Mark

Chris, Thanks! not the type of custom order I am used to so I was having a hard time making it out. appreciate the help

I have a sword dated 1937 by Okishiba Masatsugu (Osaka smith I think). There is an inscription on the other side of the nakago. Can someone help me with the translation/meaning please. All help appreciated.

update. These are the ones I have available presently

Jason I will be there. I leave Saturday at 3pm so catch me early. See you there

Markus Please stop by my (Mark Jones) and Grey Doffin's tables and introduce yourself. Grey and I will be there with 3 or 4 tables full of 50+ swords (probably an undiscovered Juyo or two in the mix) and 100+ tsuba. Look forward to some fun

Steve Brian suggested you give it a try as it is not too hard. We can help if you run into a problem, let us know what you get. As a clue the first 2 kanji are the province (using the simplified Shu), 3 & 4 are the town, 5 is Ju resident of, the last 2 are the makers name. give it a try and let us know

thanks! those are the threads I remember... I searched using "same' " but got 0 results, must be doing it wrong in my case I sent it Express, they held it in customs for a week, then sent it back marked "return to sender" but forgot to repack it with the materials I used, it came back crushed and torn up, guess they were having a bad day.

James so it looks like the same' is the issue. Sounds like the fee is expensive. Interesting. If they are going to be more aggressive checking that will be an issue for international shipping

Ken, I was shipping it internationally. Thomas, maybe that was the case, never run into it before. They gave me a form letter about fish/wildlife so I thought they were worried about the ray skin. I just wanted to make sure there was no obscure regulation restricting same' and any suggestions how to explain/describe the same' so they know what it is and that it is ok

if the moderators think this should be combined please do that. It seems the other thread is about the problem of shipping swords as they are classified as weapons. My issue is not being able to ship it due to 'Fish and Wildlife' regulations. If that is going to be an issue in the future it will be difficult to ship and koshirae or tsuka with same' internationally. I am hoping this was just some over zealous employee, but if anyone has any knowledge of the regulations it would be good to hear about it, I tried to navigate the web site but can not find any straight forward information

Seems I remember a past thread but I can't seem to locate it. I mail 20+ swords internationally each year. I just had one returned. It was rejected by Fish and Wildlife. The form letter does not say what the issue was but I guess it must be the same' as it was a gunto sword with no ivory or other materials but wood, metal and cloth. Maybe others have had similar problems and can save me some time trying to figure it out. Any suggestions for properly mailing swords and avoiding this issue? Thanks

before trying for generation you need school or group. What school do you think it is?

I read it to say: second generation Minamoto Yoshichika saku.... plenty of into on him on line and in books, I think we have discussed him a number of times

thanks Chris. it was fun

ok, one last stab at it. Muramasa, hard to kantei seeing just one side of the balde

with the clue, maybe Tsunahiro or Fusamune

I agree with Arnold, looks like a Shinto, or Shinshinto, copy of Fukuoka Ichimonji

Richard Myself, and a bunch of collectors (some NMB members), will be in Louisville KY in a couple of weeks. I get down to Dayton/Wilmington every couple of months. Email me at nixe@bright.net if one of those options works for you

Richard I live near Toledo OH. Depends on your time frame there are military shows in the area that a few collectors attend and maybe we could meet you and check out the sword

Richard where are you located? maybe there is a sword show or club that you could visit and get some input

Morita san, thank you for the enlightening translation, and thanks to all who helped, the forum is a great rescores, I appreciate the information

Thank you Moriyama san, So is this a poem? what is the approximate meaning?

John, thanks, Chris -- glad it was not too simple, I tried it but it made no sense to me, at least I know it is a challenge. Maybe someone will recognize it

I have a Shinshinto katana signed Toban Ju Minamoto Toshiyuki Saku. On the other side of the nakago that is giving me trouble. Any help appreciated thanks

yes, confirmed