SteveM

Date is Tenshō 4 = 1576 The "double-two" is intended to be a replacement for the character for "four" (四), because the word for four is a homonym for the word for death (shi), and is therefore considered bad luck and is often avoided in inscriptions.

That last one is a much better picture. It could indeed have been Heianjō - Masatoshi. The sword would validate the signature, but the inscription could plausibly be Masatoshi...a bit too degraded to say with confidence.

Very poorly written names, and looks like it was probably written by a westerner. Left side (white stripe) says 長谷川駅？　Hasegawa Station (not sure about Station) Right side (red stripe) says (probably) 西川清　Nishikawa Kiyoshi

I looked at this and I too thought it was a bit of a dead end due to the corrosion, but yes Heianjō (平安城) is plausible for the first three characters. The one after that is... maybe Hiro (廣), or something else. It doesn't look like Masatoshi (正俊).

I think the missing character you refer to is Rai (来), which the 4 generations of Izumi-no-kami Kinmichi smiths used in their name, so the usual mei is Izumi-no-kami Rai Kinmichi, which makes the mei on your sword an outlier. Of the 4 generations, the mei on yours kind of resembles the 3rd generation (late 1600s). I don't know if the lack of "Rai" automatically indicates a fake signature, but...the sword world doesn't much like outliers. Be that as it may, and ignoring the signature, the sword itself looks OK - I mean it looks like a well-made Japanese sword probably from that time period of late 1600s - 1700s.

According to Markus's article, the previous "oldest" text was from 1423 (Kanchi’in Bon Mei Zukushi) which itself was a copy of a now lost text from 1316.

Or 一的製？(made by Itteki)

Ōshima Mitsuyoshi https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大島光義 Only in Japanese, but Google can probably do a decent job of translating it. I don't know if the letter is actually addressed to Oshima Mitsuyoshi, but as often happens when translating, once a thought enters your mind you kind of fall into a confirmation bias loop from which it is hard to escape. So, that's the long way of saying I could be wrong. In this person's case, 大嶋 = 大島. Both are Ōshima.

If I had to take a slightly wild but slightly educated guess, I would say it's an official order to a retainer/ally, notifying that ally of his new posting. The first letter is 就 which indicates its an order. The far left is the addressee, and I'm not sure but I think its 大嶋囗囗どのへ　(To the Honorable Mr. Oshima), and if I jump to conclusions I can imagine it is a letter to Oshima Mitsuyoshi, a longstanding ally of Tokugawa, who was a really, really old man by the time Tokugawa was Shogun, and Tokugawa I think awarded Oshima some cushy posting where he could live out his days in comfort.

I don't see any Osaka on there. It looks like its possibly his seal #8 below, particularly the part in the red circle. The seal was in use c.1602-1607 (according to the site at the link below, from which I've snipped the photo of the seals). Many fakes in the world of Japanese antiques, so always best to keep your guard up. https://raisoku.com/5863

You have a better shot of the seal? Ieyasu's name should be in the middle of the black seal. It looks like his handwriting. Dated August 26th, but no year indicated.

This same sword appeared on the forum some months ago;

Honestly, considering the clumsy writing of 藤原, I thought the third kanji was a poor attempt at 兼. The last one could well be a partial 是, or a partial 恒.

Happy New Year Everyone, The next meeting of the Southern California Japanese Sword Club (Nanka Token Kai) will be on the 9th of January, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the usual venue. Club Sensei Mike Yamasaki will be unable to attend, so there will be no formal agenda, but feel free to drop by. If you have any documents/items and you would like to know what they say, bring them and I will take a look. Steve Meeting Details: Location: Gardena Valley JCI, 1964 W. 162nd Street, Gardena, CA 90247 Day/Date: Friday/January 9, 2026 Time: 7:00-9:00 PM

I'd like to know, too. If anyone has any info, do post it here if possible.