SteveM

Here are the salient bits 水玉亀文塗鞘脇指拵 lacquered wakizashi koshirae with spotted tortoise-shell design 縁頭庭園図鉄地 fuchi/kashira = garden motif, iron plate 目貫猿猴図山銅地容彫 menuki = monkey motif, raw copper katachi-bori 鐔茄子鉈豆図鉄地 tsuba = eggplant and sword-bean motif, iron plate 小柄雲竜図赤銅魚子地 kozuka = climbing dragon motif, shakudō on nanako

I think you have a genuine Japanese, pre-war, traditionally-made sword. The openings in the steel are unfortunate, but many swords have such openings. The longish horizontal crack (or opening?) is a worry, but this too is relatively common. I can't tell if it is a welding flaw or something more serious. It appears that the tip of your sword may have been broken and repaired at one point because I can't see any boshi on there. The rust spots are something that needs to be remedied. All of these issues combined pose problems. On the positive side of the ledger, the sword is authentic. I like the hamon, There could be nice activities lurking in the hamon that would be revealed with a polish. But is it worth the expense to have the sword polished and put into a new/clean shirasaya...that is a tough question. See if you can get an expert to look at it in hand. I think the inscription is a later addition, and I don't think it offers any clue as to who made the sword.

Its my pleasure. I'm constantly surprised by how good everyone is getting at reading these. The 柄 in this one was the giveaway. 柄＋子 could only be one person, so that told me what the rest of the mei should be. I'm also glad to see Moriyama-san come back. And Morita-san made an appearance the other day as well. Hope everyone is doing well.

藻柄子／入道宗典製 Mogarashi Nyūdō Soten sei 江州／彦根住 Gōshū Hikone-jū Top one is the name, bottom one is the location of the artist. (Hikone city is located in what is nowadays known as Shiga Prefecture).

I don't think there is an English translation of that whole dialogue. If I'm not mistaken the dialogue I linked to is from an NHK drama. The salient bit is 「せっかくだ、わしの愛刀を差し上げよう。銘を『大食上戸餅食らい』と申す相州秋広の業物、その切れ味底無しじゃ。」 頼宣は大いに感謝し、信之に兼光の脇差等を贈った。 "To commemorate the occasion, I will give you a treasured sword of mine. The mei on it reads "A glutton, drunkard, and rice cake eater", and it is a wazamono (sharp sword) made by Akihiro of Sōshū. Its sharpness is infinite." Yorinobu was so grateful he sent Nobuyuki this as well as a wakizashi from Kanemitsu and other items. I actually can't find a whole lot of other references to that inscription anywhere. And, like Moriyama-san, I can't decide if the inscription on yours is a genuine Japanese inscription, or a fake that was scrawled onto the sword by someone who watched the NHK drama. The inscription (name?) on the reverse side certainly looks dodgy to me. It isn't Sōshū Akihiro, so we can strike that possibility off the list. And always remember the sword itself is the thing that you should focus on. I can't tell you much about your sword. I can't even tell if yours is a 100+ year old authentic nihontō, or if it is a WW2 guntō. The nakago looks recent to me, and the words look crudely scratched on, so this is why I have doubts about the sword's vintage. Also, you don't mention where you got it. If it is a purchase from an online auction site, it would make me suspicious. If it is something that came out of the woodwork - something that was handed down from a vet, or a sword collector, or if it had some other provenance that might point to authenticity, it would be good background info. The rest of the sword - in other words the things that should tell you more about its age and quality, i.e. the hamon, boshi, etc... are too out of focus. I can see it has a hamon which might have interesting activities, and the mitsu-mune is interesting, but its hard to tell. I recommend you take it to a sword show or dealer or study group that can tell you more after looking at it in hand. And submitting it for authentication is of course always the best way to dispel any doubts. Be careful of the rust on the blade. Make sure it doesn't spread.

守護　越後国住愛心子昭隆作之 Shugo Echigo-no-kuni jū Aishinshi Akitaka (kore wo tsukuru) Guardian - Aishinshi Akitaka of Echigo province made this I think this is the same swordsmith that is listed as AKI70 in the database.

濃州住國廣 Nōshū-jū Kunihiro Kunihiro is a WW2 smith. Nōshū is a location (Gifu Prefecture).

The sword mentioned in Moriyama-san's post was supposedly made by Sōshū Akihiro (相州秋広). More on this smith at the site below. https://www.nihonto.com/soshu-akihiro-相州秋広/ link to dialogue mentioning the Akihiro sword given from Tokugawa to Sanads http://iiwarui.blog90.fc2.com/?mode=m&no=4460

Yes, 1893 is the year of his birth (according to the Japanese site below). https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/500000320070

Yes, everybody above is right 沢田包光作 Sawada Kanemitsu saku WWII swordsmith

The black writing in the margins 版権所有　飯田國太郎 Hanken shoyū (Publishing rights)　Iida Kunitarō 製作責任　平井 Seisaku sekinin (Production) Hirai 摺　　　　　坂倉 Suri (Printer) Sakakura Edit: fixed Sakakura

Moriyama-san might also have an idea.

Of the chippy WW2 inscriptions I've seen, this one looks particularly hastily inscribed, almost reduced to as few strokes as could be made and still have some recognizable form of the original kanji. Actually, the first part of the name is unrecognizable to me. Tom's guess of Sukehisa is as good as any, but I couldn't find any Sukehisa on the WW2 smith lists. (I agree the second character is 久 - hisa). The names on the lists that might be plausible are all just a few strokes too removed to be a good match. I'm thinking of 兼久 (Kanehisa) 義久 (Yoshihisa), or possibly even 武久 (Takehisa), but as I say the form on this sword is just a bit too different. Looks like kusa kanmuri, but there are no smiths I could find with any such name. 祐久 (Sukehisa) is as good, if not better, than any of the above, so maybe somebody can find a mid-20th century Sukehisa in one of the list of smiths. I also think Tom has the right date (Showa 18) but this too is reduced to an almost unreadable few scratches. Definitely a WW2 blade. I don't think the blade is o-suriage. It might be machi-okuri, but its hard to tell.

The writing looks like an attempt at Japanese-looking characters. I don't think its a real mei. It looks to me like there is an acid-etched hamon on the blade. Its hard to see it through the scratched surface.

関光信 Seki Mitsunobu 昭和十九年二月日 Shōwa 19, February On the seppa 〇一二七 0127

Its too obscured for me to read, but I wouldn't put too much effort into trying to get to the bottom of these markings. If its under some more numbers, I would guess those are some assembly instructions (for example. "part number 0482, upper left side"). Or "part #0482 bottom of tsuka", or some such. 〇四八二柄下 or something like that.

The left side (the side without the numbers) looks like something written in katakana - maybe the name of the craftsman, who knows. Looks vaguely like カケタ (Kaketa) or カケヌ (Kakenu). The first one is a plausible Japanese name. The second one, a not very plausible Japanese name.

Hello Judith, There is a FAQ at the top of this web page that should contain links to glossaries and other sword-related topics. I think if you browse through those you can get yourself up to speed pretty quickly. In short A wakizashi is a type of sword (sometimes called a "short sword"), that is between 30 and 60 centimeters. Samurai wore both a long and a short sword together as a pair. If there is a signature, it will be on the part inside the handle. Search around here, or on youtube, for hints on how to take the handle off if it is stuck. A shirasaya is a plain wooden scabbard, traditionally made out of a kind of Japanese magnolia tree. Swords are usually stored in this plain wooden scabbard. Swords are removed from the decorative lacquer scabbards, disassembled (the handle and parts taken off), and then the bare steel sword is moved to the plain wooden shirasaya for long-term storage. The damascus one (the one with the gold writing on the body of the blade) could be made anywhere. Often they are made in some factory in China, and they have random Japanese-like writing on them in order to make them look like Japanese swords. There are a ton of articles about care and handling on this site.

Hello Chris, I'm afraid I don't know anything about this smith. I only know how to read the name, and I know he appears on the list of Seki smiths compiled by the indispensable Jinsoo Kim, who is an occasional poster on this board. Maybe he will notice this and will chime in with any information he has. http://www.jp-sword.com/files/seki/gendaito.html

Yes this is a seki sword, made by 日比野金道　Hibino Kinmichi

Yes, you all got the right translations 備州長船祐定 Bishū Osafune Sukesada 享禄元年八月日 Kyōroku Gannen Hachigatsu-no-hi (a day in August, 1528) Edit: Actually I'll pull my punch a bit on the year...It could be 元, 二, or 三. So either 1528, 1529, or 1530. It looks like the right size for 元, but the two downward strokes are hard to make out. On the other hand, it could be a 二 or 三, but then the balance looks funny. I think 元年 (1528) is right, but I leave the door slightly open for some doubt.

The part in the shinogi is 奉寄進熱田大神宮尾州熱田頁賀浦・・・ Dedicated to the Great Atsuta Shrine, Bishu (Owari province) Atsuta, (?)・・・　nb: I don't understand the bits after "Atsuta". reverse side 元禄八 Genroku 8

Like Brian, I read, thought about it, and couldn't come up with anything that I thought was substantial enough to add. Some of the things that popped into my mind: Length of the war in the Pacific and failure of Japanese production capacity to consistently supply soldiers with items? Climate in the South Pacific and East Asia was harsher on items, making them rust or deteriorate faster? Most or many soldiers located in China, and so access to these items was restricted after the war and China's civil war? (Also access to items in Korea being interrupted by Korean war and partitioning of the country). Comprehensive firebombing of Japanese manufacturing centers, affecting production capacity.

Hello Kris, There are a few Yasumitsu smiths, and a few who are from Bishū. I couldn't find the exact match "Bishū-ju Yasumitsu", but this isn't uncommon. I only mention this because sometimes the omission of a word (国 kuni, for example) can be significant. Yours might be one of the top 4 on this page. https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearch?type=All&mei_op=contains&mei=%E5%AE%89%E5%85%89 and then again maybe not. Gimei are common, and there is the possibility that yours is gimei as well. Having said that, I like the looks of your tantō. It could very well be in the neighborhood of 500 years old. It is begging for a professional polish, and that would tell you a lot more about whether or not this is a high quality tantō. In my opinion, this one is worth spending some time and effort on.

Try this one http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2010/1010_4006syousai.htm