SteveM

Hello Dan, I saw this on the other thread and spend a while trying to make it out, but its just too far gone for me. There is a resemblance to 平 , but in the end I didn't have any confidence in that reading. I didn't like the placement or the balance (one would expect the 正 and the 平 to be placed in a straight line with the 八月, and they should be about the same size, spaced the same size apart. I would expect to find the kanji 年 (year) after the era name, and/or the zodiac signs. Often we find the zodiac/sexegenary signs slightly smaller and offset, so I considered the possibility that the writing above 八月 is some part of the sexegenary cycle name. Anyway, as I said, the more I looked the more the confidence drained from me. The other side has 兼廣 right? So if I'm not mistaken its katana-mei, which again pushes me away from a 正平 date. Is the sword shaped like one would expect a Nambokuchō-era sword to be shaped?

浅野侯爵　Marquis Asano 阿部伯爵 Count Abe

丹波守藤原照門 Tanba-no-kami Fujiwara Terukado

Yes, the first kanji on the tsuba doesn't look like 遊 . Actually I can't tell what the radical for the first kanji is supposed to be. Sanzui? Shinnyō? Kind of looks like both, but the balance seems way off for sanzui, that's why I was thinking the radical was shinnyō and the whole kanji might be 遊 (sometimes used in art names). But looking at it again, I think my first idea was wrong. I don't know what it could be.

I think we can rule out 遊. It's got to be something else.

Yes, a different light angle would help.

I don't think so. Maybe one of our native speakers will lend a hand.

probably 羽方公彦

遊囗家囗 is my guess. The final one looks like a cross between 射 and 駒. I don't think its either of those.

Yes. Feel free.

磨り上げ額縁銘 Suriage "gakubuchi" mei I think they mean "gakumei", which is a mei that is cut out (or cut off) of a sword and then re-inserted back into the sword once the sword is shortened. Its a technique for preserving the mei when a sword is shortened. In this case, this looks like a simple hotstamp. It isn't a mei that has been cut off and reinserted, so its not a "gakumei". My guess is that the owners removed the date and signature to reduce the risk of the sword being confiscated by the authorities. It seems to be a worry that is diminishing with each passing year - but it would have been a concern in the last few decades of the 90s.

正真　武州住千住院源守正作　寛文　長壱尺伍寸参分有之 Shōshin Bushū-jū Senjuin Minamoto Morimasa saku Kanbun Nagasa Isshaku Gosun Sanbu ari kore True signature Bushū-jū Senjuin Minamoto Morimasa saku Kanbun (era) Length 1 shaku, 5 sun, 3 bu

It is wordplay, but not the one claimed by that link. Grapes and Squirrel = 葡萄に栗鼠 (budō ni risu). Budō ni risu sounds almost identical to budō ni rissuru (武道に律する) which can mean roughly "pursue the discipline of the martial arts" "uphold the way of the warrior". Plus, both grapes and squirrels symbolize fertility, so they are considered good luck or auspicious symbols.

For the signature, 法眼一斎 (Hōgan Issai) maybe? Oops, just noticed, you already have the signature. Feel free to delete this post. 　

五洲？

瑞峯造 癸未三月 Zuihō tsukuru 1943, March Same guy (and same year) as the one in this recent thread.

Not hitatsura. A flamboyant chōji gunome, or a few other similar appellations. For hitatsura you would see a lot more deliberate activity in the shinogi-ji, and overall it would have the appearance of flames all over the sword (from the blade to the ridge). I agree with Dave about the signature.

I don't know if its a manufacturer's mark, or a kamon. It's the character 本 (hon, moto = origin) written in a seal-script type font. As a kamon its called maru-ni-hon-no-kakuji (angled character "hon" in a circle), but yours looks more like a maker's mark to me. Here is a link that shows the kamon https://www.akinofont.com/shop/item_detail.php?mode=_ITEM_DETAIL&i_xid=4815

The back of the paper has the name of the person who owned the sword at the time the paper was issued, and the date of issue (April 28th, 2006).

Could be a number or reasons. Maybe the day the sword was finished was an inauspicious day. The number "4" is considered unlucky, so perhaps "lucky day" was a way of avoiding the dreaded number four. Other calendar days also have bad luck associations depending on Chinese/Buddhist traditions, and so the vague "lucky day" may be a way of avoiding these superstitious days. Or maybe the sword was handed to an apprentice to finish, and therefore the "day of completion" could have simply been unrecorded. At any rate, Its very common to see this kind of inscription on swords.

輙切り落とし No idea what that kanji points to. One reading of it is わきき (wakiki), which sounds suspiciously close to "wakike". Wakike is a cut across the upper chest, but it describes a location of a cut, rather than a part that is to be cut off. I'd be keen to hear any other explanations. Anyway, this is a digression from discussion of when the sword was made. Edo period, mid-1600s is my guess.

Wood sorrel in circle (maru-ni-ken-katabami). You can find a few other examples in this thread.

The paper omits the 住, but otherwise its a match. The length and the date are a match, so it looks like just a clerical error.

You got it right, but I think Enpō 8 converts to 1680. August is correct. Bear in mind there is not a one-for-one equivalence here as the historical Japanese calendar is slightly different from the gregorian calendar. And yes this says 吉辰 at the end, which is pronounced kisshin, and means "lucky day". (←This I discovered just today. Apparently its not as uncommon as I thought, and I can find several examples on the internet with just a casual search... which goes to show you learn something new every day). https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_jaJP935JP935&sxsrf=ALeKk02shewXOzXkS9MRKdd0cdXRik7Qpw%3A1615737453013&ei=bTJOYOALnLzQ8Q-3rpaQCg&q=吉辰とは&oq=吉辰とは&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgjELADECc6BAgjECc6BAgAEEM6BggAEAQQJToCCABQ8nxY35oBYKidAWgCcAB4AIABzgGIAYQHkgEFMS41LjGYAQCgAQGqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEBwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz&ved=0ahUKEwig9r6Hk7DvAhUcHjQIHTeXBaIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5

Never heard of "lucky dragon" on a sword. Lucky (or, auspicious/blessed) Day is very common. Maybe its part of a zodiac year and "lucky day"? Need pics to see what the writing is.