SteveM

算経 Sankei

I think those couple of characters in that line are 小反 (kozori). Also, the 伝 (den) at the front is worth mentioning.

No, I think John's was the right answer. 越州住兼植 Esshū jū Kanetane. A few smiths used that name.

The steel looks almost featureless, except for the white hamon, which in the very top pictures looks like the edge ends in a foamy, bright white line. In the second group of photos the white line isn't to be seen, so maybe its a trick of the lighting used for photography, but the second group reveals the hamon to be free from any activity. It is just a bright area, a consistently pale wavy strip, on the steel. So the clues point to a WWII-era Seki blade with no characteristics of hand-forged steel, and that is why I assume its a mass-produced oil-quenched sword. Looking at it positively, I would say its a nice piece for collectors of militaria.

Actually, that 石井 looks to me like 研 (maybe 上研 uwamigaki?)

Family crest is called 菱に二つ引き　(hishi ni futatsu biki), meaning just as you would assume: two lines in a diamond shape. Related crests, such as two bars in a circle, are associated with the Ashikaga family, so this could be an offshoot from that family. Bear in mind that the association has become diluted with the passage of time. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BC%95%E4%B8%A1%E7%B4%8B

Well, now that would really piss me off! I think probably your assumption is correct. I would definitely ask about that. But what a disappointment - after going through the trouble to translate something, then having it get buggered up in the final step. I'm feeling your pain, Piers!

The odd English is a pet peeve of mine. In short, my guess is that the curators were cutting costs on the exhibition, and opted for someone who may have relied heavily on machine translation, and/or skipped proofreading.

The one on the bottom is 南　(Minami, or more likely the on'yomi of ~nan when combined with the kanji on top). The top one, however, is a mystery to me.

The reverse side is: 慶應二丙寅仲秋 Mid-Autumn, Keiō 2 (1866)

Morita-san has already done the hard work for us. Take a look at this post from earlier last year from the same smith, and an identical inscription. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/17291-mei-probablement-showa-me-ch/

I think the writing indicates the sword was presented from the Governor-General (not a present to the Governor-General). The recipient is unnamed.

I agree with Jean above regarding the blade. Perhaps it was created in a Seki foundry. Seki is an important sword-making region in Japan, and there was a foundry there making swords for the army under the supervision of some smiths who then sometimes put their names to their swords. Kanehisa was from Gifu-prefecture, which is where Seki is located. So if I had to judge from your photos (which is often a dodgy proposition) I would say yours is an oil-quenched Seki blade. This doesn't mean it is trash, by any means. It has value as an historical artifact, and there are a lot of collectors of Japanese WWII swords no matter what quality of steel or how it was forged. Unfortunately for you, your sword furnishings (scabbard, tassel, menuki, etc..) look like they've all had a rough life. I think it will probably be too much effort to try to restore the sword and the furnishings to museum quality. And because there were so many of these items produced, it means there are still a great number of high quality pieces intact, or reconstituted from surplus parts, which makes restoring or replacing damaged pieces a labor of love that will cost more than the end product will be worth on the open market. I think you should take care that any rust doesn't spread, and read up on this site how to store the sword, and you should have a very interesting keepsake

The first four kanji are the name of a pro-wrestler turned politician (and back to pro-wrestler) here in Japan. 大仁田厚　Ōnita Atsushi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atsushi_Onita Maybe he also moonlighted as a swordsmith??

The sayagaki says 賞　朝鮮総督　南次郎 Present/Award Governor General of Korea, Jirō Minami https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jir%C5%8D_Minami

I chose Onoki because of the Onoki that appears in the list of RJT smiths (the same smith one that John Stuart mentions). I think probably there is some connection with Naoji, considering the same 治 kanji is used in both of their given names.

小野木米治 Onoki Yoneharu (?)

I think this is a different sword from the one Tsuruta-san bought 30 years ago. The sword up for auction is a consignment sale. (And, 27m is the starting price...no telling where it will end up.) But, having said that...50M is a huge amount. Would like to see that sword. Wonder where it is. Wish I had a cool 50M to go spend sword-shopping at Southeby's.

I don't know either, but there is a poster on this site whose online name is GASAM (G. Samsonsen), and his avatar looks very much like this design, He might have an idea.

Tomoyasu 友保（花押） is my guess. Not overly confident in this - the character I think is "友" has an extra stroke in there, so it may not be 友. The other bits seem to me to be part of an "artists" name, but again this part is so stylized I can't pick anything out. One kind of looks like 松 (Matsu), but the following kanji aren't matching anything in my reference.

Translators of the world, rest easy. Your jobs are safe for a few more years.

Another Yoshishige here; http://www.samuraishokai.jp/sword/14123.html

Hello Edward, The first one is an address and personal name (ranged in order from general to specific... i.e. the opposite of how we in the west address letters) Nagasaki-ken Minami Matsuura-gun Narao-chō Iwaseura-gō UOTANI Shigetsugu The last picture is slightly strange because it says "unsigned", but clearly both the sword and the bag have names on them, so its a bit unusual. At any rate it says: Name: Unsigned Length: 2 shaku, 5 sun (shaku and sun are old Japanese units of measurement)

Hello David, Sorry to say I can't help you any more than the three native speakers have already tried to help you, but it looks to me like your friend Mr. Kase is closest to the mark. I don't get 仙台 out of the two starting characters. 仙 is fine, but the next one looks nothing like 台 (or the old version 臺) so I have my doubts.If guns are inscribed similarly to swords (guns are a completely untouched universe for me), the kanji after 仙 all point to a location where the smith lived and worked. I little farther down you have the kanji 住, which is a common kanji found on swords indicating location. A typical construction is Province + City + personal name of the smith. Your gun has similar elements (which your Kase-san has figured out), but the rest are a bit too obscured for me.

祐定 Sukesada. Plenty of fake signatures out there. Best to concentrate on the sword, and not the signature for this one. Agree that it is in need of a restoration, starting with a polishing which will cost from $1000 to $2000 (say $2000 when you factor in shipping, etc...). Could be a nice labor of love, but if you are looking for value there are plenty of other swords out there.