SteveM

Both the kojiri and the hakogaki look good to me. I was referencing this site here, which shows the same red stamps that are on your hakogaki: http://www.shibuiswords.com/KazutaroTorigoye.html I can't get the one kanji before 銅地 (copper). It kind of looks like 鎚, but I feel it is different - its relating to the metal/technique, but I can't get it. 鋳銅地, maybe, but this piece isn't caste bronze/copper.

Hello Bob, yes, it is a Torigoye hakogaki, using his art name "Sarō" (在耶). The kojiri is attributed to 2nd generation Sōmin, Tomotsugu (友次). He doesn't say "den", its 右横谷宗珉友次ト鑑 (The piece herein is appraised as Yokoya Sōmin Tomotsugu). He also gives dimensions, theme, date of writing. Shōwa 46 is correct, but it corresponds to 1971. I think its 壱月 (January). Steve

越前住 Echizen-jū but everything on the left side, which is where the specific artist's name should be, is illegible.

I'm starting to think this may be a different kind of mon. It doesn't quite match up with any of the Genji Letters, but in a different thread Piers made me aware of a whole new genre of letters, the so-called Angled Kanji letters. There are a few websites that talk about them, but I still can't identify this particular one. These Angled Kanji Mon seem even more obscure than the Genji Letters (though stylistically they look very similar). https://kamon-db.net/portfolio_tag/kakujimon

Yes the inside of the box says Taishō 9, December, but I can't read the rest of it - something about antiques. Maybe a record of the transfer of ownership? The outside of the box says 御矢之根　十二本　一腰　　Oya-no-ne jūnihon hitokoshi 伯耆守正幸作　　　　　　　Hōki-no-kami Masayuki-saku One set of 12 arrowheads Made by Masayuki, Lord of Hōki province

This makes me think the mon in the other thread is also an angular kanji (instead of a genji letter, like I originally thought). Will post in that other thread.

It's a nice-looking sword from the pictures. Ubu, good length, excellent hada, excellent hamon... Very early registration: 1951. Either someone thinks it has a chance at being a Muramasa blade, OR they are taking a gamble that it will paper to a decent smith if the fake Muramasa name comes off. Of course it raises the question: if its so promising why didn't the owner already put it through shinsa, or remove the mei and put it through shinsa?? Hidden flaw?

研上　　(polish) 上杉見習士官 Uesugi training instructor (Uesugi is a common family name) 二十九号 #29

Yes, Seishinshi Sadatoshi (清心子貞寿) Here is another for comparison. https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords7/KT334726.htm

雅玩珍蔵　 I searched around and found a Japanese site (from a TV show that appraised people's knicknacks...sort of like Antiques Roadshow), that echos Piers' comment above; that this mark may be from Qing dynasty (end of 1700s). But, these porcelian treasures are faked as often, or more, than Japanese swords... so proceed with caution. https://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/kantei/kaiun_db/otakara/20151117/03.html

一。蝶に瑞祥文様尽図鐔 Hitotsu*. Chō ni zuishō-mon'yō-zukushi-zu tsuba. One. Tsuba with design of butterfly with auspicious symbols. The character 尽 (zukushi) implies many, or replete with, or covered in (among other things). In this case it implies a background filled with the auspicious symbols. Sometimes the word 散 (chirashi), meaning "scattered", is used to similar effect. Actually, I don't see any butterflies on the tsuba...is there one on the reverse? * This particular ordinal system used on these certificates is a sort of formal system wherein all entries are enumerated by the header "hitotsu" (one). I read somewhere quite recently that this was meant to imply that no particular entry is any more important than another, and so instead of numbering them in descending numerical order, they all are labelled as "one". I don't know if this is true or not, but it was an explanation that piqued my interest. ** 鑑定書 I would translate this as "Certificate of Appraisal"

The Japanese sword museum says twice a year. That's probably how often I oil mine, unless I'm showing them off or practicing photography or something. https://www.touken.or.jp/museum/sword/preservation.html

Should be 長村清宜 Kiyonobu (?) .... but now I'm struggling to find a reliable validation of this reading.... Edit: Here it is http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kiyonobu.jpg

I think this was true back in the 1800s, but nowadays we know a bit more than we did back then. High quality mineral oils, lightweight machine oils, the oil that Stephen linked to above, etc.. can be used with confidence. The only thing special about the chōji oil was the fragrance. They still sell it in the sword shops, but even the dealers don't recommend pure chōji oil anymore. This is a topic that comes up once or twice a year.

Hello Tom, this is a Jūyō sword, authenticated at the 60th Jūyō Tōken appraisal. I think the mei is as good as it gets.

The writing in the bit that seems a bit recessed inside the tang is an invocation of a buddhist god (well, buddhist by way of hinduism). 大聖観喜天 - Daishōkangiten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangiten

Looks like a "Genji Letter" crest. You can read about them towards the bottom of the following wikipedia page under the heading "Monkō". A pretty rare family crest, I think. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kōdō https://kyotokimono.tumblr.com/post/158624802189/genji-ko

It says 藤嶋 (Fujishima). It is a name used by a school of sword smiths: some great, some not so great. Judging from the orikaeshi mei, the signature on this sword is (or is trying to be) one of the older Fujishima smiths. Be aware - there are a lot of fakes in the sword world.

The site below says 22 degrees celsius (71.6 F) is the optimum temperature for swords with lacquer koshirae. Actually it says this is the temperature at which museums keep their swords (no other details on how they determined this). https://note.com/katana_case_shi/n/n8415e481dd59

Piers I think you got it! 正幸　(Masayuki) http://akarinoya.blog.fc2.com/img/20160104qPU9MEWw

I think the numbers on the tag correspond to a specific section, and a specific soldier. So the Japanese government/military would have known who the tag belonged to. And presumably, those records still exist in Japan, but as far as I know there is no public database where you can look up names and numbers.

Ken ＋Katabami (swords + wood sorrel). The wood sorrel is good luck because it grows back no matter how much/often you cut it down. The swords are just a design motif that separates the leaves of the wood sorrel, but obviously swords are important in Japanese history/culture and would be considered an appropriate design for a family crest. This is a common family crest, and a bit difficult to pinpoint who might have used it since so many families adopted it.

That is a chart showing the Japanese script known as "hentaigana" - its a further step away from grass script. The particular characters you are thinking about are (I think) the ones in the red box - but these are highly abbreviated versions of the character 支, which isn't a character in the mei on your sword. Coincidentally, it also shows the abbreviated versions of 久, which are the ones in the blue box.

Hello Sergio, Unlike US dog tags, Japanese dog tags do not carry the names of the person to whom they belong. They carry the number of the division and an indication of what branch/section the person belonged to, and a number. The tags above say: left one: 3489, Number 45 right one: 3488, Number 35

Hisa (久) in grass-script looks more like the following