SteveM

They are random kanji numbers stamped on to the nakago: 6, 3, something, 5. The "something" may have been a 4 that has had another kanji stamped over it.

New feature-film on Japanese swords opening in Japan at end of May. I don't know much about this... it just popped up in one of my social media feeds. http://toukenmovie.jp/

Doesn't look particularly strange to me. A few of the transliterations of the tag are wrong: should be Takehara (and I'm not quite sure if he was a Major or not. Maybe Chief Warrant Officer? 兵曹長?). Can't find any reference for this Matsumoto Platoon either. But the sword itself and the fittings look OK.

I thought this one was exceptional. Its about sword-polishing. Another poster linked to it in a recent thread. I was fascinated by the life and the dedication and the various twists their stories took. It may have been posted in the thread discussing the potential of westerners to become established polishers and then passing on their craft to other westerners. You can see in this documentary it takes a certain kind of dedication and acceptance of (submission to?) tradition to pursue this calling.

Yes, Jussi is correct. The reverse side looks like 昭和二十年三月 Shōwa 20 (1945), March

Yoroi Bitsu http://www.xn--u9j370humdba539qcybpym.jp/archives/4760 Sometimes you see them on display in the tokonoma of a Japanese room, but I kind of doubt this was general practice in Edo times.

You're fired. Pick up your check and take a shower. I want your locker cleared before noon. In your searchings for Awataguchi + Tadatsuna, did you never come across the following? It is a pretty big name in the sword world. (Give it one last chance before you look at the answer...)

What the...? Now you are not even trying... give Google a whirl and see if Awataguchi + Tadatsuna turns up something useful.

Very close! If you got Awataguchi and Tadatsuna, the middle three kanji should be a cinch. Google-sensei can give you a nudge in the right direction. (hint: its not Fujiwara).

As Thomas mentioned above, your sword was shortened (i.e. the bottom bit of the tang was cut off) presumably so it could fit into the WW2 mounts, but the shortening could have happened earlier for a number of reasons. It is not at all uncommon. It's called suriage, and if you search this site and others you can find a lot of articles about it, why it was done, etc... For the other sword, it would be better if you could get rid of the white paint - the white paint distracts from the smaller, but nonetheless important strokes in the inscription. As it is I think it is probably 酒向兼義 (Sako Kaneyoshi) or possibly even 酒向兼茂 (Sako Kaneshige) which would be a weird coincidence because there was a post very recently with this same smith. I would suggest removing the white paint and trying to get some macro (or close to it) photos of the inscription.

1873, maybe? Look at the entry here... I think this is your man. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchida_Kuichi

忠行　Tadayuki

Hello Joe, You need to go a bit farther down on that site, where it shows all the combinations of the zodiac signs and what they correspond to in the gregorian calendar. Look for this particular combination on line 57 after the Twelve Earthly Branches chart. The kanji don't represent individual numerals, they represent a position on a 60-year cycle that keeps repeating. Since Shōwa lasted longer than 60 years, there are a few zodiac combinations that repeat themselves within Shōwa. But Shōwa is an outlier, and usually eras are much, much shorter, and so there is no ambiguity about what year the combination refers to.

The writing in the white box says "富嶽三十六景" (Thirty Six Views of Fugaku/Fuji), as well as the name of this print, which is listed as #2 in the series in the wikipedia entry. The other line (outside the box) is the artist's name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-six_Views_of_Mount_Fuji Sometimes there is a printer's mark or cartouche on the margin of the print that points to a time frame. It would be tough to tell the printer just from looking at the print.

乗意　Jyōi　　（I think) Wakayama says that Nagaharu 永春 was one of his "art" names (Go - 号）

This one (kan-man) might look a bit closer to the mark. (Respectfully lifted from a Rakuten site...) http://item.rakuten.co.jp/kuubokumon/a-2/

Kan-man (不動明王) makes sense, but I'm starting to think the one on the right has the wrong orientation, and ought to be rotated 180 degrees (and the top bonji would be the one for Bishamon-ten 毘沙門天)

The signature is fine. 高田住藤原統景 (Takada-jū Fujiwara Munekage). The sword looks OK to me. Nothing fabulous. In need of a polish, but unfortunately the polishing may cost more than the finished product is worth on the open market. How do you take such awesome pictures, by the way? Edit: Here is one in a better state of polish http://sinogi.dee.cc/katarogu/1801/munekage-k269078/k269078.htm

I think 神水汲 (Kami mizukumi?). Seems to be a reference to Hachiman Shrine in Hakozaki, Fukuoka (formerly Chikushū), but I don't get the rest of it. Also, I think the smith's name is 美昌 (Yoshimasa) On the reverse 文化元年十一月日

I have a personal theory that some mekugi ana are added to gimei swords deliberately to cover up a counterfeit job gone wrong.

↑ Well done. The bit in the square bracket just means the top left part kanji 守 (the "u" kanmuri) breaks to the left. Attaching a picture of the 守 in question. (I have no idea if what they are saying is true about 1st generation... I would be very suspicious about cheap Shinkai blades on auction sites).

Study the sword, find out more about the smith, compare it with other swords, etc... These are all the ways to find out more about your sword. There should be tons of threads or posts regarding rusty WWII blades on this site, so fiddle around with the search function to see what pops up. My guess is that yours is a typical WWII foundry-forged and oil-quenched gunto. Its just a guess - I have no knowledge of Kanenaga other than the few samples that popped up when I Googled him, so that might also be a good place to start. Jean mentioned Kanekiyo, so you might also Google that smith (gunto + Kanekiyo) to see if there are any samples that pop up, and then compare yours against those samples. I think the first two kanji on the revers side are 昭和 Shōwa. The month is November, as you surmise.

包永　Kanenaga, I think. See another example here http://winners-auction.jp/productDetail/10786

Great info, and just goes to show you (me) that even the Japanese dealers sometimes don't know what they have.

I think mostly ceremonial swords presented by the government. Maybe given to politicians, nobility, community leaders, police chiefs, fire chiefs, etc...