cabowen

Not hiragana....believe it is: Toto ju Minamoto Yoshiharu saku 東都住源義治作 Made by Yoshiharu living in To-to (Tokyo)

Thanks for that...hard to see. Looks to be a showato....

hagire is bad bad bad no matter if it is a katana or yari....

maybe Fujita Ujifusa. Not sure about fuji but of the rest I am confident...

hagarami is not considered a "fatal" flaw in the way a hagire is. Provided the rest of the blade is sound and the mei valid, it should still paper.

painted on numbers: 8 7 3 Assembly, stock, inventory, etc. numbers....

most likely...

I wouldn't say only those smiths made traditional blades but it is probably safe to say that those smiths made traditional blades.

signed Omori Teruhide...... Nice....

family name is Noguchi 野口

miya 　宮 taka　　高

Only bona fide smiths made the ranking. Many of those from the list of Seki smiths were not really trained, professional, traditional smiths making traditional blades. Most of the Seki smiths were making non-traditional showa-to.

Looks a lot newer than Muromachi....Notice how crisp the hitsuana and other edges are....

Hawley used a variety of Japanese sources. I have checked several of the largest of those, as well a list of Mino Seki smiths published by the Seki smith's association, and not found him listed. Your sword sounds like something made for display.

There was a smith who signed Yoshiomi but I can not find one signing Kaneomi.....

It is not an Emura blade. Nor was Ichihara Nagamitsu a prison smith. Emura and Nagamitsu are two different smiths....I thought that old myth had been put to bed a long time ago....

yes, that is true....one needs to know the whole story...my bad....

I saw literally thousands of swords in the 14 years I lived in Japan but of those there are some that were unforgettable. One of those was a Juyo shodai Masahiro katana. It was about 29" long, broad, with perfect Hizen konuka hada and a flamboyant Hizen choji hamon. Just a spectacular sword...If only I had a spare $150,000 it could have been mine....

It is the sword registration/license required by law to be with every sword....

Yes, I should have made it clear that this was the "official" visit and inspection by police as they formally start their investigation.... The most appalling this about all this is the fact that they had swords which they neglected to preserve....unreal.....

It is a sad truth that books will only take you so far, and that isn't too far at all....As has been said, you need to see many many good swords, with someone who knows what they are doing helping you along. Unfortunately, there are very few people outside of Japan that are experienced enough to guide anyone, and there are not nearly enough good swords, or the access to them, compared to what is available in Japan. Thus, one must resign one's self to the fact that it is nearly impossible to become adept at kantei if one lives outside of Japan. On the bright side, it is possible to learn the difference between good and bad. For most collectors, this is sufficient. Learning the difference between good and great is not so easy but possible as well.....

In the news yesterday....NBTHK searched by police who found about 400 swords on the premises without torokusho....Uh oh......

post a photo of the mei or tell me which kanji are used and I will see what I can find but offhand I don't recall hearing of him...

You are most welcome..... Not a cello player, but Yo Yo Ma is a hero of mine....

23dai Seki Kanefusa. Showa-to....