xiayang

The character on the left is 林. The one on the right I am not so sure about – if I had to venture a (low-confidence) guess, perhaps it could be 寚? Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any relevant hits for 寚林 (Hōrin?, Takarabayashi?), so my reading is probably wrong.

野村正克 = Nomura Masakatsu

薩陽住藤原正信 = Fujiwara Masanobu, resident of Satsuyō

伊賀守藤原金道 = Iga no Kami Fujiwara Kinmichi (probably the 3rd generation) 日本鍛冶宗匠 = Nihon-kaji-sōshō (master swordsmith of Japan)

Looks like 菊花透図鍔

I'm fairly certain that the character on the right is 爭/争 (indicating some sort of struggle or competition), but the one on the left escapes me at the moment. Edit: Having stared at it for a little more, I think the calligraphy may be "争友" which could be roughly translated to "a friend who gives critical advice". This concept goes back to the writings of the Chinese philosopher Zengzi (曾子), a disciple of Confucius (孔子) who lived in the 5th century BCE.

It's dated 令和5年6月15日 (15th June 2023) and the mei is 陸奥大掾三善長道 = Mutsu Daijō Miyoshi Nagamichi

Looks like an old NBTHK Kicho paper, dated 昭和五十二年五月十九日 (19th May of Shōwa 52, 1977 CE). The blade is described as: 一短刀 無銘(弥門直勝) = one tantō, mumei (Yamon Naokatsu) 長七寸三分 = Length: 7 sun 3 bu (approximately 22.1 cm)

John already gave you very useful information. For completeness, let me add: The date reads 昭和甲申春 = spring of Shōwa, year of the wood monkey (1944 CE). It bears a "Ren" (連) stamp, indicating that it was made in the Mantetsu workshop in Dalian (大連), China (which back then was part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo).

Piers already got most of it. The last sentence is: D'après M. Antoine-Funakoshi cela représenterait peut-être des décors de dessins de cloisons coulissantes séparant 2 pièces. According to M. Antoine-Funakoshi this might represent the decorations drawn on the sliding partitions that separate two rooms.

Hi John, Here's my best guess: 兼信 = Kanenobu [I'm not 100% certain on the reading of the first character] 長貳尺貳寸六分 = Length: 2 shaku 2 sun 6 bu (~68.48 cm) 昭和癸巳卯月 = April of Shōwa, year of the water snake (Shōwa 30 = 1955 CE) (Shōwa 28 = 1953 CE) 本阿弥光遜 [花押] = Hon‘ami Kōson [kaō]

関住石原義定作 = Seki-jū Ishihara Yoshisada saku

Looks like a WW2 blade, probably made using non-traditional methods. It's got a Shō stamp (昭) and the signature reads: 谷川一心 = Tanigawa Isshin From Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan:

It probably is gimei, but apparently Naotane did have a habit of rounding up or down his age to an auspicious number. Markus Sesko wrote an article about that here: https://markussesko....nes-odd-aging-habit/

Congratulations on your new acquisition! I'll start with the easy bit: 駿刕島田義助 = Sunshū Shimada Yoshisuke 刃長九寸六分有之 = Length: 9 sun 6 bu 歳癸卯松風月 = sixth month of the year of the water rabbit 探山覩並誌 [花押] = Tanzan inspected and recorded [kaō]

筑前國住善雅 = Chikuzen no Kuni-jū Yoshimasa Here's what Markus Sesko says about him in Swordsmiths of Japan:

立入許可 = entry permit

I can't see a picture, but you're correct in that there is no Japanese era name containing the character 心. I suspect the date may have been 大正 (Taishō, 1912-1926 CE). The cursive version of 正 (see below) could easily be mistaken for 心.

Hi Adam, the mei reads: 尾州住真野国泰鍛造之 = Mano Kuniyasu, resident of Bishū forged this 堀場好明佩帯之 = Horiba Yoshiaki owns this (literally: wears this on his belt).

濃州住土岐亮信作 = Nōshū-jū Toki Sukenobu saku You can refer to @mecox's document for more information on the smith:

永田祐則 = Nagata Sukenori

Indeed, the first character is Tanobe san's way of writing 半 (half). The second character is 所.

Yes indeed, that's it! 通政司 (Tongzhengsi) was a sort of liaison office between the emperor and various ministries in the Ming and Qing dynasties that dealt with things such as payrolls and proofreading. So it's not actually a personal seal as I first thought, but rather the seal of office of the "Tongzhengsi right councillor". I can't say whether it's a genuine antique item or a later reproduction though, that's not my area of expertise I'm afraid.

I don't think that is quite correct. The seal script variants of those characters or the ones in your image don't look like the characters on the seal at all (and you've even got a Hangul syllable in there too). Check for yourself on shufazidian.com (and select "篆刻"). Also, I'm fairly certain your image is upside down. Did you use OCR for this? Moriyama san's image has the correct orientation. The calligraphy is not the prettiest, but I believe I've managed to identify six out of the eight characters: ? ? 司右参議朱記 The first two characters are very likely a personal name, 司右 is a court official's title (literally translates to something like "right manager"), 参議 can be translated to "councillor" and 朱記 is "red seal".

播磨守 = Harima no Kami Unfortunately, the rest of the signature is cut off.