Ray Singer

Kanekage

Signed Tanba (no) kami Yoshimichi. Unfortunately though this does not appear to be an authentic example of his inscription. The blade looks to be Showa era, and it is not uncommon to see gimei ( false inscriptions) purporting to be famous Shinto swordsmiths produced at that time.

While this article does not specifically refer to tsuba, the truth holds. https://web.archive..../20-go-80-norishige/

The last thing that I would want to do is discourage an incoming new enthusiast, so please don't take this in a discouraging way, however there is no final authority who can give an answer that conveys absolute truth. If a piece is not signed, then there is always some degree of uncertainty on an attribution. In the sword world, there are attributions which change from one level of paperwork to another. With fittings and swords both, there is some degree of bucketing where an item may receive a safe attribution if the answer is not entirely clear. Collecting Japanese swords and fittings needs to come with some acceptance of the fact that there may be no absolutes and that sometimes it's enough to own a masterfully made object even if you'll never know with certainty who made it.

Here are two books which give insight into the process and timelines. The latter for WWII production. https://www.amazon.c...n-Kapp/dp/1568364318 https://www.Japanese...auty-by-tom-kishida/

That said, saiha blades can pass shinsa if they are very important examples. Typically the blade has a notation of (saiha) on the kanteisho in these cases.

Likely it was papered because the shinsa team did not know it was saiha. If the smith is very skillful, it's saiha is not always evident.

Yoshimasa. This appears to be a WWII era Seki blade. A showato arsenal blade, not traditionally made.

Naminohira Yasumoto

As far as your question about value, giving price estimates based on photos online for swords that I have not seen in hand is not something that I am comfortable with. I'm sorry that I can't help further.

Kinzogan-mei for named swords are typically not original. They are most often added to blades that are osuriage mumei like the one you shared. And the fact that they have been added later is in no way something that detracts from the value of the sword or it's kinzogan-mei.

And yes it is osuriage mumei (greatly shortened, and the original inscription has been lost if it was ever signed originally). You can read more about below. https://www.google.c...mobile&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

As I replied above it appears to be a name for the sword. Kinzogan-mei are gold inlaid inscriptions. At some point the sword was given a name, and that name was inscribed in inlaid in gold.

Indeed it does seem to be a kinzogan-mei of 烈龍 (Retsuryū), which I take to be a name for the sword of something along the lines of Fierce Dragon.

Kawachi (no) kami Fujiwara Kunisuke. A well-known lineage of swordsmiths working in the early Edo period. There are also many fakes of their work, I would suggest researching online against authenticated examples.

Chas, it is best not to do anything at all to try to clean the blade or remove rust on your own. If you would like to improve the condition, I would recommend speaking with a professional polisher to do so. Message me if you need any recommendations. Best regards, Ray

My impression is that the inscription is not very credible.

Izumi no Kami Kanesada, and I believe it is indicating a suriage by Koyama Masatoshi.

From the standpoint of antique Japanese swords, this is actually not very old. It is a shinto blade (Shinto meaning 'new sword').

Hiromitsu dated 1943. A showato Seki arsenal blade, not traditionally made.

I don't see such an individual in the 1800s. Per Sesko, he worked circa Kanbun (1661).

Takasaki Saburo Kaneshige

Looks like: Yasutsugu oite Echizen kore o saku

Looks like 上野守菅原包宗 - (Kozuke no kami Sugawara Kanemune)

I am guessing you know, but the mei side is: Bishu Osafune Sukesada.