cabowen

Showa stamp at the top indicated it is a non-traditionally made blade. Probably made with Western steel and oil quenched. These were made by the millions during the war in mass production style factories.

The blade has ubu-ba and it is proporting to be 300+ years old? Unless it came out of a shrine or temple, to me, that would be enough to conclude it is gimei....

Thank you all for your advise and information. As I thought, I am probably better off not getting involved....

Not sure where to ask this but has anyone sold and shipped a sword to China? I had someone contact me and asked if I would ship to Bejing. My understanding is that Japanese swords can not be imported to China. Anyone have any experience/knowledge of the situation?

Tom Kishida's books are far and away the definitive sources of information on the Yasukuni Tenrankai. There are some other, earlier articles, such as the one done by Fujishiro Okisato but they don't tell you anything that isn't in Kishida san's book. I believe there are two or three versions of his book...

I have seen a few sell in recent years for roughly what the nicer Yasukuni blades fetch. I know several collectors in the Kobe area who collect these and they are definitely popular in certain circles. Perhaps it is a case of throwing out a huge price and hoping to hook someone...Seems there are several ebay sword sellers who do this routinely.

It's the real deal.... Price seems a bit....optimistic?

Have you tried google with Sasaki Ippo and sword?

Looks like a WWII Navy sword. Blade is stainless and signed Takeyasu saku (made by Takeyasu) 武泰

Hard to say if it is a good deal or not from the photos- if the sword doesn't have any issues, it may be reasonable. I would be careful buying from the Yakuza...

There are many generations in the Nobutaka line from Owari. They span Shinto to the end of Shinshinto, 10 generations or thereabouts. If you wish to verify whether or not this signature is good, you will need valid examples from each generation. As you may imagine, this will take a lot of time and resources. You can probably get examples of 3 or 4 generations from searching with google. The others may take a literature search. Depending on what you are looking to pay for this, it may or may not be worth the effort. The sword itself looks to be pieced together. You may do well to invest in some books, improve your knowledge, and find something a bit easier to evaluate.

To be o-suriage, this sword would have had an original nagasa of over 86 cm or roughly 33 inches. That is a very big sword.

Hard to say from the photos. The rust seems to have that pitted look that can often be seen on nakago that are abused and prematurely rusted. I would hazard a guess that this sword is not that old, based on the muji hada and rather featureless hamon (assuming that too is not a misconception fostered by the less than optimal photos)....Does it have ubu-ba? That would be a very good sign of a more recent work...

Looks good Curtis... I may have missed it, but what is the length of the blade and the length of the nakago?

Bravo!

Yeah, Yoshinobu as said above. Sloppy on my part. Sorry about that...My comments about the NTHK-NPO and the wrong nobu kanji are still correct thought...

Any shots of the nakago? By the lack of any prominent jitetsu, it allmost looks like a gendaito.

I assumed since the mei of the sayagaki started with Suke that it would probably be a Yoshioka smith but that was obviously wrong given Alan's additional info.

NTHK-NPO papers. Seems there is a misprint under the mei section at the far right. The correct mei is 若宣 but the calligrapher used a different kanji for nobu: 信

Suketsuna whose father, Sukezane, came to Kamakura by Bakufu invitation.....

若宣　 wakanobu, jakusen; there are several possible readings....

They apply to Yujo primarily.

As far as swords are concerned, "mass produced" generally refers to work done in an assembly line like style with one or more people doing one step, another group of people doing the next, and so on, such that any one item is in fact the work of many. Additionally, the quality of materials is usually lower and there are also usually short cuts taken to speed the process and lessen the skill involved.

Yoshioka would seem the better bet, judging by the sayagaki....

There is "saku" at the end of the mei...you aren't reading far enough ! :lol: See if you can find another example of his mei wherein he states the blade was made in Ise Yamada 伊勢山田. This mei is listed in the Meikan though the syntax is different (Ise ni oite Yamada kore saku) versus the one above (oite Ise Yamada kore saku). The Meikan example is most likely a typo.... It is thought he forged some swords in Ise and during this time made the acquaintance of Sengo Muramasa. There is a sword made by Kanesada at the Sano Museum with the Ise Yamada mei, made to order for a low ranking priest of the Ise Jingu in Eisho 14. Reportedly, there are others with the "oite Ise Yamada kore saku" soemei from Eisho 12 and Eisho 14. It is a well made sword by the looks of it. You might make an offer contingent on shinsa....Oh, and to answer your question, this would be the nidai...