xiayang

Jean is right, it's Kanemasa. A few more details: 濃州住栗木兼正謹作 = carefully made by Kuriki Kanemasa, resident of Nōshū

Looks like 芝山 = Shibayama

Hi Michael, Your blade has a Seki (関) stamp and is signed 石原兼直作 = made by Ishihara Kanenao.

Hi James, Your sword is inscribed 昭和十六年 = Shōwa 16 (1941 CE) 兼宗 = Kanemune. Markus Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan has two entries for Shōwa era Kanemune: Fukumoto (福本) and Kiribuchi (桐淵). Yours was probably made by the former (see, e.g., here for another example).

Here's another hint: 特殊鋼以井戸秀俊作 = made with special steel by Ido Hidetoshi

Perhaps Iga no Kami Minamoto Kanemichi (伊賀守源包道)? The signature on yours looks very similar to this example (and the yasurime seem to match as well).

There are high-resolution images of many National Treasures and important Cultural Properties on the e-Museum website. If it was the Masatsune tachi, you can find the pictures here.

Something feels slightly off about this... 藤原信友 = Fujiwara Nobutomo 南[蠻?][鐵?]金澤[?] = Nanban tetsu Kanazawa [?]

Hi Parker, Your blade is signed 近江守藤原綱廣 = Ōmi no Kami Fujiwara Tsunahiro. I don't suppose there is anything on the other side of the nakago (tang)?

When the sword went up for auction I noticed this too and it amused me enough to check what's behind it. It turns out the funny translation came about because they mixed up homophones and used a wrong character in the original Japanese listing (https://sword-auction.com/ja/product/15844/as22567-刀：靖吉（保存刀剣）/). 左官 = plasterer 佐官 = field officer Both words are pronounced the same (sakan).

濃州関住二十三代藤原兼房作之 = Nōshū Seki-jū nijūsan-dai Fujiwara Kanefusa saku kore (Kanefusa the 23rd, resident of Seki in Nōshū province, made this) Mal's file has more information about this smith:

It's a WW2 blade. 濃州住土岐亮信作 = Nōshū-jū Toki Akinobu saku (made by Toki Akinobu from Nōshū province)

濃州関住二十三代藤原兼房作之 = Nōshū Seki-jū nijūsan-dai Fujiwara Kanefusa saku kore The stamp is a Seki (関) stamp.

Hi Mark, Here's a transcript: 天和貳年三月上旬 貳胴落甲切断

The mei is 藤原住友久 = Fujiwara-jū Tomohisa

昭和十九年十二月 = December of Shōwa 19 (1944 CE) 兼正 = Kanemasa

濃州関住服部正廣作 = Nōshū Seki jū Hattori Masahiro saku

義治 = Yoshiharu 昭和甲申春 = Shōwa, spring of the year of the wood monkey (1944 CE)

洛陽住藤原廣次造之 = Rakuyō-jū Fujiwara Hirotsugu kore o tsukuru

Looks like 兼久 = Kanehisa

Many thanks for your comments Steve! For completeness I'll include a picture of the other side as well: 濃刕志津 Nōshū Shizu 刃長九寸余 Length: a bit over 9 sun 时在癸卯秊如月 Dated February, year of the water rabbit (2023 CE) 探山識 「花押」 Written by Tanzan [kaō]

Tsuruta san suggests a more radical solution here Maybe we can cover the Kizu with newly engraved carving, so please let us know when you want to try.

Thank you very much Moriyama san! Here's my attempt at a translation. Any corrections and comments welcome! 尠シク磨上無銘而同工ノ所傳有之 Slightly suriage and mumei, but it possesses the smith’s characteristics. 互乃目ヲ主ニ小湾ヲ交ヘル刃文ヲ焼キ The hamon is mainly gunome with ko-notare. 地刃厚ク沸ヅキ沸出来ノ変化ノ妙ヲ示シ The jiba has thick nie and the nie-deki shows an excellent variation. 相州傳ニ大和氣質ガ加ハリ所傳ハ首肯サル The combination of Sōshū-den and Yamato spirit confirms the attribution.

Dear NMB translation experts, I do sometimes contribute to solving translation requests myself, but I'm afraid this sayagaki by Mr Tanobe is somewhat beyond my meagre skills, so this time it is my turn to appeal to your generosity. I've tried to have a go at transcribing it: 眇シク磨上無銘而同工ノ所傳有之互の目ヲ主ニ小湾ヲ交ヘル刃文ヲ焼キ 地刃厚ク沸ヅキ沸出来ノ变化妙ヲ示シ相州傳ニ大和氣質ガ加ハリ所傳ハ首肯サル Thankfully, Tanobe sensei's penmanship (or brushmanship?) is quite neat, but I suppose he does have a few idiosyncrasies and there are a couple of bits I wasn't entirely certain about. And while I sort of get the gist of it, the finer details are lost on me. Any help with interpretation or corrections to my transcription would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! Jan

The inscription on the omote is 山見 = Yamami (could be the customer's last name?) Perhaps it was made by the Shōwa era Munechika?