SteveM

極 = Kiwami = attribution

My opinion: shinsa for tōsōgu makes sense for high-value items, or better-than-average items. It costs around JPY 18,000 - 20,000, and takes a couple of months to send it off and then get it back. If you are sending an item to Japan from overseas, it adds a further cost and time and complexity, which might make sense if you were a dealer and and were looking to validate the authenticity of an item, and/or reduce resell friction. For an average piece, the expense and the hassle of shipping it off to Japan, isn't worth it. If the item is unsigned, you will get back an attribution, but its likely to be an attribution to a school or genre, so you won't find out anything specific about the item, but you might get a hint about where to direct your studies. So if you are just looking for an idea of the school or the age, you'd do just as well to post pictures here on NMB and see what feedback you get.

There are a lot of wayward strokes on that second kanji. Kanetatsu.... hmmm. It's plausible, but it's very crudely done.

Cool, it will be interesting to hear what Ohmura-san has to say.

There are enough differences to make me a bit pessimistic about the chances of these getting papered. 1. The published examples all have a kaō under the signature. 2. The published examples all use the standard version of 浅, whereas the one on yours uses the old version of 淺 3. The 井 in yours is concaved on the left side, whereas the published ones are all pretty straight. These variances could be explained by the evolution of the artist, and natural evolution of the signature as he became more confident. Once he becomes established, his signature is more bold, and he adds the kaō to his name. So maybe in his earliest works there is no kaō, and his inscription looks a bit more tentative. Unfortunately there aren't many works signed with Ryō'un, so there aren't a lot of resources to refer to. If I owned this set and I were in Japan, I wouldn't hesitate to send these off to shinsa as the cost/risk would be pretty negligible. Sending off to the NBTHK shinsa from the US is a bit more risky. If you have an opportunity to submit these for shinsa in the US, you should do that and see what they say.

I think it would be more correct to say unregistered swords are prohibited to be carried (or sold) in Japan. And the definition of what swords may be registered has a fair amount of room for interpretation, which is why we occasionally see wartime blades being registered. The law doesn't mention the word "guntō". The law doesn't mention tamahagane, either. However, I can see that some individual prefectures post conflicting information regarding what swords can be registered. Anyway, the ambiguity in the law has allowed more and more "wartime era" blades to be registered, as I suspect is what happened with the Nishihara Kanemasa swords being sold above. The reference to Go Yoshihiro looks like a feedback loop of marketing hyperbola. The descriptor "copy of Go Yoshihiro" attracts many more views than the swordsmith's name, so anyone looking for information on Nishihara Kanemasa is going to enter into an echo chamber of marketing fluff. I'll look around a bit more today, but I think this thread here has probably the most information on Nishihara Kanemasa that exists on the internet.

Here is another example of a Nishihara Kanemasa sword, and the site notes that he did not continue making swords after the war. His limited career may be one reason he doesn't show up in these references. https://kako.nippont...swords2/KT216261.htm

Here are two other (presumably) verified Ryōun signatures.

In this case, 競 means comparison. The meaning is clarified by the furigana くらべ next to the character. This particular print is part of a series which shows a number of heroes from the Genpei wars. The artist's name is Ichijūsai Yoshikazu (一壽齋芳員). This is a woodblock print, so a bit different from a painting.

This is the correct orientation The big letters across the top read 武運長久 (būun chōkyū), which is basically "good luck in battle". The letters that go vertical down the right side are the recipient's name 贈　関口利夫君　Sekiguchi Toshio (not sure about Toshio). Sekiguchi is the family name. The rest are names and patriotic slogans. The flag was presented to Mr. Sekiguchi by his workmates at the company for which he worked. I can't quite read the name of the company. Some steel company, it looks like.

The British Museum has done most of the hard work Title of the print is "Genpei Eiyu Kurabe" (written down the far left side of the print). It means "Comparison of the Heroes of the Genpei War". It's a series of prints feature legendary heroes. Next to that is "Kajiwara Genta Kagesue", which is the name of the hero in this picture - the one on the left. The other bits are explained on the page below https://www.britishm...t/A_1906-1220-0-1352

重寿　Shigetoshi The same smith as in the thread below

The artist's name is Kyokusui (旭翠).

It is a banner that is written in commemoration of sending someone off to war. In this case, Takeshi SANO was being sent off to war, and his friends/colleagues created these two banners (and maybe others) for him. Its called a shussei nobori (出征幟). The reason we can't nail down the pronunciation of the name, is because that one kanji (健) has multiple possible pronunciations. It's kind of like the name Stephen, where it can be pronounced either Steven or Stefan, and the only way to know is if you ask the person himself (or his mother, father, etc.). You can't tell just by the spelling. My gut feeling is that "Ken" is not a popular pronunciation for this kanji during the early 1900s, so Takeshi or Takeru feels like more plausible pronunciations, but there is no way to know for sure. Even more exotic and rarer pronunciations are also possible, but those three are the most likely, and of those three my guess is that Takeshi is probably the most common.

Thinking of going to this. Had a good time at the SF show and met a number of people I've only seen on the forum. I was also to pick up a few good books for good prices.

Congratulations Sanō Takeshi-kun　 Edit: given name could also be Ken, or Takeru, or a few other readings. 7th Infantry Regiment The smaller writing on the bottom of the left and right banners are the names of the people who (presumably) presented the banners. Okegawa Tarō (right) Sakai -rō (left) the middle bit is missing

The translation you got was correct: Nōshū-jū Kanenobu-saku. Shōwa 18 nen (1943) I don't have any information about a father/son Kanenobu. I think this is Niwa Kanenobu (real name of Niwa Shūji). On some English sites there is a typo in the Japanese spelling of Kanenobu's name. Some incorrectly list it as 兼信 instead of 兼延.

This site here also says Tōseizan (p.84). It suggests the date would be early20th century (Taishō-Shōwa). https://online.flipb...vrwj/index.html#p=84

Signature is 東正山造 (Tōshōzan-zō). Made at/by Tōshōzan. There are several possible readings, so the pronunciation might be slightly different (might be Tōseizan, for example). I just took a quick look on the internet and I can see Western collectors using both names. Ref: these guys say "tentatively" Tōseizan. I have my doubts. https://www.bluecher...-information#t_marks

The three kanji (after 寅 - tora) are 旧節旬, which I'm sure is an allusion to a date on the old lunar calendar, but I don't know what date it would refer to. 節句 (Sekku) would be one a few specific dates on the calendar, for example Tango no Sekku would be May 5th), but this writing says 節旬 (slight variation in the kanji). This word doesn't show up in any search. My guess is that it is a spelling error by the person who wrote it, and it should be 節句. But that assumption still doesn't tell me which date it is.

To me it looks more like Yoshihiro (吉廣) of which there are seven metalsmiths using that name. There is a late Edo metalsmith with the name Yoshihide (吉英), but the second kanji on this mei doesn't look like 英 to me. And in late Edo, I don't think you'll find too many swordsmiths forging tsuba. It was mostly the domain of metalworkers, by this time, with maybe a few notable exceptions.

志号足立マ　？ The last three might be a name. Adachi something (Masashi, Masatoshi, Masayoshi, etc.). Not sure what the first two might signify, other than a part number, or assembler's number.

Yes, the signature in Jay's post and the signature on the tsuba in the Worthpoint auction are both 正美 . Different guy from the 正義 who made the tsuba in Robert's thread. But both are pronounced the same.

Wakayama lists 4 smiths using 正美 (Masayoshi), but none of them are linked with the Mito school. That calalogue entry from Worthpoint might be mistaken.

The two items I linked to have signatures like yours. This is the signature from the bronze box. Its identical to yours. (紹美製) Jomi-sei (made by Jomi) This is the signature from the bottom of the vase, and is a bit dark. It says Jomi (紹美) without the "sei" kanji on the left side. in a slightly different style, but still recognizable as Jomi. Here is another example like the first (and like yours). Jomi-sei. It is from the lidded jar at this site: https://www.kyoto-yakata.net/sale/57781/ Here's one from a vase at Sotheby's. Same as yours. https://www.sothebys...39-1899-meiji-period There are a lot on the web. These are kind of the easy pickings when I searched using google images.