Thanks Brian The below are the description from the seller Small tanto from the 19th century, 5.8 inch cutting edge in fine polish, the signature is above the ridge line, very nice blade in beautifuly crafted aikuchi koshirae koshirae has a samurai poem on it, under the poem is the name of the man who wrote the poem, called Koutoku. The blade has the signature of Kiku Ichimonji, living and working at the end of 19th century. there is a nice link(http://www.kikuichimonji.co.jp/h.html) here about him, at the end of samurai era and carrying swords and he made commercial items, cooking knives and tools, but as you can see he made nice tanto also, so this is a rare example with a nice history and well documented. The Japanese man who translated it found it difficult as old type of writing style and poem, but it is something like : life is like a cherry tree, it blooms beautifuly and falls when it end. Also see http://www.kikuichimonji.com/ Regards, Francis