xiayang

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?

関住福田祐光 = Seki-jū Fukuda Sukemitsu 國廣 = Kunihiro 昭和十八年十月 = October of Shōwa 18 (1943 CE)

一継 = Kazutsugu 紀元二千六百一年十月吉日 = on an auspicious day in October of Kōki 2601 (i.e., 1941 CE) I'm somewhat less certain about the other side. Here's my attempt, happy to be corrected: 護皇旗之御刀 = sword for protecting the imperial banner 於成蹊學園鍛鍊塲謹作 = forged and respectfully made at Seikei Gakuen

If you need a little help, here's a transcript:

Not sure about the corroded bit, but the other side looks more like 友則 (Tomonori) to me.

The poem is Classical Chinese: 雲壓樹頭兼雨氣 水流溪白夾秋聲 就巖著箇茅堂子 不必青山定有名 I managed to find a translation in a Sotheby's catalogue [link]: Clouds press down on tree tops joined by rainy air, water flows at the white stream hemmed in by autumn sounds. Just there on the cliff appears a thatched Buddhist sanctuary, with no need for green mountains to secure its fame.

佐賀住 = Saga ju Next character might be 廣? The one below that is too far gone for me to even venture a guess.

The latter. It's Chinese, written in simplified characters. Loosely translated: 做到老学不了 = You're never to old to learn new things 黄金有价书无价 = Gold has a price, knowledge is priceless 人不学不知义 = A person who doesn't study doesn't know what's right

明治二七年十二月日 = on a day in December of Meiji 27 (1894 CE) 大阪住月山貞一精鍊之 = Gassan Sadakazu, resident of Osaka, smelted this

I agree with Ed, it is indeed signed 阿波守藤原康綱 = Awa no Kami Fujiwara Yasutsuna. In my (admittedly very limited) experience it would be somewhat unusual for Chinese fakes to come with a valid mei (but I'm happy to be corrected on this). That said, even if it was a Japanese-made blade, this particular example is most likely gimei, with the characters being somewhat poorly executed and not matching certified examples at all (see here, here or here).

Just to provide a bit more context: this roughly translates to "long life (like a) crane" (the crane is a symbol of longevity in East Asia) and is probably an auspicious wish for the owner rather than a name.

東都 = Tōto 壽近 (花押) = Toshichika (Kaō)

Even if one were to ignore the calligraphy aspect mentioned by Jean and Moriyama san, the trouble with this sort of request is that any sophistication or poetic connotations of the original almost never survive in a literal word-by-word translation. If I had to make a suggestion, I'd try to find an established 4-character idiom that more or less captures the sentiment you're trying to express. In (classical) Chinese, perhaps something like 容華絕代?

Just to confirm, the first two characters are written in their simplified Chinese form (锦绣前程), so it likely originates from mainland China.

The lower part of the mei is cut off. 播磨大掾藤 = Harima Daijō Fuji...

備州長船住景[光] = Bishū Osafune jū Kagemitsu 建武三年八[月] = 8th month of Kenmu 3 (1338 1336 CE)

You were on the right track: 山城國 = Yamashiro no Kuni 西陣住 = Nishijin jū 埋忠 = Umetada See for instance here for another example.