SteveM

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

The NHK paper on Tony's post calls the design 唐武具 (Tō bugu) or armor from the Tang Dynasty (China).

No - I have no clue if its gimei or not. I just don't know enough about Norimitsu to take a wild guess. Actually there were a ton of smiths who signed with the name Norimitsu, so first you would have to go through each of those to try to determine which Norimitsu signed using that same convention, who was alive in that era, and then you would have to determine whether your sword matches the kinds of swords the most plausible Norimitsu made. You want to look around this page https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/meisearch?type=All&mei_op=contains&mei=Norimitsu NOR173 has the right signature, but the era is slightly off. As you can see though, there are a lot of smiths who used this name or some variation. Is yours the right shape, does it have the right tip, does it display the same kind of hataraki, does it have a nakago that matches the type that Norimitsu made, etc... You might bypass that by sending it to the experts who already have some reference material to work with (and years of experience). Anyway, what I'm saying is that you'll need someone more clever than me to make a call on this one. Don't worry about the patina, or any slight abrasions. The hakobore are more troubling than any abrasions.

Take a look again at the date. I revised it to Tenshō 3. (Hint: google will tell you what year this is). The day is "kichijitsu", which means a lucky/auspicious day in February. It is a common phrase on swords. Judging the authenticity of sword signatures is a dark art. Some swordsmiths had a wide variation of mei styles, and others were very consistent. It is an area best left to the professionals. What I will say is that it is not an obvious forgery. By this I mean it wasn't hacked on by someone who doesn't know kanji.

天正三年二月吉日 Tenshō 3, February kichijitsu

The mei is basically as you say Bizen no kuni jū, Osafune Norimitsu 備前国住長船則光 The year I believe is 永正三年二月　（Eishō san-nen nigatsu = February 1506) A better photograph of that side of the nakago might help remove all doubt. You can easily pick out the kanji 三 (three), and that will tell you which side is the date. As was recently mentioned in another thread: all swords are candidates for polish. It just depends on what your expectations are at the end of that not inexpensive process. It looks to me like this is a genuine nihontō, but I cannot tell if the signature is a forgery or not. Also bear in mind that polishing may reveal flaws in the steel that were previously unseen. Both of these things would compromise the value of the sword.

Here is a link to a 27th generation Kanemoto (Magoroku) guntō. It is unauthenticated, but given the style and quality, I think the one in the link is a safe bet to be authentic. https://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/434.html

The top part is a date, the bottom part is the name plus the signature of the person who did the sayagaki (sort of a calligraphic flourish called kaō in Japanese). Unfortunately the date is mostly unreadable to me. Maybe Moriyama-san (aka the poster known as "Nobody") can read it. 囗長年囗月　（卯月？）uzuki = april The signature is also unreadable to me. 杉本？　Sugimoto + kao?

月山貞一　= Gassan Sadakazu (as you guessed) 在銘貮尺貮寸参分 = Zaimei 2 shaku, 2 sun, 3 bu (zaimei = with mei), the rest are measurements Supposedly this would have contained a Gassan Sadakazu sword, but it is kind of like looking at an empty picture frame upon which someone has written "Rembrandt". There is not way of knowing the authenticity of the item it once held.

Hello Reverse side is 武運長久 (Būun chōkyū) which means roughly "good luck in battle". This is a typical slogan found on WW2 memorabilia. The obverse has two kanji that are hard to read. What I can read says 信州囗囗中村道場造直行 - ShinshūｘｘNakamura dōjō tsukuru Naoyuki Shinshū is a regional name given to the area around Nagano Prefecture. Nakamura would be a family name. Dōjō usually refers to a place where some sort of training or practice takes place: a studio or gym or training grounds. Tsukuru means "made", of course. And then there are two more kanji which I guess is another name: Naoyuki. Normally I would interpret this as "Naoyuki made this at the Nakamura Studio in Shinshū". This time, however, I pull my punches because a) I have never seen this kind of inscription before, b) Naoyuki doesn't seem to be a known WW2 smith, while on the other hand Shinshū isn't a name that one finds on older (Edo or earlier) blades, c) the two hard-to-read kanji may offer some clue to a different meaning. Also: I'm slightly suspicious that the Būun chōkyū is carved around the mekugi ana, meaning it was put on after the hole was opened, while the inscription on the other side was put on before the hole was opened (since the 4th kanji is partially obliterated by the hole).

edit - Jean got it.

The other one looks like 美春 (Yoshiharu, Miharu?) , but no search of that name turned up anything interesting.

Top tsuba Right side 江都住 Kōto-jū (meaning Tokyo) Left side mostly unreadable, but judging from the above I would say 橋本正斎 Hashimoto Masanari.

Reverse side 千草山丸一以刃金造之 "Made of steel from Chigusayama" oops - Ray beat me to the punch. Here's another one with the same signature (nothing on the reverse side, though) http://www.e-sword.jp/katana/1610-1050.htm

Looks to be a nice, authentic Japanese sword. You hear the word Kanbun/Kambun come up because your sword has very little curvature, which was a feature of the Kanbun era (mid-1600s). Your sword also has a few weld openings (ware or kitae-ware in Japanese) and these are considered something of a blemish. But don't do anything to try to cover them up or repair them - you will ruin the sword and it is much more desirable to have a few blemishes on the sword rather than a sword that is ruined by an amateur fix-it job. The saya for this and virtually all such swords are meant to be replaced over time, so we don't expect the saya to be the first and only one the sword had. Because of the replace-ability of the saya, they are not much use in determining anything about the sword itself. There are exceptions, especially for treasured swords in daimyo collections, where the saya has gold inlays of the family crest and whatnot, but this is a rare exception. For most swords it is a given that the saya and the various bits that make up the koshirae, are later additions, and they are usually appraised separately. In the case of the saya for this sword, the metal fittings look very ordinary, but I would agree they are probably from the Edo period as well. The sageo looks like a recent addition, but again, this is neither here nor there - it just means someone tried to make the ensemble look more presentable. All in all, a nice relic from the past, which is more than most people can say for their first sword. Many people unwittingly buy fake swords, swords that have some irreparable damage, or overpay for forged swords (or some combination of all three). Yours seems to be a genuinely decent sword - not a museum piece, but not a fraud either. Anything more and you will need to send it in for appraisal. For books, Kokan Nagayama's "Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords" is highly recommended.

Top part is 伊賀流 Iga-ryū (Iga being a place name...the place where ninjas come from).

Hello Joe, I think you got everything that could be "gotten" from the last posting。 旭都住正光 Asahito-jū Masamitsu There is an Asahi (旭) town in Okayama, which is where the old province of Bizen was located. Often we see names with -mitsu in them coming from Bizen. But the shape of the sword and the hamon are equally important. Alternatively it could be a reference to an Asahi town in Hiroshima prefecture (formerly known as Geishū 藝州) in which there lived and worked another smith named Masamitsu. His mei is quite different from the one on your sword, though. In any event, a quick online search turns up no other examples of 旭都 (Asato, or possibly Asahito, or possibly Asahi-no-miyako) http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/22887-need-some-help-translating-my-grandfathers-old-sword/

They are an earnest attempt at kanji, but they trail off into jibberish. The first one is 本 (moto), and the second one may be an attempt at 松 (matsu), so presumably an attempt at a last name "Motomatsu", which would be a fairly rare last name. Matsumoto would be a much more likely last name, but the kanji on this are reversed. The rest of the scratchings look like the person gave up trying to replicate any actual kanji.

Yes, Kanesada, but the first one is 摂, so 摂州藤原包貞　 Sesshū Fujiwara Kanesada

I don't quite get it, but it's a repeated theme in netsuke. The drum-like thing is called a mokugyo, and it is used to keep rhythm during buddhist chants. I think most Japanese people will associate this with funeral chants. My very obvious guess is that the theme is a meditation on the brevity of life and funeral drum being always an unpredictably short way away.

Another one for you, Ken. I thought this one was nicely executed. https://www.touken-matsumoto.jp/product_details.php?prod_no=TSU-1709