SteveM

Hiromitsu, January 1945. Seki stamp, two Gifu stamps, and I can't make out the small stamp next to the Seki stamp. I guess there is one other round-ish stamp there, but I can't make it out.

千秋 = Long life 寿福多男 = Many kids/descendants May you be blessed with a long life and many descendants.

Hello Klaus, Your sword reads 服部鍛刀所造之 Hattori tantō-jo kore wo tsukuru (or, Hattori tantō-jo tsukuru kore if you read word-for-word) slightly different from the reading you mention in your post. Or, in proper kanbun with Japanese reading it might be "Kore wo Hattori tanntō-jo ni te tsukurimashita".

Left side = 靖憲　Yasunori Right side = 靖徳　Yasutoku

Hello Christian, Read the thread below, and also if you search this site for any thread or post on "green papers", you will find a great deal of information on this topic. It is one of the most discussed topics on this forum. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32084-some-thoughts-on-papers/

They are still around, apparently http://www.katana-hattori.com/enkaku_01/binsen_ww2_01.html

四季の花鳥 梅に鶯　春 渡辺環水 Birds and flowers of the four seasons Plum and nightingale Watanabe Kansui

Left side looks like a name 杉田貴一 Sugita Kiichi (or something ending with ichi/kazu)

Ryūryūkyo Shinsai 柳々居辰斎 https://ukiyo-e.org/image/mfa/sc145775

桑名住盛重 Kuwana-jū Morishige (using obscure variants of 桑 and 名)

Hello Bernard, Malcom, Maybe the figure in the sketch Bernard has, is a study for one of the figures in Sudden Shower of Shin Ohashi Bridge? https://www.artic.edu/artworks/26545/sudden-shower-over-shin-ohashi-bridge-and-atake-ohashi-atake-no-yudachi-from-the-series-one-hundred-famous-views-of-edo-meisho-edo-hyakkei And Bernard I am trying to decipher the print from Basil Chamberlain's collection. They are poems related to Autumn, but I can't quite nail any of them yet. I can verify that they carry Chamberlain's seal. Fascinating stuff.

Bernard, regarding your steam locomotive print https://www.gerrishfineart.com/urushibara-yoshijiro-in-the-docks-woodcut~2134

In Japanese.... https://www.touken-world.jp/modern-exbition2019/

For Ray's post #185 The first one is Ohara Koson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohara_Koson The second one, the artist's name is Yoshitaka (芳高), but I can't identify him beyond his name. The third and fourth are an artist named Shunsui (春翠). As above I cannot identify the exact artist. There were a few who used this name.

The subject of wheels and water comes up every now and again. Check out the threads below http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4604-wheels-in-water/ http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/30038-yodogawa-no-zu/ The addition of the praying mantis is a new twist, but yes it seems to be a symbol of bravery (or, conversely, of foolishness). I think in the context of a tsuba it would almost certainly be symbolic of bravery.

Thomas I think you are right. I agree it is intended to be ジャワ刀. The sword cross-linked in post #12 clearly has the dakuten, which make the entire inscription make sense. Adam's sword in the original post in this thread should also be read the same way ジャワ刀　スマラン. The problem with the sword posted by Adam, is that the inscription is so crude (and missing the dakuten) that it feels like it was not carved by a Japanese person. I would be very dubious of the inscription. The sword itself may be a war relic, but the inscription feels like it was intended to deceive. Side note, the sword cross-linked in post #13 has the exact same inscription, but the poster misidentified the ジャワ刀 as well.

Hello Roger, I don't know much about tsuba either, but I echo your thoughts and maybe by bumping this up someone more knowledgeable will jump in. It is a curious mixture of rustic imperfection, and detail regarding the inlay. On the front is an unusually asymmetric placing of three leaf designs, and in the space where you would expect a fourth leaf, the design is simply a geometric pattern. Is this a deliberate attempt by the artist to show three leaves only? I doubt its an oversight, but it seams odd. On the reverse side they are not even rendered as leaves, just as geometric designs - so that strikes me as unusual as well. Can we assume that all the lines would have had inlay - it looks like that was the intention. The outline of the seppa-dai on the reverse side seems crudely done compared to the inlaid outline of the seppa-dai on the front. All-in-all an interesting curiousity.

It doesn't look like Mune to me. Moriyama-san above mentioned it looks like Hide 秀, so I wouldn't ignore that suggestion. Piers suggested 永, and that was my first impression also. Hide and Naga seem more plausible than Mune 宗. I would chase down those two avenues first. A cursory search on the internet didn't turn up too much for me, though. I think if you want a definitive answer you'll have to get it to shinsa somewhere.

No, I don't know what that seal signifies. Usually its the artist's own name, or art name, but I can't tell what the character is in this seal.

The Issho of the picture from the book is a different "shō" (and therefore a different person) 一匠 一昇 應需　= Ōju means "made to order", "special order, etc... Its a phrase that indicates the tsuba was made at the request of someone. 謹識筆　＝　謹んで、しるす (ひつ） Made and inscribed with care (?). on the reverse 音無川 = Otonashi river. This is a river close to where Isshō lived. It appears on other tsuba made by him.

On the front its signed 應需　一匠　謹識筆 On the back... is it possible to get a better picture? ～音無川～

後藤廣正 Gotō Hiromasa See the link here http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/31377-help-with-possible-purchase/

Its the actor Bandō Mitsugorō, and the artist is Kunisada. 1815 - 1830s? This is one of a series of a lot of Bandō Mitsugorō prints. He must have been the Brad Pitt of his generation. I wish I could find the exact one, but I can't locate it in any of the databases.

内府監制 I think this is Chinese. At least, when I search on this phrase, I get nothing from Japan, but a number of hits from auction sites for items apparently from China that have this same stamp on it. I don't speak Chinese, but my guess is that it is an inspection stamp.

It can be read as Masaie. I thought this same kanji had come up in another thread a while back, but I couldn't find any record of it anywhere here or elswhere online, so I gave up.