SteveM

Searched on Google and found the publication dates. From top to bottom 9/16/1942 7/12/1942 8/12/1943

https://irohakamon.c...i/matsunokakuji.html Matsu can also be a surname.

It's 松 (matsu - pine) but written in kakuji.

Or Chikubushima (竹生島） I wonder how to differentiate the two.

First one: hammered brass, but hard to say if its an actual forged brass tsuba, or semi-modern cast reproduction. Theme of insect-eaten wood - a kind of popular theme. The small holes in the tsuba look to be holes for wrist-straps, and possibly the designer meant to give the impression that the holes were made by the insects. Second one: Iron with colored metal inlay? Theme of rabbit on waves under full moon. Another popular theme. This one looks authentic. Hard to value these. They aren't high-quality museum pieces. Personally I find the rabbit and waves tsuba has some charm.

Yes, I think you got it. Now to get that last bit...! And I wish I had more confidence in あすき肌 or 真. I'm making a bit of a guess with both of these.

Kigan, Nara school. Mid Edo. Art name of Shōsendō.

Top picture 尾張左透し 厚手にして耳に鉄骨 あり鉄味あすき肌に して真によろし 耳の？ 　虫くゐあり　 To the left, Owari Sukashi* Thick with tekkotsu in the mimi, and iron with (asuki)** hada making this a very fine piece. In the 囗mimi there are worm/bug-eaten patterns. * kind of unusual to see this word order, but I don't think it can mean anything else ** I think this is azuki-hada, and alludes to the color of the iron (the purplish color of red beans). Medium confidence on this one. 囗 I can't figure this one out. I'm sure its describing the sukashi as being in the shape of worm-eaten wood, which is a common enough theme on tsuba, but I can't figure out the writing here. 小生の尾張透の中の～ I think he's saying something about this tsuba being one of his collection, but the bit after this is cut off (on the next page, so I can't quite see it) 鐔　加々見 The name of the book? Tsuba Kagami (tsuba and mirrors?) Are there oshigata of any bronze mirrors in it? 丘藤庵 The pen name of the author (Kyūtō-an, other possible readings) 写楽尾張鐔之也 Sharaku tsuba (I think this goes with an unrelated tsuba. Hard to tell when it is isolated from the context.

Mei is 政随　Masayuki (Hamano school)

Note: not the name of the soldier, but of the swordsmith who presumably made in in the 14th century. As above, there are many fakes and forgeries in the sword world, so proceed with caution. Read about sword care and handling. There are links just under the forum banner.

義弘　本阿（花押） Yoshihiro Hon'a A very big name in the sword world. Need to see full pictures of the blade. And Anthony absolutely needs to keep his hands away from the polished part of the blade, and to immediately wipe off any oil/prints from his hands that may be left on the blade. Use a very soft cloth. One of those microfiber cloths that come with sunglasses will be fine. On the 1 in 100000 chance that this is an actual Go Yoshihiro, any prints on the sword will require thousands of dollars in restoration costs.

I thought Robert Hughes' and Paul Kremers' "Super Samurai Sale" video was very good at showing points like this. I recommend you take an hour of your day when you won't be distracted, and watch this video, looking out for areas of the blade like this. It shows several blades, two of which are suriage, and it shows the difference in the nakago/hamon transition very well. Since its a slightly long video, you might just want to zero in on a section like this https://youtu.be/jyDGPlqNSsQ?t=1430 . This video is not intended to be a lecture on kantei points, but I thought it was quite good at showing some parts of swords that often are hard to understand just by looking at photos in old texts.

The first half is right. The second half is slightly wrong. The "kami" in Sagami-no-kami (守) doesn't mean deity, but it did originally mean "protect". However in this context it is a title. It was an official government position, like governor. But by the Edo era, the title really was just ceremonial, and had no connection to political power or authority. So in this case it means something like "Lord of Sagami". Actually, the person doesn't even need a connection to the province. He can be proclaimed "Lord of Sagami" without ever having set foot in Sagami. More great info here https://markussesko....tles-were-conferred/

Shōwa jūkyū nen (with a wayward stroke at the top of 九) 1944

Hi Alexander, I agree with Chris above - no need to be in a rush about this. Usually, when considering restoration, we think in terms of having the sword polished by a traditionally-trained Japanese sword polisher, who knows what the sword should look like, and knows what to do to bring out the crystalline structures in the sword. It would be disastrous to allow an amateur or non-expert grind the sword just to get a sharp edge. (The original swordsmith would definitely be unimpressed.). To put this another way, its better to do nothing, than to put it in the hands of someone who is going to ruin it beyond repair. Anyway, we have a ton of threads here on the forum discussing the three or four trusted polishers in the States - their names should pop up in a search. There are also some links at the top of the page just under the forum banner.

I was thinking the mei looks like 家光 (Iemitsu). Cutting edge = sharp part of the blade from the tip to the part where the blade meets the handle/tang. Usually there is a defined step or notch, but in your case it looks like its been polished so many times the notch has all but disappeared. You can still see a bit on the back ridge of the blade. Anyway, the cutting edge of your blade looks to be about 17.5 inches?

大毎従軍節（部）？ I think must be Military Section of Ōsaka Mainichi Shinbun (but the last kanji is unusual as its neither 節 or 部).　 Maybe Mr. Maeda was a war correspondent?

Filling in the blanks 無銘（長州） then 萩 in pencil Mumei (Chōshū) Hagi Sukashi openwork of irises on left and right Iron, nikubori sukashi-ji Tokubetsu kichō paper.

笹穂槍　Sasaho yari 坂本家蔵　Sakamoto-ke (from the storehouse/vault of the Sakamoto family). I could be mistaken about the last one. But the gist is likely to be the same.

Anytime, boet! One mei. 後藤光行 Gotō Mitsuyuki

The last one (Front/Back right?) Front: Awa Nomura school Nihon Tōken Hozon Kai (NTHK) 11 November 2007 Back: Mumei Margu gata Shakudō magaki-chi Nikubori sukashi gold iroe Pheasant and drum End of Edo era

I think Matt got all the salient bits in his post above - attributed to Kyo Kenjo Mumei (kao) Kyō Kenjō Nadekaku gata, tetsuji, kin + gin nunome zōgan, kebori Dote mimi (arabesque pattern in nunome zōgan) Two hitsu ana

1. 後藤光晴　Gotō Mitsuharu 2. 政随　Masayuki (Nara school)(He seems to be popping up a bit lately!) 3. (middle kozuka) 宗永　Munenaga (2 to choose from, one of them being Iwamoto line. The other is Katsura line) 4. (right kozuka) 亀眼 Kigan (Nara school)

1st pic 松本一郎　Matsumoto Ichirō 2nd pic 長光道 Naga mitsu michi They are both sort of generic kanji names, put on the sword to give the impression of legitimacy.

美作国津山ー Mimasaka kuni Tsuyama (cut off) Its the name of a location, but the name of the individual artist has been cut off and lost. The city of Tsuyama in the old province of Mimasaka is located in present-day Okayama Prefecture. The fittings are wartime fittings, but the blade itself is older than the war. Probably by a couple hundred years. As implied above, the sword was once longer than it it is now, and was cut shortened, probably to fit into new fittings (maybe it was shortened to fit it into the wartime fittings).