SteveM

Kuniyoshi, 1847. One of the 47 Rōnin, Sumino Jūheiji Tsugifusa. I don't know why he has his hand under the futon cover. Must be an interesting story there. Actually this must depict a kabuki adaptation, because the real rōnin's name was Sugino, and his given name of Jūhei used a different kanji for "Jū". https://ja.ukiyo-e.o.../bm/AN00588150_001_l

This one feels pretty straightforward, with not much room for variation. 沖廣卓爾　OKIHIRO Takuji,

It's a location and a name (presumably of the owner) Iwakuni city, Ushinoya OKIHIRO Takuji (Okihiro is the family name, Takuji is the given name) (wrote this just as John C. posted the above)

Should be oriented as below Says Nomura Yūki, a late art name of the mid-Edo era metalworker Nomura Masatada. Many fakes out there. Buyer beware. The image is of a sword-tailed dragon, grasping for a jewel. A fairly common theme.

Lid Mumei Yoshirō　　　　(unsigned, attributed to Yoshirō) Bukan Sukashi Tsuba (Tsuba with family crests in sukashi) Early Edo Period Inside Maru-gata, tetsu-ji, ko-sukashi Shinchū zōgan (brass inlay) Mumei Yoshirō Shōwa (year of Ox) (1973) Summer Kanzan (with monogram)

Swordsmith is 良重 (Yoshishige) Inscribed with 西澤一 守刀　　(to) NISHIZAWA Hajime, protective sword or "guardian sword" or "defensive sword" etc... Other readings are also possible for the given name. In other words, the given name could possibly be Hitoshi or Kazu, etc... Impossible to know without asking this person or his family. Kind of a unique inscription to find on a WW2 sword.

Scabbards with working Iida latches must be very collectible. I don't know how many were made, but my guess is that the extra cost and extra steps in the manufacturing process would have meant they were somewhat expensive and inefficient to manufacture, and would have been stopped when Japan started to run very low on resources. That is just my guess. Feels like we only see a couple of these every year. The designer of the Iida latch ran a sword shop in Tokyo, and his descendants still run that sword shop to this day. Iida Kōendō is the name of the shop. Its one of the higher end shops in Tōkyō. https://iidakoendo.com/

I feel like I just translated this one yesterday.

I think this one is read Mitsuakira. Kind of an unusual reading, but that is what makes it memorable.

東京砲兵工廠　Tōkyō Artillery Arsenal (read right-to-left) 明治廿五年製　Made in Meiji 25 (1892) https://en.wikipedia...i/Koishikawa_arsenal

Looking at this again: Okano Taromatsu was born in 1900, so he wouldn't be writing sayagaki in Reiwa 5 (2023). Needs a bit of checking.

This sayagaki was written by Okano Taromatsu, art name of "Bizan" 備山. Small point 文　　Fumi (or Fu in this case, both are acceptable) 月　 Tsuki (not gatsu in this case) So the two together are Fumizuki, or Fuzuki

My thinking evolution was 1. Some simplified/abstracted versions of kanji. Maybe "good luck" (喜, 吉, 囍, etc...). I gave up on this hypothesis, though. ↓ 2. Some representation of the I Ching trigrams (the ones that Dan Tsuba mentions in his post above). I didn't completely give up on this, but seems unlikely. ↓ 3. Now that I am aware of the "Taigenkyō" symbols (DirkO's last post), I think this is probably going to be an area that merits further research. So I've come all this way to kind of repeat what Tokka says, "after looking at a lot of stuff, I still don't know". But I think the taigenkyō letters look promising. I was not aware of these symbols until today - I was only aware of the more common trigrams (the ones you see on the Korean national flag). I'll have to dig a bit more into the taigenkyō symbols and find out their connection to samurai thought/aesthetics (if any).

The authentication paper is calling this design "scattered lattices" (格子散図), which is as good a descriptor as you'll find, I think. The other bit about "hand-roasting the bullion" is a mistranslation of the type of forging technique of the tsuba. This one, from Christies, is perhaps my favorite. It comes with a hakogaki by Torigoye, who also calls them "lattices in sukashi" (格子透) https://onlineonly.c...-iron-tsuba-19/12103 The Japanese dealer Tokka has had a tsuba with a similar motif available on his site for a while now. https://tokka.biz/fittings/T015.html His descriptions says Translation: I've researched extensively, but I'm afraid I have to offer it without any explanation as to the design of the figures in sukashi. Are they meant to be lattice screens? Is there some significance in this type of "lattice screen"? Or are they some other design, that for some reason has just be reduced to "lattice". I'm waiting for a definitive explanation, but in the meantime I won't argue with Torigoye.

This paper even makes note of the "Seki" stamp (the bit in parenthesis just before the signature). Previously, I think the NBTHK would have preferred this stamp to be obscured or removed so that they could at least make a plausible claim that the item wasn't presented as a wartime blade. Now it seems they are embracing Seki blades. This is speculation, but I do think there has been some discussion at NBTHK, and that they are now viewing these blades as having valid historical value, and are therefore issuing authentication papers for wartime blades that are properly registered and are in good condition. It would be helpful if the NBTHK would make some public statement about this This paper is from 2021.

If I search for "netsuke" and "takayoshi" in Japanese, I can find other, similar items with this same name (孝悦). Note: I can't confirm that Takayoshi is the correct reading of the name, but it does seem to be the most plausible. Note 2. A lot of these sites are websites that are spoofing other dodgy auction sites, so the links won't direct you to a real website. Still, you can see the items and the mei on the thumbnails. I'm guessing there really is/was an artisan by the name of Takayoshi, but I can't find any specific information on him. https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=587171574&rlz=1C1ONGR_jaUS979US979&sxsrf=AM9HkKltqoQymZhP1wHE820MwiCW4IMoSA:1701485140072&q=根付+孝悦&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN_vSK3u-CAxWEKkQIHQPqBXwQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1200&bih=543&dpr=1.5 Note 3: Not my area of expertise, so it goes without saying I have no opinion on the authenticity of the mei.

#3 possibly a Japanese chestnut? And I agree, this one is probably the best of the lot.

The mei is signed on the side of the sword that faces outward when the sword is slung from the waist, i.e. tachi style. But its not such a big point of distinction with wartime blades, as they were all worn the same way. In other words, they were all made to be mounted in wartime scabbards with wartime belt hooks, so I think the placement of the signature is more an affectation of the smith rather than an indication of what he intended the sword to be. If this sword were to be registered, my guess is that it would get registered as a "katana". But, as I say, its not a major point - not with this era of swords, anyway. Regarding the Yoshichika, I see only one Shōwa era Yoshichika (吉近) in Markus Sesko's index: civilian name of Yoshioka Tetsujirō.

The fittings look to be in good/great condition. I don't know anything about this sarute, but I'll assume it has some extra value to collectors due to the rarity. If there are numbers on the fittings, and they all match, that would be a big plus. The sword...need to see clearer pictures of course, but let's assume its a typical Seki sword in good-ish condition (I note the comment about the pitting, which is a slight worry). I agree with the owner's comment that the inscription is unique - I just did a quick search for "Magoroku-dō" but I couldn't find anything. Interestingly, I can find other vintage WW2 swords by Kanenao that have been registered and sold in Japan online (but with slightly different inscriptions). In general, I'd say a very clean set like this would be north of US$3000. Detract points for scratches, pitting, and rust on the sword, fittings that are assembled from salvaged parts after the war, general deterioration in the scabbard (loose fittings, rust, etc.).

極 = Kiwami = attribution

My opinion: shinsa for tōsōgu makes sense for high-value items, or better-than-average items. It costs around JPY 18,000 - 20,000, and takes a couple of months to send it off and then get it back. If you are sending an item to Japan from overseas, it adds a further cost and time and complexity, which might make sense if you were a dealer and and were looking to validate the authenticity of an item, and/or reduce resell friction. For an average piece, the expense and the hassle of shipping it off to Japan, isn't worth it. If the item is unsigned, you will get back an attribution, but its likely to be an attribution to a school or genre, so you won't find out anything specific about the item, but you might get a hint about where to direct your studies. So if you are just looking for an idea of the school or the age, you'd do just as well to post pictures here on NMB and see what feedback you get.

There are a lot of wayward strokes on that second kanji. Kanetatsu.... hmmm. It's plausible, but it's very crudely done.

Cool, it will be interesting to hear what Ohmura-san has to say.

There are enough differences to make me a bit pessimistic about the chances of these getting papered. 1. The published examples all have a kaō under the signature. 2. The published examples all use the standard version of 浅, whereas the one on yours uses the old version of 淺 3. The 井 in yours is concaved on the left side, whereas the published ones are all pretty straight. These variances could be explained by the evolution of the artist, and natural evolution of the signature as he became more confident. Once he becomes established, his signature is more bold, and he adds the kaō to his name. So maybe in his earliest works there is no kaō, and his inscription looks a bit more tentative. Unfortunately there aren't many works signed with Ryō'un, so there aren't a lot of resources to refer to. If I owned this set and I were in Japan, I wouldn't hesitate to send these off to shinsa as the cost/risk would be pretty negligible. Sending off to the NBTHK shinsa from the US is a bit more risky. If you have an opportunity to submit these for shinsa in the US, you should do that and see what they say.

I think it would be more correct to say unregistered swords are prohibited to be carried (or sold) in Japan. And the definition of what swords may be registered has a fair amount of room for interpretation, which is why we occasionally see wartime blades being registered. The law doesn't mention the word "guntō". The law doesn't mention tamahagane, either. However, I can see that some individual prefectures post conflicting information regarding what swords can be registered. Anyway, the ambiguity in the law has allowed more and more "wartime era" blades to be registered, as I suspect is what happened with the Nishihara Kanemasa swords being sold above. The reference to Go Yoshihiro looks like a feedback loop of marketing hyperbola. The descriptor "copy of Go Yoshihiro" attracts many more views than the swordsmith's name, so anyone looking for information on Nishihara Kanemasa is going to enter into an echo chamber of marketing fluff. I'll look around a bit more today, but I think this thread here has probably the most information on Nishihara Kanemasa that exists on the internet.