SteveM

Uwe's post above mentions both possible readings. "he is also listed under the reading “Sukenobu” of his characters"

関吉田兼氏作 Seki, YOSHIDA Kaneuji saku (Made by Kaneuji YOSHIDA of Seki town) More info in the thread here

It's hard to say anything other than "looks unusual". I mean, those chunks missing from the tang don't look anything like poor maintenance OR typical aging. Normally, even a tang that has been greatly shortened looks cleaner than that. But, I don't know how significant it is for this particular blade. Anything beyond that and we get stuck in the weeds without knowing more about the blade.

The link is sending me to a login screen for Jauce. Possible to post a picture of screen grab of the item?

Jūyō (ten stars) is also a known crest https://irohakamon.com/kamon/hoshi/juuboshi.html

So close, Kuriki Kanemasa

Normally we would need to see the sword itself, and not just the inscription. The reason is because the name written on the sword is usually secondary to the condition of the sword. In this case, your sword is inscribed with 行宗 (Yukimune), which is the name of the swordsmith.

Top tsuba looks like it is depicting a scene from Genji Monogatari. My guess is that the tsuba itself would be late Edo. I like it. It's not a museum piece, but nothing wrong with a that. The motif of the bottom tsuba is "jūyō" (ten worlds). It's a slight variation on the more common "kuyō" (nine worlds) theme. Its used as a family crest, and is commonly seen on tsuba, or clothes, armor, or on architectural flourishes (roof tiles, etc.). It's an abstract representation of 10 stars. The top photo of this tsuba makes it look like the center dot is mother-of-pearl or something, but it could just be a trick of photography. As to the three holes on the opposing side, I don't know if those are another design motif, or are just holes in the tsuba through which a strap is threaded, used to secure the sword to the wrist (udenuki-ana, in Japanese). Usually there are only two holes for the arm strap. The wood-grain textured surface is nicely done. Again, another nice antique. Probably also mid-to-late Edo. Here is a similar one (without the crest). This one was done my the Myōchin school (armorers who also made sword furnishings). Yours could also be Myōchin, or someone trying to aspire to the Myōchin style. https://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2011/1110_6054syousai.htm

Just looking at the signature, its very far off from Tsunbo Nagatsuna, so best to think of this as another smith, or gimei.

Missing too much of the tag to say with any certainty. Usually the tags contain an address and name (in that order, read from right to left). Looks like 安角　（Azumi) possibly Azumi district of Sekikawa village in Niigata prefecture. 本間宇 Honma (surname) and then part of a given name with multiple possible readings. The signature on the tang is 摂州住長綱　　Sesshū-jū Nagatsuna (made by Nagatsuna of Sesshū province. Sesshū is present-day Ōsaka). Looks like a nice antique sword, that well predates WW2.

I thought that 初代銘也力作　might be another possibility

竹囗透 鐔 ＊ take　 sukashi tsuba I think this is a completely different character from 茎 (kuki) but I don't know what it is trying to be. Design should be 枝折竹 (shiori-take), but that doesn't provide me with any clues. I toyed with several ideas: 竹笹 or 竹萎 but in the end I didn't like any of these. 無銘 尾張歟 ＊ mumei Owari-ka I'm pretty sure this is 歟, which is used to express a possibility, or an opinion given with some room for doubt

Maybe 吉春　Yoshiharu (or possibly 喜春, same reading)

That was Thomas's handiwork, but I'm sure the thanks is appreciated just the same.

Yes - that is my guess as well. Steve

1st one is 面白元作之珍重　　 Interesting and original (design) 2nd one is 出来宜敷囗 deki yoroshiku I'm actually a bit stumped by the final character of the second line. I have a few Kanzan hakogaki with this same construction, and I have kind of lazily skipped over it, thinking it was part of 宜敷, or maybe it was 宜敷く, or some variation of く (perhaps hentaigana). But looking at this fresh I don't like any of those options, and am wondering what it is exactly. Edit: Looking again, I guess the last character is 候 (in kuzushiji)

南蛮龍象嵌透 布目

You can do this if you have an address in Japan, or are using an agent to import (so that the agent can put down his address). But if you are a tourist I don't think you can get the temporary permission slip.

If you are near Southern California, I would recommend taking it to Mike Yamasaki, who can give you good advice on the blade and the polishing process. What I can tell you today is that the blade comes with an appraisal paper (origami) from Hon'ami Kō'on, dated 1662. Kō'on says the blade comes from the Sa lineage (he doesn't specify the exact smith). The blade was already shortened and had lost its signature by this time. Then, in 1953 (maybe January, can't quite tell), Japanese sword scholar Kashima Tsutomu reaffirmed the sword was of the Sa lineage via his own appraisal. Then, in June of that same year, the NBTHK also appraised the sword as coming from the Sa lineage, and gave it a "Precious" designation (one of the designations that predates the Tokubetsu Hozon designation). The current "Sa Hiroyuki" appraisal comes from the latest NBTHK appraisal, dated 2021, in which it received the Tokubetsu Hozon designation. So, no doubt the sword is of the Sa school, but there may not be absolute consensus among the Japanese sword world as to the Hiroyuki appraisal. This may be one reason the sword currently does not have a Jūyō designation. My gut feeling is that if the sword were a super strong candidate for Jūyō, the sword dealer Seiyūdō would have submitted it themselves in order to take advantage of the potential profit that they could have received by selling it as a Jūyō blade. But I am not an expert, and that "gut feeling" is sort of a lazy person's conclusion.

I don't think this is Nobu (信). The two angled strokes at the top of the character inscribed on this nakago are sort of floating in isolation to the rest of the strokes. The left angled stroke needs to have a vertical stroke centered directly underneath it. The right angled stroke needs to be more or less centered above the other horizontal strokes. And there would be a very boxy-looking set of strokes at the bottom of the character. None of these are present, so even giving a lot of latitude for artistic flourish, this character could not be 信. I don't think its 兼 (Kane) either, for similar reasons. Unfortunately, I can't offer a plausible candidate for what it might be. It doesn't look like anything other than some random strokes. I mean it kind of looks similar to 金 or 全 or even 年, rather than 信 or 兼, but none of those options look right either. So I'm at a bit of a loss. Random strokes by someone? An abandoned attempt at forgery?

Theme is Shoki fighting a demon. Mei is 山城國　吉久　Yamashiro-no-kuni, Yoshihisa

チヤ (Chiya) Chiya is the name of a city that had a tatara furnace in it, and it is where he produced some swords.

Yeah...me too. And つつじ. I really wonder if average people in the Edo period intuitively knew how to read hentaigana, or if they just picked it up from the context, or if they just waited until some educated person came along and told them how to read (for example) a caption like this? The text in the red box I could pick out half of the characters, but the other half came with the help of the internet.

From the series 風流花鳥尽 (Compilation of Tasteful Flowers and Birds) by Hiroshige 2nd. 雉子つづじ　Pheasants and Azaleas きくうづら　Chrysanthemums and Quail 藤の花つばめ　Wisteria and swallows Some of these are in hentaigana, so they look different to what I've written above

I presume any modern engraving machine/device can do this. The IJA may well have made use of such a device, but certainly Iga-no-kami Kinmichi did not.