SteveM

肥後金剛源鋳王作之 Higo Kongo Minamoto Chūō saku kore. Not sure about 鋳王. I can't find any similar signature on the internet. Could be the smith is claiming some lineage to Kongo Hyōei. Well-cut signature and date.

I think its the guy that Stephen mentions, Takenori, but the mei on this sword is (三州)　宮路山麓住藤原武則作 (Sanshū) Miyaji Sanroku Fujiwara Takenori saku The "Sanshū" bit is covered up by the habaki. Take a look at another sample of this mei at the link below http://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KT326751.htm

Kaneuji is a good call. Could be this guy http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kaneuji3.jpg

Not really unusual, just slightly illegible due to corrosion. 兼茂 (Kaneshige, maybe). The reverse side is a date, but this is also badly corroded. ?年五月 (? year, May). Assume its wartime - sometime between 1940 - 1945. The date may have been deliberately erased in order to try to pass it off as something other than a wartime blade.

I don't think its a saidan mei.

I couldn't find anything. So...that usually means we misidentified one or more of the kanji. I think 二囗不囗 are a given. The last could be 淳 or maybe 亭. The second...no idea, but I looked at 筒 and a search didn't reveal anything. I agree it must be a 4-letter idiom, but... my usual search enquiries didn't turn up any plausible candidates.

I got the first, third and fourth, but I don't know what the 2nd one is, and nothing is popping up in a search. 二囗不淳

Edo period (the great catch-all for any wakizashi of unidentifiable origin). With diligence in tracking down which Kanesada this is (or is trying to be), you might be able to put a finer point on it. Have a search on the internet and on this site for Kanesada wakizashi with similar signature. You should at least be able to identify who it is NOT, fairly easily. There are a lot of resources available if you roll up your sleeves and get cracking.

Looks like 兼定 (Kanesada), with a slightly funky 定. I don't know how many swordsmiths there are named Kanesada, but probably a dozen or more. You would have to look up all the Kanesada smiths and try to match the signature - unless there is someone on this board who recognizes the smith. The sword is in bad shape. The rust, the chip in the cutting edge, and loss of the yokote, can all be repaired by a trained sword sharpener, but my guess is that the repair job would cost more than the finished item would fetch on the auction sites. It depends on what is hiding under the rusted surface. Don't attempt to polish it yourself or you will surely ruin the sword. It needs a professional to fix its flaws and reshape the yokote, etc... If it has been in a fire, it may not be salvageable, even with a polish. This is a very difficult class of item, because on the one hand it is an authentic Japanese sword, but on the other hand there are a ton of these problematic swords on the market, and the effort required to repair it and appraise it, is often more expensive than its worth (in purely financial terms).

Shōjū Kanemasa 小銃兼正 See the bottom of the linked page http://ohmura-study.net/911.html

Looking at the other thread, I'm wondering if this isn't 飯田軍刀店 (Iida Sword Shop). The first kanji is almost impossibly obscured, but it seems plausible. (Maybe 飯田軍刀店調整 in full).

専賣特許（専売特許） Exclusive Patent 飯田式錠蓋 Iida-style locking lid 出願中 Patent pending

壱月参日 January 3rd.

丸に中陰の結び片喰 Maru ni chūin no musubi katabami https://www.kamon18.com/cart/shop/90083.html

I doubt the date is 1945. I don't think anyone would be writing a sayagaki in the midst of (or on the eve of) the confiscation of swords by US army personnel. If its 乙酉, its probably 2005. The sword itself is, of course, hundreds of years old, I guess. Anyway, the date on this shirasaya is the date of the writing, not the date of the sword. As I say, the first character could be 己 rather than 乙 (similar-looking, but different), making the zodiac date 己酉 (1969). But, looking at the various calligraphy styles it seems to be 乙酉, so 2005 - or a somewhat implausible 1945. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle

Maybe 品目員数　item, number of items

My attempt for the final column heading 修理箇所・故障部位　(repaired spot, broken part)

長壱尺六寸二分有之 乙（己）酉年十二月初冬日 Nagasa isshaku roku sun ni bu ari kore Tsuchinoto-tori (Kinoto-tori?) nen jūnigatsu shoto jitsu Length 1 shaku, 6 sun, 2 bu 1969 (2005?) December, early winter The length uses the old Japanese units of measurement: shaku, sun, bu. https://www.kampaibudokai.org/Script.htm Hard to tell what the year zodiac date is. I tend to think it is 1969. The saya looks a bit "handled" to be from the 2000s. And the writing sort of looks like the writing of Sato Kanzan, so that would put the date at 1969 also. There is no guarantee that it is his signature, however. The erased part looks like it was probably a signature (kaō, in Japanese). The fact that it was erased makes one think it may have been a false signature that someone preferred to erase rather than keep on the saya, and that would cast some doubt on whether it was a Kanzan signature or not. In any event, I would guess 1969.

濃州関住具衡 Nōshū Seki-jū Tomohira

Oops, sorry about that - I meant to add it 無銘京正阿弥 丸形鉄地肉彫地透金点象嵌 角耳小肉両櫃孔 Mumei Kyō-Shōami Marugata tetsu-ji nikubori-ji sukashi, kinten zōgan Kaku-mimi ko-niku, ryō hitsuana Very nice tsuba, by the way.

鬼鍾馗図透鐔 Oni Shōki-zu Sukashi Tsuba Demon and Shōki, openwork tsuba Mumei Kyō-Shōami Marugata tetsu-ji nikubori-ji sukashi, kinten zōgan Kaku-mimi ko-niku, ryō hitsuana Mumei Kyō-Shōami Round, iron, with relief openwork and points of gold inlay Angled mimi (edges) with low relief. Two hitsu ana (holes for kōgai and kozuka) Box also says Demon and Shōki openwork tsuba (Kyō-Shōami) You have the right date.

Yes, the paragraph is about the Ichijo disciples, and not specifically about Funada Ikkin, other than the one sentence mentioning he was the top student of Ichijo. As John says, the picture doesn't mention specifically which Funada Ikkin, but the text only mentions Yoshinaga so one can assume the tsuba pictures is a 1st gen Ikkin (aka Yoshinaga) tsuba.

You need to look closely at the kanji on your sword, as there are many kanji that have identical readings. The kanji on your sword is 貞久 And the kanji you are showing me in the book is 定久 You need to be looking for swordsmiths who signed with 貞久.

Yours looks like 来貞久作 (Rai Sadahisa saku) This is a signature that doesn't show up in my online searches. In Markus Sesko's swordsmith compendium, there are three smiths who used the name 貞久: one who worked from 1532-1555, one who worked from 1596-1615, and another who worked from 1661-1673. None of these three used "Rai" in their name, as far as I know. ("Rai" is a family/lineage of swordsmiths). There was a smith in the late 1600s who signed 越中守来貞幸 (Etchū no kami Rai Sadayuki), so I would guess your smith may be related to him since they both use the same kanji for Sada (貞) and both are claiming the "Rai" lineage. The timing feels better also, since the wakizashi comes into wider production from the 1600s.

Hello Malcom, Here's your man. https://www.tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/a00220.html Steve