mywei

Sanehiro 真廣 only one listed in the Tosho zenshu Shimada school, Tenbun era

pm sent

You'll need an address/agent in Japan. You could ask Kelly Schmidt who I runs such a business

Hi Jojo, Your last pic of the box I believe states [法眼吉村周山之作] and [仙人] in larger letters "Hougen Yoshimura Shuzan kore saku" "Sennin (sage)". I believe Hougen is a monk/priest title bestowed. I'm bad at reading script like in your photo of the hakogaki but at a cursory glance the first couple of lines states Yoshimura Shuzan was from Osaka and was a student of 牲川充信 Niekawa Mitsunobu, and had the Hogen title. Hope that helps

Found 2 and 3 tricky. Would have appreciated an oshigata for 3! #1. Good quality shinshinto Bizen. Inital thought was Koyama Munetsugu given the round yakigashira, but would expect more beefy looking blade. I couldn't decide between Naotane and Korekazu, but with this particular kesho yasurime I would go with Unju Korekazu #2. Not confident on this one. Initial thought Hizen but wrong boshi and mainline Hizen did not use kesho yasurime which looks original to this sword. Hence Osaka-mono. Of these I would go with Tsuda Sukehiro although his yasurime would be finer with more cross-hatching I think. #3. Even less confident with this one. Evidently a tired koto blade. It has Bizen vibes - I can see choji hamon under the polish particularly towards the monouchi. Cannot appreciate utsuri with this type of photo. I will stick my neck out and throw in Ko-Bizen and expect to be crucified. YOLO

could be 栄精 'E - sei'

Looks like Amakuni IMO 天國

Hi Brian, Xarelto/rivaroxaban is a pretty potent novel anticoagulant (which I assume you are on for AF or previous recurrent DVT or PE). I wouldn't worry about air travel if you are on it, shouldn't keep you away from Dti and sushi!

It may have been worth to send to the nbthk for shinsa since it was already in Japan.

looks like 鉄仁　'Tetsujin'

I understand the reputation of Kozori but that doesn't mean all their swords were of the same quality. I guess you could think of as with Osafune Sukesada kazuuchimono vs those signed Yosozaemon Sukesada for example. I recall a mumei Kozori Juyo katana on Tetsugendo that looked to have tight itame, some utsuri etc. Unless this is somehow an undiscovered Osafune smith, it is one related to Kozori, The other two Morimasa with this exact kanji was from Ise (sengo) and a shinto smith from Musashi apparently

Hi Francis, did this just pass Juyo last year? If so, congrats! A well regarded smith in any case. I'd like to see the juyo zufu page when you get it.

From Markus' resource there is only one Morimasa with the kanji 守正 from Bizen. Kozori group, Jōji era. fyi the Hawley page you've shown is for a different Mori 盛

The certificate makes it much clearer. The 5 bu is just the length of the boshi. The kitae one is 立つ　or `stands out`

Nice resource Steve. Last mystery kanji could be a form 丸 (circle) maybe?

A couple of weird characters as Steve has mentioned. I think it can be read top down outside-inside as 草木囗囗九種為 柏氏 - i.e Plant _ _ Nine seeds/types for Mr. Kashiwa, which would make sense given the plant motif of the tsuba. The first unclear kanji could be a form of 花(flower) or 巻(scroll) - not sure.... the second kanji could be a another 九???

I'm not sure what this particular seller is trying to do.... it seems that you are trying to find reasons to buy this despite Ray's reasonable advice in your very first picture, you can see 9 kanji characters. The last one ends in '山'. Your seller is claiming that is in fact a 14 character rare signature of Ryumon Nagayoshi, a Yamato smith from the 14th century, which is blatantly not true - just compare the signature the seller provided with the picture if you do not believe me the date signature does not make sense to me either. 元年 means 'first year of', 丙寅 or 'kinoe tora' is a part of 60-year east asian zodiac cycle. Neither of these make sense without an era name. It essentially translates to 'October 11th, first year of _____ kinoe tora' I'd stay clear of this one tbh

If it is really a Ryūmon school blade it would be around late Kamakura, which I'm pretty sure this is not (I may be wrong ofc)

大和国吉行　Yamato kuni Yoshiyuki the last 4 kanji look like 了記門山　?meaning the signature may be cut off, and related to/imitating the Ryumon Nobuyoshi school. Ryumon Nagayoshi apparently signed 大和国吉行子竜門山本長吉作之 which has a lot of similar characters to this one

尾州清洲住延房 bishū kiyosu jū nobufusa

Waiting for customs fees and tax I would think

Nihonto should be considered to have artistic quality. SImply because it can evoke an emotional response similar to that of good art/food etc. Also different collectors have a preference to once type/period/school of nihonto - not because of their cutting ability or originally intended weapon features but due to a visual and emotional connection.

I believe it reads 死尚後花咲 (Shishite nao nochi hana saku) 'Even after death flowers bloom' - a fitting fatalistic sentiment for a kamikaze I suppose

Agree Its often the case I find (in any field) the experienced veteran realises the limit of their knowledge and how much they are yet to know, whilst the semi-knowledgeable newly graduated novice has yet to develop the insight and feels they know everything. Know thyself!

just searching on NMB http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/8479-gunto-mei/?hl=%2Basai+%2Btoshihide#entry85088