k morita

Hi Curran. Nice Pic. I can read that the name of this painter's art-name is Oson(Oh-son)櫻邨. Sorry, i do not know anything about this painter's achievement. K MOrita

shin臣

Hi Brian, Thank you for the quotation of my past posting on SFI. k Morita

Hi Brian, Thanks kind words, but my English is poor. :D

sencho san, So,this sword is Shinshin-to. His mei shows Honma and Ishii's [ Nihonto Meikan ]3rd ed, on page 1206. ( in Japnese, No Oshigata).

Hi all, This sword isn't Takahashi Yoshimune(WWII era). This sword mei is " Fuji Samanosuke Minamoto Yoshimune", dated "Ganji gan-nen(1864) Rokugatsu ( June)". He was making swords in Suruga and Yed.

Hi, The mei is "Minamoto no MORINOBU , and kao ". He was Rikugun jumei tosho at Kumamoto. Domo :D

Moriyama sama, 家宝ニ付キ特ニ御考慮被下度シ( kaho ni tsuki toku ni go-koryo kuda-sare tashi ).

remzy, Nice blade!!! , and i love Sashikomi-finish (polishing) of your blade.

Hi Kim. Welcome back. Morita

Hi SSt, "Sako Kaneshige saku" is correct reading. Fuller's "Sakumuki Kaneshige" is bad reading. Incidentally, there are also some wrong Kanji reading on Slough's oshigata-book. Thanks morita

johnb, Can you take some pics of the Masakane blade? Please up-load here. Your Masakane sword was made in around 1940. Real name is Takano(familyname) Masakane. Pease see below link, and see Takano Masakane on "Josaku ranking". http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/tosho.htm morita

HI, "Cho-un-sai saku kore". 長運斎作之

Perhaps,　Noro(family name) Masanori. 濃州関 野呂正則

Hi John, Kanji character "ko" means inspection mark of Kokura army arsenal. Katakana character "Ho" means #1 factory in Kokura army arsenal. Morita

Hi Can UTKAN, It's says: ToshiMitsu - real name is NumaZawa Takeo. He made swords in Shijo-cty,Yamagata Prefecture. Born in 1915. A pupil of Horii Toshihide. There are some examples of his sword "mei" ,[Toshimitsu],[Toshimitsu-saku ],[Numazawa Toshimitsu-saku].

Moriyama san, this photo was quoted from [ New version, complete collection of swordsmiths ]("Shinpan TOSHO-ZENSHU" ), edited by Mr.Osamu Shimizu.新版　刀匠全集.　清水　治編. 東京美術倶楽部　

Hi Danny, Nice site!! Gunsui-steel was made from the iron sand by the electric smelting. Very unusual descriptions about Gunsui-steel is described in the following old publications. Mr.Hikosaburo Kurihara(swordsmith name: Akihide) has issued the union organ of the swordsmiths union from 19 36 to 1945. The title of this union organ was "Japanese swords and Japanese hobby"(Nihon-to oyobi Nihon-shumi). On November issue 1942,the inventor of Gunsui-steel was describing the background of the development of Gunsui-steel. His name is Mr.Takeo Miyaguchi. Some testing results of the swords made from Gunsui-Ko/hagane(Gunsui steel) are described on October issue 1942 of this union organ. (These testing were the heavy weight falling tests to the blade and cuting test.) Mr. Hikosaburo Kurihara(Akihide) also attended this examination. The performance of the Gunsui-sword was good more by far than other swords. Perhaps, I think that Japanese author(s) had not read the union organ("Japanese swords and Japanese hobby") yet. This Oshigata is Akihide's Ken-sword that made from Gunsui steel.

Is this "Na" 名　stamp? Please more close-up photos for this stamp. If "Na" stamped blade, perhaps made from Tamahagane. Ｔｈａｎｋｓ

This two Kanji is read as "kaminari-yoke".

Hi BenoitD, The Yasugi-steel is excellent Tamahagane(Tamahagane-steel)that made from iron sand(Satetsu). Photo Left: Martial arts master and cutting tester,Mr. Nakayama Hakudo. Right: swordsmith KANEMICHI .(former swordsmith name was Kanetoki).

Hi canutkan, This swordsmith (Numazawa Toshimitsu/ real name was Numazawa Takeo) was a student of Horii Toshihide at Muroran,Hokaido. Good blade! Thanks

Moriyama san, It's calligraphy rule. It is necessary to write these two characters by a different style,When the same Kanji character is used in the sentences(1st Fuji, 2nd Fuji). A happy new year to all. Morita

Nobody, Your reading is correct. Yes,the 1st Kanji is "Seki".