SteveM

This should be combined with the other thread. As Piers and Ray posted, the kanji are 胴落. Normally in saidanmei style it would probably be read as "dō-otoshi". Literally it means "torso + drop", but the meaning is more like "cut off at the chest". Well, that would be the meaning if it were a normal saidanmei on a sword. As Ray says, it feels weird to see this on a tantō because its not likely going to be used to cut anybody in half. Even as a name for the blade, it feels a little over-ambitious. Like calling a pocket knife "demon slayer". I mean, an owner can call a blade anything he wants to, but it would be ridiculous to bring in a tantō to the inscriber and ask him to inscibe it with the words "body cutter" even as a nickname. So, another mystery. Anyway, it isn't the smith's name, so I think the choices are either saidanmei or blade name.

Here is a ww2 sword with the slogan Hakkō Ichiu inscribed on the nakago. Close-up of the nakago. http://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KT326157.htm

昭和十六年正月 January, 1941.

Hello Jake, 次兵衛 is just a name: Jibei. In this case, you shouldn't try to parse each kanji for its individual meaning. The three kanji are combined together to form the name Jibei. If course, the individual kanji have meanings, and these meanings, in turn, add to the understanding of the name. But Jibei (次兵衛) is just a masculine name, that when combined with Dōtanuki means "Jibei of the Dōtanuki Group", and we know this because there are written records of Jibei of the Dōtanuki Group. It is this last character 丞 that is causing us to speculate. Typically it is an honorific title of the kind that local Daimyō or the central government would grant to very talented smiths. It would make the whole name into something like "His Lordship Jibei of the Dōtanuki Group", and would be pronounced Jibei-no-jō. However, these titles are usually well-documented in various sources. The smith is then free to use this title on all of his signatures. In the case of Dōtanuki Jibei, there seems to be no record of him ever receiving the honor of a title, and there are no other swords of his that are extant with that particular title on it (as far as I know). So we are kind of scratching our heads as to what this last kanji could mean. It could be that the record of him receiving the title just didn't survive in any written form. It could be that this isn't a title, but instead means something else that isn't yet apparent. In any event, none of this changes the quality of your sword, and none of this changes the NBTHK's judgment that your sword is indeed a sword made and signed by Jibei Dōtanuki.

天保七年丙申八月 Tenpō 7 (1836) August The middle bit, 丙申, is the chinese elemental/zodiac year fire+monkey. Hinoesaru in Japanese. It's just an additional year-counting convention. It confirms the 1836 date. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenpō

Kyūshū Higō Dōtanuki Jihei ... those are the first 10. Could it be that the 衛 character, which is usually written in grass script on this smith's swords, is being mistaken as 丞? There is an article on this smith and how hard it is to read the name, and the potential for these swords to be forged. Look at the illustrations numbered #40 and #41 in the article. He hints (whithout stating explicitly) that the name on #41 is engraved differently enough to be considered a forgery. https://www.token-net.com/knowledge/62_about_gibutsu_14.html Nowhere does it mention anything about 丞 being added.

Need more info. The first three are normally a name, or part of a given name: Jibei The last is normally part of a rank or title ~丞　(~no jō). Japanese is a language for which context can completely change the meaning of the text, so it really depends on what comes before it - but it looks like "name + title".

I think the design on the fuchi/kashira is "Bukan" (Fenggan in Chinese), who was a buddhist monk that is said to have tamed tigers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenggan You probably already know the bug is a cicada. Very common in Japan, and associated with summer. For what its worth, I think the ensemble is probably Meiji, and may have been assembled to appeal to the export market. The sword is early Edo. The fuchi/kashira is probably Edo as well. The cicada menuki...they look a bit big and not so refined, and for this reason they feel like Meiji works. The odd buddha kojiri also feels like a Meji addition. The tsuba is maybe iron cast from a mold?

Hello GE, there are some members on this site who have been flagged in Jussi's post #16, and they might be able to offer their opinions. They haven't posted anything on this thread yet, so they may not have even logged in these past few days. (Or, they simply may not feel motivated enough to give us their thoughts yet.) Life sometimes gets in the way of our hobbies. Regardless, there are some dealers and other enthusiasts who post from time to time that might be happy to look at it in hand and give advice. I hesitate to volunteer their names here, but you might also look on the forum's "For Sale" section to see some of the sword dealers and maybe contact them directly. Or, depending on your circumstances, you might bring it to a sword show to show it to one of the people there - the biggest sword show in the US was just held in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. It is an annual affair, so you might consider coming to next year's show (covid-willing). I think there is a show coming up somewhere on the East Coast. In any event, the names on your swords are big names, as you now know. Big names come with big risks, but it isn't completely unknown that a garage sale or estate sale or some such event uncovers a rare item. It happened recently with a sword found in an estate sale: it turned out to be from one of the great masters of the past 200-300 years. The name on your sword is of the same caliber. If you are interested, please read this thread. It may help you figure out next steps.

The one in the Kuniyasu print with the anchor on his shoulder is Taira no Tomomori (see George's post), also known as Shinchūnagon Tomomori, also known as Ikari Tomomori. "Ikari" means anchor. At Dan No Ura, after losing to the Minamoto, it is said that he walked into the sea holding an anchor. Wikipedia says he tied an anchor around his feet. Anyway, it was an honorable death, as they say. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Tomomori But Suruga Jirō Kiyoshige is also a possibility for the motif on the tsuba in Alban's original post. The ukiyoe print in Dale's post #4 is from the set of 100 Famous Warriors. Suruga Jirō was a retainer/guard for Minamoto Yoshitsune, and enters the 100 Famous Warriors list due to his exploits in protecting Yoshitsune. https://www.Japanese-wiki-corpus.org/person/Jiro SURUGA.html I don't follow why he's holding an anchor in the print. It was no doubt more obvious to people in the 19th century. photo is of the Taira no Tomomori statue in the city of Shimonoseki (near Dan No Ura).

Nobukane of Muromachi period. (時代室町 on the certificate). Everything else is just boilerplate, except for the length, date, and the name of the person to whom the certificate was issued.

Hello Bruce, I wouldn't have any argument with Nick's judgment on these, including the last one (鍛造). I think when I wrote that post in 2018 I was unsure of whether "Mantetsu" referred to the company, or the type of steel. (At the time, I reckoned it referred to the type of steel). My understanding now is that it refers to the company, so I'd want to go back and revise my original translations. Anyway, stick with what Nick has offered.

I've seen it done in both traditional measurements and in cm. I don't know if there was a mandate to use metric or traditional, or if it was left to the person in charge of the shinsa. It seems that nowadays they prefer to use traditional units of length. The word "centimeters" ends up being long because it has so many syllables (or, mora) in Japanese.

On this certificate, the length is written in centimeters. Ninteisho - "Certificate of Appraisal" or "Certificate of Authenticity" might be more natural translations.

石原義定作　Ishihara Yoshisada saku It's the swordsmith's name: "made by Ishihara Yoshisada". WW2 swordsmith.

Yes, this is 後藤慶乗 (Gotō Keijō). You can find another of his works at the link below (yahoo auction... may time out). https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u432282539 Here is the signature. I wouldn't draw any conclusions from this one example.

正延 Masanobu Swordsmith who Jinsoo Kim (sometimes contributor to this board) lists as WW2-era Seki smith. http://www.jp-sword.com/files/seki/gendaito.html

Regarding the hamon on your sword, I would say it is too wavy to be "suguha", so it is probably some kind of notare. Your dilemma is probably very typical of sword enthusiasts: the hamon on your sword doesn't quite conform to they hamon you see in books and online, and so you struggle to figure out how to describe it using the arcane language of the Japanese sword world, where things are described in terms of clove heads and cedar trees. Respect to you for diving into the study of the sword rather than trying to parse the various strokes of the mei. I think you may be off target with Ichimonji, but the Ichimonji enthusiasts on the board would know more than me - and they would probably want to see some clear shots of the hada. I attach the below just for consideration. Noritsune (Bitchū Seno-o) https://blog.goo.ne.jp/nihontokansho/e/1d2d5734730d70d8908e1b6785b10879

I wouldn't draw this conclusion based on the condition of the shingane alone, especially given the amateur polish the sword was apparently given. The shape, the date, and the smith are all pointing in the same direction, and all support one another. I think I would be cautiously optimistic about the mei. I don't know recall if there was much discussion about the hamon or the tip, but those are also necessary to understand and appreciate. Ideally, you would have other swords from this smith to make a comparison. Or photos of swords from this smith and his contemporaries. That would be my next step, although with obscure smiths there are often no examples available, so it can be difficult.

You got the salient bits correct. And with a bit of practice and intuition you would have got the other bits as well. 濃州関住人兼光作之 Nōshū seki jū-nin Kanemitsu saku kore Seki (関) almost invariably follows Nōshū, as the town of Seki was the center of sword production, and it was (and still is) something of a well-known brand for swords and other blades. The seki on your sword is slightly unusual and doesn't look like the glyph that is most-commonly used, but it has the central part (关) which identifies it as seki. Your shō stamp looks OK to me. 昭 inside of a cherry blossom. (Struck at a slightly crooked angle, but otherwise OK).

於越前囗　(maybe a repitition of 前?) 囗無布施経(經) I don't see wo motte in the first line. The final character looks kind of like 前, but it is written differently from the first one, which might be due to calligraphic rules (a repeated character should be written differently) . The other side says something Fusenaikyō, which is both a type of tameshigiri cut, and the name of a sword by Sanenaga (made famous by a duel wherein that kind of cut was made against an opponent). Also the name of a kyōgen play.

Hmm, we need to see the beginning of those reminiscences to find out what he's using this ferro-vanadium for. (My guess is railway cars or tanks). This section is still mid-way through his remembrances.

You don't have the previous page from where this came? That should give the context you are looking for.

You got the gist of it. You are missing the length and the date. Length should be fairly easy. Date is　　時在丁酉仲呂　

Noshū Seki-jū Kanekage looks right. That last kanji is pretty badly worn down so it is hard to say definitively what it is. Anyway, Kanekage is a strong possibility. Yes it could be from late 1500s. Nice sanbon-sugi hamon. Pretty scratched up - you might consider giving it a professional polish if you don't mind the expense. In the meantime, keep it off the ground, avoid touching the blade with bare hands, don't try to polish it yourself, etc...