rb87

Thanks so much for the help!! I will need to do some more research, but I found this smith based on your translation: https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/TOS287 If this is the correct smith, it says that he was active from between 1658-1661 in the Manji era, which is quite a lot older than I realized for that sword.

I just got some great help with translating the writing on the outside of a shirasaya yesterday, so I hope I'm not asking too much, but would anyone be able to help translating the mei on the other sword that I found? This one is a katana mounted in a guntō-style saya, and like the first, came to the US after the war. From the patina on the nakago, it seems like the blade may be an older one which was remounted as an officer's sword, but I'm not sure. I took several pictures to try to capture it in at various angles. I played with the contrast here to try to get it more easily readable: Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks to all of the talented and generous experts on here!

Wow, thank you so much for the help! I imagined that perhaps the writing would tell the story of the sword itself, but this makes more sense really. It's very interesting to have some information on where it came from. I'll have to figure out more about the sword the traditional way.

I found two Japanese blades in my late grandfather's house. He was an army doctor stationed in Japan in 1946. My dad remembers being told that a Japanese doctor who he worked with gave him a very old family sword. My dad never understood why, and didn't know anything about it. My best guess is that the Japanese doctor gave him the sword to save it from being confiscated and destroyed. It is a 50cm long wakizashi, and is mumei. However, there is some very faded writing on some paper glued to the shirasaya. The other blade is a more ordinary gunto which does have a signed nakago and seems much newer, so this is the one that I am really interested in. I know that it is a longshot that anyone will be able to read this given the condition, but if anyone is up for a challenge, I would really appreciate if you could point out anything that is legible. Here is a photo of the saya for context: There are two pieces of paper, both with some writing on them. On the handle side: On the blade side: I have several more angles and photos in a google album if anyone is interested: https://photos.app.goo.gl/soPi9icUWK6qha2YA I would be very appreciative (and impressed) if anyone could tell me something about this sword based on these tattered labels.