SteveM

Hello Sean, The inscription on the tang is 武州住下原廣重 Bushū Shimohara-ju Hiroshige The mon is called umebachi (梅鉢) or plum bowl/pot. http://www.yoroduya.co.jp/kamon/a/umebachi.html

Hello Whitegryphon70, Kinmichi is an "artist's name" that was used by about 24 different swordsmiths (maybe more). There are at least 6 of these who signed it exactly as you have in the sword you posted 「伊賀守金道」 Iga-no-kami Kinmichi. And as Jean points out above, all of the Kinmichi who signed their swords this way worked in the Kyoto area. There is no date inscribed on your sword, so the seller cannot know when it was manufactured (unless he/she radiocarbon-dated the sword!). Seeing as how it has a very shallow sori, my guess from just looking at the sword is that it was forged in the mid-to-late 1600s. As Brian says, it does look like an OK sword - no reproduction. It has a funky circular mark in the hamon (in the second picture), but maybe not a deal-breaker. It looks like it needs a polish, but with all the discussion of the delicate process of polishing going on, I hesitate to even venture into that arena. The shape is one that sword collectors tend to discount. The WWII mountings look fine. Bear in mind this is sort of like talking about how good the frame is on a painting from an old-master. I would question the seller's statement that it is "difficult" to find a blade in this condition. The condition is very average. The interwebz are full of blades in that sort of condition. So, this is sort of a long-winded way of saying, beware of that seller. He's fishing for people who have a weakness for buzzwords like ninja and samurai. If you really just want any old sword from the Edo era, they can be bought for around $1000 (or less if you keep your eyes open). If you have $3000 burning a hole in your pocket, you should set your sights slightly higher and watch this forum for a papered sword from one of the sellers here. Ebay is a dangerous place for people who are just starting to dabble in nihonto.

Yes, the book entry calls it "sturgeon han-dachi koshirae". Sturgeon in Japanese is 蝶鮫 (chōsame or chōzame) which literally translates as "butterfly shark", so-called because the scales resemble butterfles.

Actually there are two readings for 造作 1. ぞうさく to manufacture 2. ぞうさ troublesome　(alternate writing 雑作) ← I wasn't aware of this reading until you mentioned it! http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%80%A0%E4%BD%9C But having said that, I'm still not confident of 造 - especially since I found other threads where this same kanji is identified as 謹 (謹作 - kinsaku). I did find a registration certificate for a Kanemasa (from an auction site) that uses 造作. The smith only passed away in 1989...wish I could ask him what it was. I'll tentatively go with 謹作, but to my eyes it really doesn't resemble 謹. http://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/s431219078/ http://www.passionmilitaria.com/t83497-kai-gunto-signe-kuriki-kanesada http://www.passionmilitaria.com/t91818-kai-gunto-signe-kuriki-kanesada http://www.swordforum.com/forums/showthread.php?70963-Sword-ID&highlight=kuriki

I think I found it...at least, a modern version of it; http://hirosankim.exblog.jp/10031685/ According to this bloggist, It recalls the feeling that San'yo felt coming out of isolation and seeing the scenery of Miyajima in front of him, and his reflecting on the Battle of Miyajima. 閉門修史出門遊　逐次吟朗上面接　落日蒼茫千古　毛陶戦遽来是前洲 Some of the kanji are out of order in the above, but I believe this is the same poem. San'yo was kept under house arrest of sorts by his father after going missing. Perhaps this poem was written after the punishment was lifted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Miyajima

Looks like a Chinese-style poem from the Japanese writer/scholar/artist Rai San'yo (頼山陽) from the anthology Chōkijō 暢寄帖. Haven't a clue what it means, but you can find Rai San'yo in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_San%27yo Note: the poem is San'yo's, but the kakejiku is written by someone else (I think...can't see the seals but I would be surprised if it was written by San'yo himself).

Good Morning from Tokyo. Fine, brisk weather today. My smartphone tells me its 5° Celsius with a wind chill making it feel like 0°. It was a good 2015, and I was very happy to become re-acquainted with nihonto and with Nihonto Message Board after an absence of many years. I wonder why I ever drifted away? Anyway, very happy to help out, even if half the time I'm making a wild guess. When studying nihonto I am often reminded of the quote regarding physics supposedly attributable to Richard Feynman; "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics". I feel like this regarding nihonto. Just when I think I'm starting to grasp the fundamentals, some other variable comes along I realize how much I don't know. So, I'm still a novice, but sometimes I feel like I'm inching my way out of novicehood - many thanks to the people here. Looking forward to more challenges in 2016.

Well, you got the right oshigata, but the translation is wrong. (Not 100% confident of the 造) And the Seki stamp would be 関 You can find out more about these swords and their manufacture here http://ohmura-study.net/211.html And of course, if you use the search function you should be able to find out more at Nihonto Message Board as well.

Hello Paul, Looks like an attempt at either 祐 (suke) or perhaps 若 (waka).

武山義臣　Takeyama Yoshiomi (on the list)

芦葉江 = Ashibagō http://meitou.info/index.php/%E8%8A%A6%E8%91%89%E6%B1%9F 土浦潘 = Tsuchiura-han (Tsuchiura is a location in present-day Ibaraki)

We are talking about the sword in the very top picture, yes? To me it looks like a guntō in undistinguished, non-military mountings. That and the lack of patina on the nakago pushed me in the direction of Showa.

"Bunka Shiryō" http://www.jssus.org/nkp/tosogu_kanteisho.html

Hello Eric, It is quite common to replace these fittings on blades. Fuchi and kashira typically come as a set. If your sword is worth polishing and perhaps submitting to shinsa with a view to selling it at a later date, new fittings will not be necessary. They will be a distraction that drives up the cost of the sword. I would only restore the whole ensemble if I were keeping it as a pet project - a labor of love, if you like. If you get the sword polished, you will undoubtedly also get a new shirasaya (and probably a new habaki) made for the sword, and this will be sufficient for preservation and for presentation to a prospective buyer.

Showa Seki smith Kanemoto, would be my guess.

I'm tempted to say 忠利 Tadatoshi, but that leaves me holding the 刀 with no place to put it. There are a few 忠利 artists, but none who signed as 忠利刀. Anyway, my wild guess is 忠利刀, but there is no such artist in my reference.

Right side is 龍池軒 Ryūchiken Left side (as Curran has already pointed out) is 新井英隋 Arai Hideyuki

Hello Michael, None of us can say for sure. It looks to me like it is older than Showa. It looks like it is of the kanmuri-otoshi type of construction. The signature on the tang of your blade appears to be 兼元 (Kanemoto), or possibly 兼光 (Kanemitsu), but I am leaning towards 兼元. I cannot tell if it is an authentic signature or not. An interesting feature on your blade is the groove on one side. Actually it appears to have a double-groove, but the smaller bottom groove looks like it has been almost completely polished out. It is just visible above the habaki (the copper-ish collar). If you have been studying Japanese swords for a couple of years you probably know that there is a huge quantity of counterfeit swords and reproductions, particularly on the auction sites. So I am always suspicious of auction sites. I don't think your sword is Showa. The hamon appears to be genuine (from looking at the photos on ebay). I think the groove on one side is curious, but it doesn't strike me as being fake. The tang certainly looks very old.

My guess: the top mei (the one in-between the nakago-ana and the square kōgai-ana) reads 君萬歳 (kimi banzai). It's a phrase showing reverence for the emperor. The bottom right mei reads 東龍斎 (Tōryūsai). I can't make out the final kanji (or is it two kanji?). The bottom left mei is 囗文（丈？）花押 There were at least four artisans who signed as 東龍斎. This particular signature doesn't check off all the boxes on any of the candidates in my reference, but 清寿 (Kiyotoshi) might be a strong candidate as he used several a variety of names, often variations of 東龍斎, and added on extra signatures throughout his life.

Also, Ohmura's site was (is) useful for me in understanding military swords. http://ohmura-study.net/934.html

Same as Ed above, I haven't had the malware warning pop-up recently. No problems loading or viewing. Using Firefox and Chrome.

I think Tomita, as John mentioned in his post above.

正二 or possibly Shōji?

祐久　Sukehisa is my guess. There is a Sukehisa from Bizen Osafune, but the characters are very different from this. The signature from Bizen's Sukehisa is here http://bizenya-katana.com/?thoken=%E5%82%99%E5%B7%9E%E9%95%B7%E8%88%B9%E7%A5%90%E4%B9%85 The characters on the right side of the tang in the sword of this post are a bit of a puzzle.

I meant to add, there are Buddhist invocations such as 南無阿弥陀 or 南無妙法蓮華経, and those would not be so unusual (maybe a bit unusual to see one on the tang). The Fudō motif itself is common, and it just came up in another thread recently where there were kurikata and sanko carvings in a blade, which are motifs of Fudō Myō-ō. In this case, its the exhortation to believe in Fudō Myō-ō that I find strange. He is one of those quasi mythical characters that serve more as representations of something rather than a god that requires our faith. So while I might expect a pictorial representation of Fudō, or some image of him (chains, or chain-cutting sword, etc...), I think its unusual to find a sentence inviting (who, the reader, the owner?) to believe in Fudō. That is what makes me a bit suspicious. Now that I see the screw in there, I'm wondering about that as well, but that may be a later addition. And, like I said I think the way ヲ is offset to the left, and is crowding the space where the 信 is, is a bit rough and shows poor balance. (Why not put them all in a straight vertical line? There seems to be enough space. Or better yet, do away with the ヲ all together and just write 不動明王信仰. ) But I don't hesitate to say that my unfamiliarity with something is no guarantee that the thing is fake. I've seen a lot of funny things lately that turned out weren't funny at all, but were in fact legitimate things. The invocation above could definitely be an outlier, or maybe from a family that is particularly devoted to Fudō? Some more observations; I think Peter said in another post that this was O-suriage koto, but this tang doesn't look very koto. Maybe I am mixing up two different posts. (If a koto family heirloom, I think that reduces the chance that the family would have an unskilled engraver make an alteration to the tang). Maybe more and closer pictures of the sword and fittings can shed some more light. Anyway, hopefully George's comments above and mine will give Peter and the owner some food for thought.