SteveM

I think it says 刃長壱尺八寸二分有シ Not sure about the last one. I would normally expect 之, but it doesn't look much like 之. Also, the 壱 doesn't look much like 壱. But it's not "two", and "three" is almost out of the question unless its a really massive sword. At any rate the sword itself will reveal what number this is supposed to be (even if it doesn't reveal the actual kanji that the writer has written. Anyway, either 壱 or 壹 is my guess. On the second picture it says ERA NAME + ZODIAC YEAR + MONTH (I think its using the classical name for the month). Then at the end, it says Kanzan wrote this + kao (as you correctly pointed out). Does that help?

Also Furukawa Mototaka, as Wakayama says. These two different readings were a topic of another recent thread. I started digging a bit deeper into these readings, but I hit a brick wall. The problem stems from the two possible readings of these kanji. 元 = gen, moto 常 = jō, tsune 珍 = chin, and very rarely taka Wakayama says: Furukawa Mototaka was the father of Furukawa Tsunetaka (常珍), and studied with Yokoya Sōmin. Wakayama himself used a 19th century text written by Akiyama Kyusaku as his reference. One of the first western scholars of such things, Henri Joly, also used Akiyama Kyusaku as a source, but Joly claims the readings as Genchin and Jōchin. Haynes is supposed to have used Wakayama as his main reference, but Haynes claims the names are read as Genchin and Jōchin, so I suspect Haynes used Joly's readings for this artist. Andy Quirt makes a slightly circular argument, saying that since the son's name was Jōchin, it's likely the father's name was Genchin, which ignores the references that claim both father and son use Mototaka and Tsunetaka respectively. So why the two readings? As most people on this site know, kanji characters have two ways of being read: one is a native Japanese style (kun'yomi) and the other is a replication of the original Chinese pronunciation (on'yomi). The Japanese style is used for native Japanese words, and the Chinese style is used for words or concepts that arrived through various waves of writings or scholars from the mainland. However names can use either the on'yomi pronunciation, or the kun'yomi pronunciation, OR, they can take on an altogether unique and idiosyncratic pronunciation used specifically for names (sometimes called nanori). These name-readings (nanori) are devilishly hard to predict for the foreign reader. Taka is indeed a unique reading of 珍. It is not an intuitive reading, as we sometimes find. It is a reading that is deliberate and uncommon, at least nowadays. I feel that Wakayama must have had some reason for stating definitively that the name should be pronounced Mototaka. But I have yet to solve the puzzle. Genchin is certainly a more intuitive reading, and given the connection with Sōmin, it is easy to imagine a symmetry in the names Sōmin, Genchin, Jōchin, which all share the same kind of construction and euphony . If anyone has a copy of Akiyama Kyusaku's original work, I would be very interested to see if there is a clue to the reading of this name. Or, if Markus has an idle second and has some information on this artist, I would be very happy to hear what he has to say. As a side note; in China there is usually only one way to pronounce a kanji, and so you don't run into this problem of multiple readings. Not often, anyway. In Japan, the problem of multiple readings is somewhat compensated by using far fewer kanji in daily life than is used in China. So in China there are tens of thousands of kanji, but each has only one pronunciation, whereas in Japan we only use about 2000 - 3000 kanji, but each kanji has multiple pronunciations. As a further side note, the on'yomi in Japan isn't necessarily associated with China; I mean, Japanese people do not suppose they are speaking Chinese just because words use on'yomi. The connection is only historical. It is similar to how many words in English have their origins in the Latin language, but we don't imagine that we could converse in Latin just because there are words in our vocabulary that came from Latin. Its not a perfect analogy, but maybe a useful one. references: http://www.shibuiswords.com/makoto-ni.htm http://www.nihonto.us/LS017 FURUGAWA GENCHIN.htm http://www.shibuiswords.com/books.htm

It's a name 松浦安？ Matsuura Yasu-? Family name of Matsuura, given name of Yasu-something. Maybe Yasueimon 安右衛門 using abbreviated forms of the last two kanji. Matsuura is a fairly common last name, found all over Japan. Maybe slightly more prevalent in the west, around Hiroshima.

If I had to make a guess I'd say 如竹 (Jochiku), but only because it shares the highly abbreviated strokes and a couple of vertical strokes found in some of the examples of Jochiku. It doesn't really look like Jochiku, but on something with such limited real estate, the artist is almost forced to reduce any kanji into just a series of very abbreviated strokes. Maybe our native speakers will jump in to save us.

The syntax isn't right for this. I'd like to hear what our native speakers think.

Haruto Kudō was an engineer, metallurgist, chairman of Yasuki Steel Production Co., councilor of the Japanese Sword Tanren Kai, General Manager of Hitachi Manufacturing, and then President of Nissan Motors. I don't know if this was presented to him, or if it was made under the direction of him. (My impression is that it was presented to him, but I don't exactly understand the relationship of the word 御左右 (an term of respect indicating instruction or orders with the recipient and the presenter).

Yanagawa Seishin (or Shōshin). Morita-san mentioned in his other post that this was the same person as Yanagawa Useishin (or Ushōshin), but he speculated that Seishin started adding the 右 to his name later in life to signify some life event (in this case, having returned from the war).

Update to the above. Ushōshin is apparently Yanagawa Ushōshin 柳川右正心　(also listed on Rich Stein's and Jinsoo Kim's site). Thanks to George Trotter and Morita-san's posts from many years ago for resolving this for me.

昭和十五年八月日 正心 Shōwa Jūgo-nen hachigatu jitsu Seishin (or Shōshin) I think we have seen this smith once before in the thread below. See also the thread here:

Or signed on behalf of the smith by someone else. I wonder how it compared to the Kanemitsu sword in the post below. Unfortunately the photo has gone missing

藤原光長　 Fujiwara Mitsunaga is a name handed down from master to student for several generations, and so it is almost like a brand name. This name was in use from 1709 to 1862 (according to the site below). The three-leaf hollyhock motif inside the border is a family crest, as you may already know. That's about all I know from a quick search on the internet. https://www.morita-stone.co.jp/weblog/sp/2017/06/post_364.html

Ko-mochi kikkō sankai-hishi (Three tiered diamond in double-lined tortoise shell) It is upside down. Maybe there was confusion about the koshirae. (Sword is katana, but koshirae is tachi). kamon credit: https://tenjikuroujin.sakura.ne.jp/t03castle16k3/160319/sub160319

Yes, something like that.

林 = Hayashi, a common surname in Japan.

正真子福本兼宗應 鈴木照雲師需謹而作之 Filling in blanks and one correction. And from Morita-san's earlier thread, I can say the translation is Made by Fukumoto Kanemune at the request of master/sensei Suzuki Shōun

Have an expert take a good look at it in hand. I think everyone who wanted to share an opinion has done so, and other people can't be bothered because they don't see much in the sword to begin with, or they are basically at the same point we are at ("Could be interesting, could be ho-hum. Too hard to tell"). Right now its a mumei sword with loose hada, and its not going to win any prizes in its current state. Get a professional opinion on this before diving deeper.

東田川郡藤島尋常高等小學校 Higashi Tagawa-gun Fujishima Jinjō Kōtō Shōgakkō Fujishima Upper Elementary School, Higashi Tagawa county (a location in Yamagata prefecture)

日本展覧會記念 Nihon Tenrankai Kinen Commemoration of Japan Exposition

I think there is a slight relation to the themes. Mauro's paperwork notes the theme as "drying nets and beach" (干網浦浜). The image on the right side of Mauro's tsuba clearly shows the nets hung up to dry. They look a bit like a tent, which is a similar shape seen on the north quadrant of Luca's tsuba, which also fits in with the plover (千鳥) on the south quadrant. For a different treatment on plover and drying nets, see the tsuba below http://mizusumashi.com/post-11718/ I can't figure out what the other motifs are, but I'm wondering if the shapes on the east/west are sand dunes. On the opposite side I agree with the tsuzumi and sasa, but the connection eludes me. I was thinking summer/winter (drying nets for summer, and sasa for winter on the opposite side) but I don't know what to make of the tsuzumi. The cartwheel motif also seems to be repeated. There has to be an underlying, connecting theme.

Great photos. I wish all swords posted to NMB had such good photos. The nakago doesn't look ubu to me, but it can't have been shortened by too much. At 75.5 cms it feels like a long sword for kanbun, especially if it has been shortened. Anyway, even if its kanbun it's a nice length. I can't tell if its kanbun or older. I think its a good candidate for a polish. The many shallow ware in the sword mean that this wasn't the best work of the best swordsmith, but it seems to be in OK condition other than the light rust. I think it will polish up nicely. The ware won't disappear, and a few might even become more prominent, mind you, but I think the improvement in the hamon and the ji will be worth the effort/risk. The line of rust just behind the yokote (that runs for a few mms parallel to the yokote) might be one yellow flag. Rust is one thing, but if its a crack hiding under the rust its a problem.

陸中国住 = Rikuchūgoku-jū, is my guess. An area in north-east Japan. 祝記念二千六百年為作 = Made in celebration of the 2600th year. Referring to the imperial year counting system. Must be a wartime era sword.

囗　塚原　銘囗囗　 Tsukahara Mei ? ? Super curious to see what this says. I think it might say that Tsukahara is the one who cut the very elegant mei. Annoying how that mekugi-ana just about obliterates that kanji. The kanji after 銘 also has the same 金 radical, but I can't figure it out. 鎚 (kanazuti) maybe? Hoping someone can figure out the rest. Note: Tsukahara was the name of another Seki smith, so it could be a gassaku (although I don't think that's what the mei says)

江府住 - Kōfu-jū 逸平義久 - Itsuhira Yoshihisa

Even the badly-rusted tsuba is a problem. I am not saying throw it away, but I definitely wouldn't want that tsuba touching a newly-polished sword.

I would be more than moderately worried. Its just unbelievable that the seppa and their function would be unknown to anyone working with Japanese swords. Its also unbelievable that a restorer or polisher wouldn't have already advised Andrew of the steps to restoring a sword and scabbard. I don't think the current saya/koshirae is worth restoring. I think you should make a new one. Keep the old parts as part of the provenance of the sword, if you like, but unless there is some redeeming feature to these parts I think you should retire them and make an entirely new koshirae using vintage metal bits. The koshirae you have now is a funky ww2 koshirae with a badly degraded leather cover, and a tsuka that is literally falling apart. There is no significant historical value in these items. Better to make a new koshirae with vintage parts than to try to bandage up a much-degraded mid-20th century koshirae.