro. The part on the left is a cursive form of the “man on the cliff” radical: 广

Hi Justin, Tosa Myochin is the first thing that came into my head so I’ll go with that. Looks a bit Akasaka but not... Thanks for posting!

Hi George, Someone is going to say this, so it might as well be me, but if the blade has all of these issues, why are you interested? I’m assuming you’re thinking this is a long-term interest rather than just the desire to own a Japanese sword, so I’d advise that you think ahead to when you might want to move this on for your next purchase: Unsigned wakizashi aren’t very desirable items (relatively speaking) and can be a hard sell. If they’re full of kizu they’re less desirable still, so if you don’t spend your time staring at them and wondering why you bought them (don’t buy fukure they’re ugly), you can bet they’ll be on the mind of whoever you try to sell to. There are many swords in the world so there’s no pressure to own this one. So, my advice is to take some of the money you were going to spend on this blade and invest it in books or travel to sword shows or anything that will increase your knowledge and look again a few months down the line. You may well be happier with the outcome and you will hopefully have dodged a stage in your development that most of us went through... ...and it’s a bit picky but 1600 isn’t muromachi period. I hope that helps.

Hi Dale, The yakite on the Higo example is the difference though. I'll keep guessing though I'm doing just that so if you or anyone else wants to shout me down there won't be any argument: 10. The form and texture reminds me of Yamakichibei but I'd expect there to be some yakite but I'm not sure if they also produced work without yakite... 16. Suggests Bushu to me as it suggests that there's a bit of an art deco/ art nouveau feel to it so it might be another school that worked in a similar way Echizen maybe?? Straining my memory a bit. I've had a look through some of my own materials and found a similar design to No. 4 with the back to back fans attributed to Kyo Shoami but no other obvious connection...getting really tenuous now.

Like you say, some generic designs. 8 is a familiar design - but I think I’ve seen it on a Higo tsuba but other than the similar shape there’s no comparison.

山城 国 西陣住 埋忠 Definitely Umetada but not 100% confident on the place name. I think the full signature is Yamashiro kuni, Nishijin ju, Umetada.

Actually, from the tagane and sekigane it might be the same tsuba...

Hi Dale, If the signature is the same as this one, Haynes has him but with the pronunciation down as Kitaunsai Mitsutomo ref. H05460.0. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1919.257

Finger in the air Choshu for number 7 based on shape and theme. It looks like there might be the remains of a signature on this one - it might just be my eye making something out of nothing but, if so, a close up might help. I've tried magnifying the picture but it just goes fuzzy.

First part, name and title is correct. Second picture top right four kanji refers to era: “jidai Keian” which began in 1648. And I’m done - the rest is for the better linguists. 😬

I'm going to pose what I hope isn't too stupid a question - I think I read in one of Darcy's articles or posts that the spidery mei on Muromachi Bizen swords was to avoid work-hardening the tang and adversely affecting the sword's durability. Would that not be an issue with punching the mekugi ana also? I've not read anything about it but do smiths put the mekugi ana in a heated tang prior to final hardening and tempering? Sorry that's two questions. Hope I haven't doubled down on the stupid.

Hi Mark, Glad to hear that you're on the mend and I hope you recover quickly.

I think the papers give it to Shitahara Terushige - there were a couple of these working at the end of the Muromachi period and into the early shinto period. I don't think they're obvious targets for forgery so there's a reasonable chance that it's a genuine signature. They worked in the Soshu tradition and you can see the remains of the Soshu-style nakago though altered for the suriage. Looks like a decent start to your collection.