SteveM

日本刀一振南満州鉄道株式会社 所有主　阿部文雄 Nihontō hitofuri Minami Manshū Tetsudō Kabushikikaisha Shoyūnushi Abe Fumio Japanese sword (one) South Manchurian Railway Corporation Owner: Fumio ABE The cloth tags also belong to Fumio Abe, and give his address and the name of a neighborhood association (presumably near where he lived). The address is Motobuto in Urawa (close to Tokyo). Urawa is a fairly major town. The section of Motobuto is still there, but the address system changed, so you'd have to find an old map to pinpoint the location.

Nice hada and nice hamon are not qualities I would normally associate with kazu-uchi mono. Signature and date inscribed on the sword are also not something I would associate with kazu-uchi mono. Kazu-uchi mono are typically unremarkable blades. However, there is a dealer in Japan who was describing one of his authenticated and dated swords as "kazu-uchi mono". It seemed wierd to me. There was a bit of discussion on this forum about it. The thread below isn't the one I was thinking about, but it may be helpful. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/2099-kazu-uchi-mono/ The one thing I can say for sure is... you need to show the whole sword if you want to get some opinions on it.

Looks like 輕 to me as well. Not a kamon, but a mark of the military branch to whom the owner belonged, I think. (light tank division 輕戦車 or finance division 輕理部, maybe?)

天正十年　Tenshō 10 (1582)

OK, so the whole name would be Kangi-nyūdō Akihide, showing that he has some special devotion or affiliation with Kangiten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangiten 於相武台下歓喜入道明秀作之 Oite Sabudai shita, Kangi nyūdō Akihide saku kore Made by Kangi nyūdō Akihide, in Sōbudai.

歓喜 using an old variant of 歓 →　歡 Means joy, jubilation, delight.... Does the sword have any other markings?

Hard to say. Sort of looks like 時 (toki, meaning time, but it could be part of a name as well)

It is a defacto stamp of approval on the cutting test. Another way to think of this; a Kiyomaro blade is so precious, what's the point of trying to tart it up with a fake cutting test? 雁金 is indeed literally translated as "golden wild goose". Its just a figurative naming for how the body is splayed out for the test. I don't know how common cutting tests are on Kiyomaro blades. Pretty rare, I would think. Maybe Jussi has some information on this?

Some more papered Shinano-no-kami Rai Nobuyoshi https://www.touken-sakata.com/刀剣一覧/短刀-銘-菊紋-信濃守藤原来信吉-新刀/ https://www.k-sword.com/goods.php?id=497

Hello Eric, Take a look at either of the links below.

武蔵国住内藤耕銕作之 Musashi-no-kuni jū Naitō Tagayasu* tetsu saku kore 平成二年庚午長月吉日 Heisei ninen kanoe-uma Nagatsuki kichijitsu Tagayasu Naitō of Musashi province made this from steel. Musashi is the classic name for the area where Tokyo is located. There are multiple possible readings for the given name. The date is 1990 (Heisei 2, September).

素銅広地木瓜形 片切彫金銀色絵 象嵌片櫃 銘　伊東深水画意 雲州？ 昭和酉？年新春吉日 寒山誌 Suaka plate in mokko shape Katakiri-bori with gold and silver iroe inlay one hitsu ana Mei Inspired by the art of Itō Shinsui Unshu (?) Showa year of the bird (1969 or 1981), Spring Kanzan I can't get the second half of the signature, or the bits in orange. It would be helpful to see the actual piece. But I am bewildered at the reference to Itō Shinsui. Perhaps my reading is wrong of that bit is wrong.

Is it a tsuba that is somehow associated with the artist Itō Shinsui? 伊東深水

朱白堂　Shuhakudō (art name of the artist) 貴秀 Takahide (personal name of the artist) Late Edo metalsmith according to Wakayama. Wakayama is uncertain of the middle kanji of the "art name", so it is left as blank in his encyclopedia of metalsmiths, but it seems fairly clearly to be 白 (haku) to me. Nice design. I like how the clouds are handled in this piece.

This is the first time for me to come across this term "Aname". Since it seems completely specific to the image of the grass growing through the skull, I would think it is a very unusual and rare topic for tōsōgu, but I will keep an eye out for other examples from now on. It would seem to be a niche sub-genre of "nozarashi" which just means "exposed to the elements" (literally, exposed on the field). Nozarashi has since come to be known as a shorthand for bones/skulls left on the battlefield, reminding bushi of the brevity of life, and harmonizing with the Buddhist doctrine of dukka - inherent suffering in life. I don't think Basho coined the term, but I guess he was responsible for its adoption as a "meme" in the Edo period. I will look out for specific references to this as well. ”Nozarashi” is also the name of a story in rakugo, but this dates from the 1800s, so Basho's Nozarashi no Kikō well predates the rakugo story. In any event, I think the tsuba in the picture somehow wraps up all of these things in a way that is very sophisticated, and hints at the high level of erudition the original owner must have had.