DTM72

紀元二千六百年? Kigen nisen roppyaku nen? = 2600 Imperial year = 1940 Not 100% sure of the last kanji. Should be nen (year). Stamp at top is a "Showa" stamp. This is an acceptance stamp from the factory where is was made. See below.

@Bruce Pennington so these labels/tags were placed as menuki on a tsuka?

And because of that, it could be said that a Chinese sword has gotten Hozon papers.

Do you have a link to the place selling it?

1000 thank you's!

So does this look correct? 板 itame 目 hada 刃 ha 寄りhaving a tendency towards; being close to 柾 masame 掛かりconnection; linking 映りUtsuri 有りexisting

I see those now. @Toryu2020 Ideas on the Jigane section? So far I have 板目刃 ?り 柾 ? 映り有り

So would the entire line translate to Fujiwara added gold (to this) sword?

Domo Arigato Moriyama san!

Representatives from SOFE Design Auctions were wandering around buying items for their upcoming auctions. I personally sold three swords, 2 wakizashi and 1 nice katana to them. He would buy a handful, go back to his tables in the back, then come back and buy more from another dealer or individual. I had a great time exhibiting/selling at the show. Hanging out with Mark Jones, Grey Doffin, Matt Jarrell, Eric Molinier, and Udo (not sure of last name) after the show closed on Friday and drinking wine and chatting about nihonto, good deals, bad deals, etc. was one of the highlights of the trip. I look forward to hanging out with these guys again in Louisville, Kentucky at the Show of Shows, then again at the Chicago show. Information on these two shows can be found below. The Chicago show promises to be a good one with a shinsa team in attendance. Feb 23-26, 2023 http://www.sosovms.com/Show_of_Shows/ April 28-30, 2023 http://www.chicagoswordshow.com/

John, the celluloid versions have a very plastic feel to them when you sctrach them with your fingernail. Real rayskin, unless polished, should have a more rough and almost sandpaper feel to it.

After much help from the NMB a Facebook group and some of my own searching on Kanji translation programs, I think I have this figured out. Please feel free to suggest corrections. This is a lot more than the usual Province, title, and name with date on the opposite side. I took the picture and placed the kanji next to it, with the Japanese pronunciation in capitol letters, then the English meaning in small letters. Of course the dimensions on the right don't need to be translated, that is just my information for the sword. She will be going to shinsa in Chicago in April so I am excited to see her get official papers. Thanks in advance to all! Dan

I have an Iron Mountain Armory and I am completly happy with it. I have displayed it, packed it away, and transported it to a show, set it up, taken it down...multiple times. I have worn it about 4-5 times with no issues. I'm not sure you would want to do everything I have done to a suit coved by Urushi. Additionally, the urushi process is very time consuming and materials are expensive, then making the final product more expensive. I think it all comes down to what you want to do with the suit. Display only, display and wear, wear while training? Wishing you the best of luck.

Judging by the patina on the nakago and the 2 mekugi-ana, I would say it pre-dates WWII and is traditionally made.

吉 = yoshi 次 = tsugu https://nihontoclub.com/view/smiths/list?id_op=%3D&id=&name_op=starts&name=yoshitsugu&kanji_op=%3D&kanji=&province=All&start_era=All&school_nid=All ^^^ alot of Yoshitsugu to pick from ^^^^ Not sure which yours could be.

Chris, Maybe you and some of the other members could have an impromptu meeting at the Show of Shows in Louisville, KY on Feb 23 - 25. Would enjoy meeting you and the others. Many from the Las Vegas show will be at this show as well. Would enjoy networking all of us together. http://www.sosovms.com/Show_of_Shows/ Dan

Do you have an idea why there would be three names?

東 = Toh = Eastern 都 = to = Capitol 継 = Tsugu 平 = Hira Correct?

I was his table mate. I was very lucky to have shared a table with him.

I agree. Etchu has nothing to do with Toto. It was the only thing that looked somewhat the same.

And I completely forgot about these four. A place in Tokyo? 東都 = Toh = Eastern 都 = to = Capitol ? = ? ? = ? 越中 Etchu ?

So Masatsugu and Munetsugu with the two different ways of writing tsugu? @SteveM

One last piece to this puzzle. The kanji that looks like MICHI 道 but is different. The parts on the left look the same but the parts on the inside are different. To me Michi looks like a person pushing a pallet jack with a stack of pallets and a see-saw on top. The character that is giving me trouble is the person pushing the pallet jack, but has a stick figure wearing a dress. Like Mori 林 is two sticks wearing dresses, but I only need one wearing a dress, riding on the pallet jack. 正 = Masa 宗 = Mune ? 次 = Tsugu

You guys are 110% awesome! Got home last night just before midnight. Unpacked all 4 matchlocks, all the swords and inspected my new katana closely. I knew it was long, but actually put a measure to it. 29.250" (74.3 cm) She's a healthy girl.