SteveM

越前国為継 Echizen no kuni Tametsugu 大磨上無銘也雄勁ナル延文貞治型ノ姿形ヲ呈シ精妙ナル板目肌合ニ大湾与互乃目交ジリノ刃文ヲ悠々ト焼キ沸匂深厚而 Ōsuriage mumei nari yūkei naru Enbun-Jōji katachi no sugata wo teishi, seimyō naru itamehada-ai ni ōnotare gun-no-me majiri no hamon wo yūyū to yaki, nienioi shinkōshi 更ニ砂流・金筋・湯走・飛焼ノ景色ガ加ハルナド同工ノ特色ガ把握サレル優品也後ノ應安頃二農州二移住シ美濃傳ノ源流ノ一人トナレり Sarani sunagashi, kinsuji, yubashiri, tobiyaki, no keishiki ga kuwaerunado, dōkō no tokushoku ga haaku sareru yūhin nari. Nochi no Ōan-koro ni Nōshū ni ijūshi, Minō-den no genryuu no hitori to nareri. 長貮尺二寸七分探山識 Nagasa nishaku nisun, nanabun. Tanzan-shikisu 于时庚子高秋 Tokini Kanoe-ne koshu Echizen no kuni, Tametsugu Osuriage mumei. A powerful sword presenting a typical "Enbun-Jōji" shape, calmly forged with exquisite itame hada, and with a hamon of large notare mixed with gunome, and deep nie and nioi. Additionally, the sword includes sunagashi, kinsuji, yubashiri, and tobiyaki, making this one of this smith's masterpieces. He relocated to Nōshū in the latter part of Ōan, and there he became one of the founders of the Mino school. 2 shaku, 2 sun, 7 bun. Tanzan 2020, Autumn Year could also be 1960. It feels early for there to already be a sword on the market that has a Tanzan sayagaki saying "autumn 2020", but the only other choice would be 1960, but I think 1960 is a bit before Tanzan's sayagaki-writing began. In any event, it is an impressive sword.

Possible to take a couple more photos of the mei at another angle?

Are you looking for a private service? Or are you looking for a commercial-level of service? For the random sayagaki or kanteisho, you can just post on this site and we'll give you a translation.

I don't think there is a law that limits tosho to making 2 swords per month. I think the ministry of culture "suggests" it should take two weeks for a proper, licensed swordsmith to make a sword, and from that people have misinterpreted this as being a legal limit on sword production. From what I have read, there is no legal limit.

無銘廣宗？ Mumei Hiromune? Hiromune (according to Wakayama) was a metalworker in late Edo. Offered without confidence as Hiromune seems a minor smith for someone to be attributing a work to. If feels as though a mumei work ought to be attributed to someone less obscure. Other possibility, 廣乗 (Hironori), but this smith is even more obscure.

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/496320

I think the chances are very, very slim. Enjoy it as it is.

Had some spare time to kill: Copper tsuba with hammered pattern, slightly descending towards the rim, carved with an image of Jūrōjin with his whiskers and his elongated head, reading a sutra. Above his head we see a branch of a karamatsu pine, and on the reverse side there is a carving of the trunk of the pine. The sutra is unrolled, and a twisted pine branch extends below it, with bits of gold inlay here and there. and colored brass for Jūrōjin's hood. Encompassing the nakago-ana and the hitsu-ana, there is a deliberately executed blackish circular area made by hammer strikes, giving that area a texture of silk-crepe, but it is unknown what effect the artist was striving for. It could be the moon or an attempt to show Jūrōjin reading the sutra by moonlight. Jūrōjin as well as Fukurokujū are included among the Seven Lucky Gods, but they are almost one and the same, with cranes typically accompanying Fukurokujū, and deer accompanying Jūrōjin. However they are often interchanged and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. This tsuba is an unsigned work of the Nara school, weighty, with desirable design and coloration. Late Edo.

There was official discrimination against and prohibition of left-handedness, at least at the government level. The article below mentions how lefties were forcibly corrected. I cannot verify the accuracy of the article. It also notes that the stories of Miyamoto Musashi and other luminaries being left-handed, are mostly without documentary basis. https://www.touken-world.jp/tips/25526/

There were rules that discouraged left-handedness. I don't know if it was law or not, but in feudal Japan I don't know if there was much distinction. I will post on Adam's other thread regarding this so as not to derail this one too much.

肥前國住忠清 Hizen kuni jū Tadakiyo As always, there is no guarantee this signature is genuine.

Yes its important to remember that kamon are used by multiple families, and unless you have the provenance of the item its quite difficult (impossible in most cases) to state definitively which family this came from. Crossed eagle feathers is one of the most common family crests. I think most reference books and websites list the most prominent or representative name, but those references are not exhaustive. There are about 300,000 different Japanese last names, yet only about 20,000 different variations of kamon.

That's the wrong Seki. That one is in Mie prefecture.

法成寺国照 Hōjōji Kuniteru (← smith's name) 切付銘　三つ胴重截断云々 Additional inscription: Three-body cut

Bumping this one up to see if any of our native Japanese speakers (or anyone) can assist.

I saw some of them earlier - the sword looked like an excellent example of an Emura sword (with matching numbers on nakago and tsuba).

I spent a while looking for this also. I can't find any 甲 for an old address in Seki. Another possibility was 印, but there is no such address as that either. Ohmura mentions the factory was in Suehiro in Seki, and there is indeed a Suehiro street/block in Seki. If anybody has any further clues I would be keen to take a look. (But, I think there is no treasure at the end of this hunt: I would be very surprised if the building was still standing).

The smith in the Gregory/Fuller book is a different Kanetake (兼丈). The sword in the original post is 兼武 (Kanetake)

正阿弥

贈今村氏 Zō Imamura-shi Presented to Mr. Imamura 堀内家所蔵 Horiuchi-ke shozō From the Horiuchi collection Imperial 2006 would be 1346 AD. 1939 would be Imperial Year 2599.

https://jlearn.net/Dictionary/Browse/1261020-gannen-がんねん-元年

薩摩焼 保土田 Satsuma yaki (with a hyper-abbreviated 摩) Hotoda Above that is the family crest of the Shimazu family of Satsuma. I can't help you with value, but if you search on those phrases you should find similar examples.

萬延元年 = 1860 Man'en Gannen

早川兼武　Hayakawa Kanetake This smith, I guess (not much information about him). He's not listed in either Jinsoo Kim's site, nor in Richard Stein's site. http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KY328042.htm

後藤光？ Gotō Mitsu- can't get the final one.