SteveM

There is one Hirashige listed in Wakayama. Metalworker to the Tokugawa. Died in Meiji 12 (1879) at the age of 51.

明治三午年二月日　1870 (horse) year, a day in February

平重造（花押）　Hirashige zō (tsukuru).

Here's something about the metallurgy. https://markussesko....-thoughts-on-utsuri/

Marking on the bottom sword (2nd picture) is the smith's name: 兼吉 (Kaneyoshi) The marking on the top sword should also be the smith's name, but part of it is obscured (or missing) so I can't make it out. Something + 國之 (～Kuniyuki), but the part before that is unclear, so I don't know if Kuniyuki is the smith's name, or if those two characters have some other significance.

Looks like a peony.

The chances would be pretty high, I think. Looking online, I can find 8 people named Abe living in what was that section of Wada city (now part of Takahata city). I wouldn't go cold-calling them, but if I wanted to repatriate that sword I might send a letter to one (or more) of them and ask if they were related to Shuichi. The problem is that if this is a real guntō, you couldn't return it to them because it couldn't be registered, or even imported. If its an older blade, you could do it, but I don't think Mike has repatriation on his mind, and its dicey to try to contact these people out of the blue unless you wanted to return the sword.

Hi Michael, The translation is accurate. As for the sword... as you guessed, we need to see it in order to make any comments that might be useful. From the pictures here, the fittings look to be in very good shape. Nicely preserved wrapping on the hilt/tsuka. The tassel also looks nice, but it could well be a later addition. I don't quite follow militaria much beyond translations, but tassels in good condition seem to be a much sought-after item. However the ones that collectors love are different from the one on your sword (I think, hopefully someone will help me out here). The scabbard is wrapped in leather, which is common, but we can't tell anything about the scabbard underneath the leather. With militaria, condition of the blade and of the fittings, is king. You'll obviously want to look for a signature on the tang. But just having a signature won't tell you too much unless you can read it, or post a picture of it here. The sword could be an old heirloom sword that was fitted with Imperial Japanese Army furnishings. This would be nice, but it changes the whole valuation/appreciation equation because it almost ceases to become "militaria" at that point, and instead becomes a sword antique that gets judged by a different set of criteria. The fittings become almost irrelevant, as most of the value will be in the blade itself. But just having a signature on the tang doesn't mean its an old sword. It could be a military sword that was made by an arsenal smith in the 1930s-1940s. These are kind of mass-produced blades that still had some element of human labor. The smith in charge of production will put his name on the tang. Anyway, if you can look at the tang and take some pictures, that will be helpful. If not, look for matching numbers on the metal parts if possible, as these are a good indicator that the sword isn't assembled from parts found on ebay. I note your comment about the provenance of the sword, but its always good to buy the blade and not the story. Anyway, too many variables to judge from the photos above, as

Hi John, are you looking for comments on the activities, or on the shadow (or bubble? or dent?) in the middle?

Yes, they are lucky treasures. There's 9 of them (or, at least 9). I don't think they are affiliated with the 7 lucky gods. Called "takara zukushi" 宝尽くし https://www.koboku.co.jp/news/日本の吉祥文様　『宝尽くし』/

Lots of nice eye-candy lately on NMB. Gary is it possible to get a shot of the Tanobe-sensei writing on the scabbard?

The residue might be cosmoline, or might be some old oil. Either way, I would remove it from the sword with denatured alcohol and a soft cloth. If you have any lens-cleaning cloths (like for cameras or glasses), those will work very well. Clean off the old oil, then put a very thin layer of lightweight oil (sewing machine oil or electric shaver oil) on the sword to stop it from rusting. You don't need to drench it in oil. A tiny film of oil will be fine. The wooden scabbard (called a shirasaya) is a plain scabbard used for storing the sword, and they are still made and used to this day. We all store our swords in them. Yours is well past its "use by" date, so at some point you should get a new one made. (You don't want an antique sword resting in a scabbard that has a hundred years of old grime and oil and dust and muck in it). If yours is clean inside, and just has tape residue on the outside, it should be OK to continue using for now. Also OK to tape it back up so that it actually works as a protective case for your sword. These things are meant to be renewed when they start getting dirty and falling apart. If it has some old writing on it, you'll want to preserve it, but if its just a plain, dirty, wooden scabbard that's falling apart, it's OK to tape it back up and use it until you can get a replacement made. The sword looks to be just under 24 inches from tip to notch, so it's right on the border between "wakizashi" size and "katana" size. These are the official size designations used by Japan today. Anything over 60.6 cms is classified as katana, and anything 30.3 cm - 60.6 cm is classified as a wakizashi.

Hello Andrew, I've got good news and bad news: The bad news: I'm afraid this isn't a WW2 sword. The good news: It dates from several centuries before WW2, potentially from the 1600s. The inscription is 近江守藤原継 (cut off) Ōmi-no-kami Fujiwara Tsugu... (cut off, but probably Tsuguhiro) It means 近江守藤原継廣 Ōmi-no-kami　= Lord of Omi Province (Omi province is present-day Shiga Prefecture in Japan. Fujiwara = this is a clan name. Not really to be taken as a literal name of the swordsmith. Its the swordsmith declaring he has a lineage to an ancient aristocratic clan. Tsuguhiro = is the swordsmith's name. Not his real, given name, but more or less a professional name. Your sword was originally longer by a few inches, but it was cut down at some point. Shortening the sword is very common. It was always shortened from the tang. So the tang was shortened, and the notches where the brass collar sits were moved up. Could have been done a couple of hundred years ago, or a hundred years ago. There are many swords with fake signatures, and yours too could have a fake signature. Faking signatures was (and still is) very common. Regardless, the sword itself is still a genuine Japanese antique, and could still be several hundred years old even if the signature turns out to be fake. So what I'm saying is, the sword should be preserved, shouldn't be subject to any amateur restoration efforts, and is probably worth showing to someone who knows a lot about swords. It will be hard to authenticate it just by looking at photos. And, the condition probably precludes anyone from making an accurate assessment. But, as I said, the sword is a genuine antique regardless of the authenticity of the signature.

Yes, Ryūbun-dō.

Tried to find a post by Darcy that listed what he considered the variable criteria for cutting efficiency, including what Jacques mentioned above, but also things like skill of the cutter, and the object being cut (leather armor vs. some other thing). If anyone has that, or can remember where it is, it would be useful for Al. I think he listed something like 5 or 6 factors 1. Shape 2. Sharpness 3. Skill of the cutter 4. Hardness of the target 5. (I think there was one other, but can't remember. Maybe the weight of the sword.) And I don't recall if the hardness/durability of the sharp edge was a criteria; i.e. the sword that makes the best initial cut may drop in the rankings for the 2nd or 3rd cut because its edge is now blunted. Anyway, it was a good read and very appropriate to this conversation. If I find it I'll post it here.

There was a dealer with quite a few Nogawa cigarette cases at the show in Las Vegas. Very nice works. I was very tempted. I don't even smoke.

Looks like 松華梼主人好, and it would be a dedication, "Made for Master/Lord Shōkatō" Shōkatō would be an art name of someone, but that name doesn't show up in any results.

Not a mon, but a surname. 稗田 Hieda, Hieta, Hida, etc...

Pretty sure its 大清乾隆年制（製） Da Qing Qianlong Nian Zhi - Made in the reign of Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty. Not really made in the Qing dynasty. Probably 20th century

The Hon'ami are a family of sword polishers and appraisers. "Family" is used very loosely here, because as with most hereditary lineages in Japan there was a lot of adoption and marriages of convenience and branch lines. The Hon'ami were the official sword appraisers/caretakers to the Shogunate. Since swords were highly valued as gifts among the military aristocracy, the Hon'ami family had quite an important position in attributing or validating the value of these gifts. Swords were in constant circulation, going to and from the Tokyo central government, and back out to branch families of the Tokugawa, or to daimyo who provided a favor or service to the government, etc. When the shogunal government finally fell, and Japan starting modernizing in the late 1800s, the Hon'ami were cut loose from steady government employment, and drifted around for a bit. One of those drifters was Hon'ami Kōga. You can read about him here in Markus Sesko's article https://markussesko..../05/02/honami-koson/ Your sayagaki looks to be from the early 1900s. It doesn't look to me like its from the 1800s. So this puts it at odds with the time Hon'ami Kōga was alive. (It also doesn't look very much like Hon'ami Koga's normal signature). It could be a forgery, i.e. someone trying to make the sword look more important than it is. Or, it could be from Hon'ami Kōson (1879-1955), who was "adopted" into the Hon'ami family and married off to one of Kōga's relatives. The monogram written below the signature looks kind of like one used by Hon'ami Kōson. So maybe before he took the name "Hon'ami Kōson" he used the name of Kōga, to whom he was related through marriage. It is also very possible I have the name wrong,or the age of the sayagaki wrong, but to me the name looks like Kōga (written in calligraphic form). There are a lot of possibilities, and I'm just throwing all of these out there so you know the margin of error is pretty wide. Actually, there were two different Hon'ami appraisers who used the name Kōga, but the other one is from an even older time, so I've rejected him as even a remote possibility. The sayagaki doesn't mention anything about polishing, so who knows when it was last polished. Kan is a monetary unit equal to a string of 1000 copper "mon" coins. The values written on any sayagaki in modern times shouldn't be taken literally as a price for the sword inside. It should be considered a relative valuation, and its just a way for the Hon'ami to say "this sword is worth a lot of money". So you'll never find an amount on a Hon'ami sayagaki that doesn't represent a lot of money. Hard to say how much 1000 "kan" would be in today's money because of the huge fluctuation in exchange rates - let's say 1000 kan is about $100,000. Note, the "kan" as a unit of money wasn't in use at the time this sayagaki was written. As I said, its just a way of saying "you have a very valuable sword", which is what the customer wanted to hear when they approached a Hon'ami appraiser. I just read very recently (probably another Markus Sesko article) where the Hon'ami started using "kan" because it allowed them to use higher numbers; 1000 kan looks more impressive than "3 gold pieces", especially when people aren't really using "kan" anymore so they have no internalized concept of how much 1000 kan would be in real life. It just sounds like a lot. https://en.wikipedia...anese_mon_(currency)

Sayagaki says Mino-no-kuni Kaneuji Length 1 shaku 5 sun 2 bu Value 1000 "kan" Signed / Hon'ami Kōga

Yes, thank you. 龍文堂造　Ryūbun-dō tsukuru

Left: 龍雲堂造　　made by Ryū-un dō Right: 龍分堂造 made by Ryū-bun dō

No idea. I found an interesting shape that corresponds with that (bridge for a shamisen), but I don't think its the same. https://irohakamon.c...marunishamigoma.html Hard to tell if its a kamon, or if its a base for some other emblem. Or maybe some emblem affiliated with war production (like some steel producing factory or a ship-building company, etc.).

備前長船住横山祐包作 Sukekane