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John, thanks for taking the time to reply and I would agree that to " no " is not written in mei but the reverse is true in cutting tests, the attached is " ichi no do kiri otoshi " , the "no " is just below the ichi. Paul

Uwe, thanks for the reply, do you think that they are two different tests or one and the same?

Evening gents, the mei , adjacent to the date on the attached picture I am reading as Ichi do otoshi , cannot find a reference for this mei that excludes the " no " kangi so assume that I may be reading it incorrectly, the secod picture , where the gold has been picked out / lost , I am reading as kesa otoshi, these mei are on the same blade so struggling to understand the context, any help would be greatly appreciated. Paul

Have a sword from USA stuck in Coventry customs since 25 th November but back in August had two swords from Japan in 7 Days but hey did not go through Coventry

Bruce, as requested, struggling a little to find out anything abut this character so if you have anything it would be helpful. Paul

Ray, thanks for the response it is most helpful, I wonder if I can impose on your goodwill a little further and ask what it means in the context of the mei

Hi,can anyone help with the translation of the highlighted kanji in this cutting test, I believe the inscription starts with ichi no do kiri otoshi x x x masa yoshi x x any help would be appreciated

Thanks to all for your help with the translation it was much appreciated, unfortunately John I have deleted the pictures of the blade as I dithered over purchasing it and by the time I got back to the seller he had sold it. Paul

Many thanks John much appreciated Paul

Hi, all looking for some help with the translation of this Mei have got Ju and Kuni but that is about it. Thank in advance Paul

few more book links both swords and armour, some titles not really translated as skills in this area not up to it, enjoy. SWORDS Chokyo Mei - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2539344 Koto oshigata 5 vols - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2552933?tocOpened=1 koto oshigata - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2533524 koto oshigata 3 scrolls - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2609925 fujishiro - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1116200 Imamura Oshikata. Volume 3 - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1186830 Imamura Oshikata. Volume 2 - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1186827 Imamura Oshikata. Volume 1 - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1186820 Shinto oshigata - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2533692 ARMOUR Akinomaki - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2539276 Shimizu - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1145544 Allegory. ? - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1246487 Allegory.??????? - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1246485 - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/771882 unsure of title,armour - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2539259 Gun'yoki "Military Manual" - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2551761?tocOpened=1 how to wear armour - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1087048

Many thanks

Brian, link you have posted is correct is it possible to delete link from original post ? Paul

a few links to books on oshigata Kajihei shingi Oshigata - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1144559 Tsuchiya Oshigata - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1266644 Umetada Meikan - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1183661 Meizukushi (Kanchi'in-bon) - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1288371?itemId=info%3Andljp%2Fpid%2F1288371&__lang=en Ôsekishô - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2483063 Imamura Oshikata. Volume 2 -http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1186827 Imamura Oshikata. Volume 1 - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1186820 Shinto Bengi Kamada Gyomyô - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/2563722?tocOpened=1 Motoya Kotoku Dokkan - http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1190999

Geraint, thanks for a very informative post, not something that I have heard of previously so will try to look into a little further Jeremiah , may thanks for posting the link, a fine looking blade, at least in my eyes. Paul

Peter, negative or suspicious comments are your words not mine I was merely pointing out the contradictory comment on here as in my above missive of the 11 th August.Being a mere mortal and not having reached the god like status of Japanese sword guru from my first post I asked if anyone could point me in the direction of a genuine signature of Tomonari as an exercise in which I could compare and probably work out for myself that I was not correct, It would be interesting to know what you would have done had you come across this blade in you very early sword collecting days , would you have walked away from it I wonder ? With regard to my various messages, I come from a profession where one doesn't give an opinion unless it can be backed up with hard documentary fact and is in fact objective not subjective so perhaps that is a discipline that is not observed in sword collecting world ! You were very quick to decry the blade when others on here took a little more time and effort to arrive at a judgement and clearly see it in a different light than yourself, are you saying that these people are wrong I wonder ?is their ability to look at a sword inferior to your own ?because they are looking at exactly the same information as you and are coming to a different conclusion. The sword whether right or wrong will always form a part of my collection to be as I feel it has taught me quite a lot about Japanese swords but I feel that it has taught me even more about people and their opinions. I have accepted an offer to attend a Token meeting in September so will gladly report back on their findings Paul

Matt, thanks for your input. Paul

Matt, thanks for the information, both informative and interesting but as above in my reply to Jussi, the more information you get the more questions it raises, do you have a view on the blade presented here? Paul

Mywei, do you know what Kimi Banzai means ? Paul

Mywei, thanks for the information,not sure what it implies though, do you have any thoughts that you would like to share ? Paul

Jussi, thanks for your insightful reply but as always more information elicits more questions, with regard to the dragon I too have seen examples of large dragons but to date not one going through clouds so would be interested , from an academic point of view , for a reference to one the kanji on the blade are actually carved into it, incidentally do you know what they mean ? , as I would be most interested in the meaning behind it, if any Paul

Michael, thanks for your message and advice, an earlier post from Geraint suggested visiting the To-Ken UK meeting and he also very kindly offered to have a look at the blade and for both I thank him. Arnold F I am not sure if you are saying that you agree with my initial view that the Kanji illustrated in Fujishiro bear a strong resemblance to those on my blade if only in form, where I think it falls down is in the execution of them would appear from my very simplistic view that they lack confidence in execution, not really looked at enough mei to know if I am right or wrong on this. It would appear to me that there are, what I thought to be, a few initial simple questions to answer regarding said blade and to my mind they are as follows Is the blade Japanese - some say yes some are saying no Is the mei correct - are there examples known - Messrs Hawley and Sekso et al must have got their information to include his name in their various tomes from somewhere Any similar examples known of the execution of the kanji on the blade - are they real characters - what do they translate as What is the status of the dragon horimono _is it just a crude rendition of one and poorly executed _ are there any similar examples known With regard to the dragon I have spent a little time looking at the beast and would suggest that it has been on the blade for some time and would offer up the evidence for this assumption in that if you look carefully you will see that on what would have previously been the high spots on the carving that they have now developed flats , which would suggest that the blade has been polished several times after the carving of it.

Michael, thanks for the interest, wasn't aware that I was suggesting it was Rai but just asking if it was, as I have suggested previously as far as Nihonto is concerned I am a complete novice that is why I have come here to seek advice. The one thing that this thread has shown me however is that advice has been given by various members that contradict others as above some are saying the blade is a Chinese fake others say that the blade is kosher but the horimono are not so please tell me what a mere novice like myself ,without the years of experience some of the commenters on here have, is to think ? I imagine that with uncertain blades there are probably as many different opinions as there are blades this is why , if someone is offering an opinion it is not unreasonable to it to be backed up by hard fat otherwise said opinion is merely conjecture. Paul

Arnold F did you look at Fujishiro pages 24 and 25, as suggested ,because if you have you cannot fail to see the kanji for nari is almost identical to the one I have presented here. Perhaps someone else who has a copy can compare and post their thoughts on here...it might be wishful thinking on my behalf so lets see. Paul

jussi, just googled nakajima rai and this came up http://ryujinswords.com/rai.htmsugaha very similar and yasurime kiri same as on my blade....what do you think? paul