SteveM

This is the awarding of the "Order of the Sacred Treasure, Silver Rays" to Satō Yūtarō (could also be read as Tomotarō), who was a customs officer. The guys that Matt mentions (on the left of the document) are the authorizing parties and their ranks and titles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders,_decorations,_and_medals_of_Japan

It needs a miracle, I'm afraid.

OK, now it gets interesting. I don't think its a worn-out shinto. That would have been a massive sword when it first came out of the forge.

Hello Bruce, No, you aren't missing anything. The "hide" in the first photo is spelled phonetically using two kanji (hi + de) 日出 　(hide) . Incidentally, these two kanji could be translated as "rising sun". Later on he switched to the single kanji (秀) which has the same pronunciation, but means "excellence".

Yes, above the hotstamp is a kaō. And, 文化五年 so 1808

Your tsuba reads 洛陽西陣住 埋忠作 Rakuyō Nishijin-jū Umetada saku Rakuyō Nishijin is a section of Kyōto. Umetada is the name of a very famous metalsmith. Probably best to consider this as gimei. Your sword is a fine wakizashi. I don't know how much you paid for it, but I think it is a good first purchase. Many of us bought junk swords as our first purchase. Your sword here is not junk.

They are very crudely drawn Japanese hiragana characters. To me they look like み　 お or maybe す え で or maybe じ Basically its gibberish. The letters are crudely inscribed. It looks like an elementary school kid's attempt at engraving letters. You could entertain the possibility that they were carved by some recruit who was barely literate, or who had to make a hasty job of it while in the field, but you are still left with a fake sword that has a meaningless inscription scratched on it. The most likely explanation is someone tried to put "Japanese-ish" writing on a fake sword in order to try to boost its value. It is very common.

Hello Dan, These tags usually have the name and the address of the person who owned the sword. In this particular case, the characters are faint and I can't quite pick them out. The characters on the right might be 杉本了 (a name: SUGIMOTO Ryo). On the left is probably the address. The only character I can pick out is 野 (means "field" in Japanese, and is one of the most common characters used in addresses) . After that is a katakana character "き", which, by itself, means nothing, but maybe its also part of an address. As I said in my other post, I can't really give you any meaningful input.

Mei looks like 正則 (Masanori) Date is 昭和十九年二月

Let me just summarize by saying the writer talks about leaving Shijiazhuang city with 15 vehicles on the 23rd of October, for the purpose of attacking 600 combatants in Xingtang, but when they arrived in Xingtang there were no combatants to be found, so they were able to enter the city unopposed, and the group was subsequently split up. It doesn't say which year. I don't mind long sayagaki or hakogaki. They generally follow a similar pattern, and yes they are right in the bullseye of the interest of most forum members. Translation of hand-written militaria can be tough going, and it can quickly start to feel like hard work.

Inside the red disc, radiating out from the center, are the names of several important shintō shrines 金比羅神社　Konpira jinja 多賀神社　Taga jinja 南宮神社　Nangū jinja 熱田神社　Atsuta jinja 豊川稲荷大明神 Toyokawa Inari Daimyōjin On the very top of the flag is a brief narrative of a Japanese platoon's incursion into Xingtang, China. There are some platoon names listed on the flag. I don't see a dedication to a particular person, and I don't see any names. So I don't know that I would call this a good luck flag, but rather its a kind of war diary.

陰陽根 = in this case I think it is read as "in'yō kon" and it refers to the pegs on the inside of the menuki. For menuki with in'yō kon, there should be a male peg, and a female peg. 右は當協會に於て審査の結果保存刀装具と鑑定しこれを証する Upon examination by this organization, the item mentioned herein has been appraised "tosogu worthy of presentation", which judgment is hereby certified. Note this isn't the only possible translation. I have kept a bit of the formal legalese of the original document. The key point is that the paper certifies the results of the judgment. In the Japanese original they refer to "the item on the right", which is a linguistic device that doesn't sound too natural to me - so I would claim a bit of translator's license to just refer to the item as "this item" or "the item mentioned herein". (It is obvious which item the certificate is validating).

1. 容彫　陰陽根　　 2. 右は當協會に於て審査の結果保存刀装具と鑑定しこれを証する Migi wa tō kyōkai ni oite shinsa no kekka hozon tôsôgu to kantei shi kore o shōsuru　 3. 財團法人　日本美術刀剣保存協會 The Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords I wouldn't bother trying to find a word-for-word English translation of 財團法人 日本美術刀剣保存協會. While it is true that 財団法人 is a type of incorporation structure that has some tax and operational advantages, there isn't really an exact counterpart in English, and I think it is fine to simply refer to it as a foundation. However, even the NBTHK doesn't use the word "foundation" on their English website, and they themselves just call themselves "The Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords" If you are interested, I would probably tweak your English wording of the #2 above as well, but you have captured the essence of it. 4. Oops one more 二十四日 = nijūyokka.

興亜一心満鉄作之 昭和庚辰春 Kōa Isshin Mantetsu saku kore Shōwa kanoe-tatsu, haru Spring, 1940 On the spine: リ三二八 No deep meaning, just a manufacturing number. Bruce may know more.

The writing says 大和守藤原兼蔵　Yamato-no-kami Fujiwara Kanekura In English, it is the swordsmith's name and title "Lord of Yamato Province, Fujiwara Kanekura". "Lord" or "Governor" is an honorific title. It doesn't have any political meaning. No idea if the signature is authentic or a forgery. There are many forgeries around, so its better to look at the sword in detail to see if it looks like a sword from the past.

The small silver design on Cat #2376 is a family crest. This particular crest represents a quince (or mokko in Japanese). It is a relatively common family crest in Japan. The others can tell you more about its appearance here, but putting the family crest on sword fittings was an option offered to some soldiers. And it is possible that the sword itself is an heirloom, and that the sword fittings were special-ordered so that the family sword could be used in the modern military fittings. It isn't unusual to find old family swords that have been repurposed into Japanese Imperial Army swords. As others have mentioned, these old, traditionally-made family swords can be interesting. The writing on Cat #58 that we can readily see says 柄 (pommel, or tsuka in Japanese). I agree with Grey, any writing under the little piece of wood will not provide any valuable information.

I would think its abalone shell, which is often used in lacquerware. (Usually it is pulverized into an almost glitter-like material). I wouldn't attempt to restore this yourself. It's very unusual, and its the kind of thing that requires specialized knowledge. If you absolutely wanted to see if it could be repaired, i would ask a Japanese lacquerware specialist. Maybe one of the sword dealers here could recommend someone. Very interesting piece. I've never seen anything like it. It looks beautiful as is.

黒田筑前守 Kuroda Chikuzen-no-kami

The last one is 菅野茂雄 Sugano Shigeo

Left side supposedly says 三郎左衛門　Saburō Saemon　(according to an auction site that was selling this) I can't see anything other than the 三, and maybe the lower part of the final character 門. The auction site said Saburō Saemon was the son of Genbei, and that this was a gassaku (collaboration). An internet search showed that there was a set of armor by Genbei which was shown at the Hikone Castle Museum as part of an exhibit of the collection of Daimyo Ii Naoaki. No idea if it was this particular item or not. https://hikone-castle-museum.jp/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ab1b40f40d8aa3c6a1366da4a3587ae0.pdf

Yes, also 兼房 (Kanefusa)

Crash course in Ichimonji https://yuhindo.com/ichimonji-norifusa-tachi/ Crash course continued https://www.nihonto.com/the-ichimonji-school-一文字派/

No, there is nothing on the wooden scabbard other than what I've written, with the exception of another cryptic mark on the very tip of the scabbard, which seems to be 行国 (Yukikuni) who is a completely different Ichimonji smith. The Norifusa smith mentioned on the wooden scabbard worked in the mid-13th century. But this is at odds with the actual inscription on the sword. If possible, you should get an expert to examine the sword itself. With big names and very old swords, the potential for forgery is pretty high. *Kanji on the tang is as above, in my post #3. Nobukuni is another smith's name.

The sword handle (nakago) itself says Nobukuni (信国).

片山則房 長貳尺三寸四分 表裏樋磨上無銘也 代金百五拾枚 明治十四年晩冬鑑定同十六年一月記之 本阿弥長識 Katayama Norifusa Nagasa ni-shaku san-sun yon-bu Omote Ura hi. Suriage mumei nari. Daikin hyaku gojū mai Meiji jūyon-nen bantō. Kantei dō jūrokunen ichigatsu kisuru kore. Hon'ami Chōshoku Katayama Norifusa Length of 2 shaku, 3 sun, 4 bu Groove on both sides. Shortened, mumei (unsigned). 150 gold "mai" Appraised Meiji 14 (1881) winter. Recorded Meiji 16, January. Signed Hon'ami Chōshoku