xiayang

Sesko's Index of Japanese Swordsmiths doesn't appear to have an has only a one-line entry for this Sadatsugu, but if you search Google for 備中國住青江貞次造之, there are a couple of relevant hits: https://www.kusanaginosya.com/SHOP/344.html https://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords6/KY332581.htm The kusanaginosya.com link has some more information: his real name was 佐藤 丈平 (Sato Johei[?]) and he passed away in Showa 39 (1964 CE) at the age of 62 years. He's also listed here as Sato Sadatsugu (Okayama).

左衛門三郎左 = Saemon Saburō Sa

駿州島田住 = Sunshu Shimada ju 参河守源貞助 = Mikawa no Kami Minamoto Sadasuke

清水忠次作 = Shimizu Tadatsugu saku

That must be it, indeed. Now that you mention it, in the second picture you can see that even the geometry of the kissaki is asymmetric. That makes it even worse, argh! Thanks to everyone who replied!

I'd like to share an observation that has been puzzling me, and perhaps some of you may be able to shed light on this: I've noticed that some blades appear to have asymmetrically carved hi. Now I may perhaps be a bit peculiar in this regard, but to be honest, this greatly upsets my sense of aesthetics. Just to avoid misunderstandings, I'm not talking about cases where the asymmetry is clearly intentional (e.g., bohi on one side, futasuji-hi on the other, like this one). I am referring to examples where the length of the bohi differs by just a few millimetres, like in the two images attached below [found on aoijapan.jp]. Both of these blades were attributed to well-regarded koto makers and designated juyo token, so they were evidently recognised as high-quality items. Given the precision and attention to detail that is normally associated with nihonto-related crafts, this sort of seemingly accidental asymmetry strikes me as odd. Is it just sloppy workmanship of whoever carved the hi, possibly indicative of ato-bori, or a poor polishing job? Might this even be intended for functional reasons (balance)? And would this be considered a flaw and affect the value of the blade? It certainly does to me... Or do people think this gives the blade a sort of rustic charm? Is there something obvious I'm missing here?

濃州住兼俊作 = Noshu ju Kanetoshi saku

Looks like 備前国住長船源兵衛尉祐定作之 = Bizen no Kuni ju Osafune Genbei no Jo Sukesada saku kore.

There's an article on a Mr Ishii Jun’ichi on the Japanese Wikipedia: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/石井順一 He was a baseball player, coach and manufacturer of baseball equipment and spent some time in the US in the 1920s. Perhaps this is a container for a baseball bat?

This is Classical Chinese. It's a poem called "On the Stork Tower" (登鹳雀楼) by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhihuan (王之渙). You can find a translation here.

上野住人龍眠齋兼友作 = Kozuke junin Ryūminsai Kanetomo saku