Mark

depends on your purpose, if economic best to leave it alone as restoration will cost more than the increased value, if sentimental then do as you wish, but restoration is expensive. If you do not do anything you can wrap the handle in "saranwrap" or clear plastic wrap to keep it from getting worse, you can put a light coat of oil on the blade (there is a lot of info on care available).

the sword is a "late 44" army sword, or some call it a marine landing force sword (but this seems incorrect). The blade is machine made. The scabbard is mismatched, it belongs to the earlier army sword

probably too much egg nog but my hazy look gives me the impression of Akasaka Tada????

I think we discussed this one already??

i did not see the picture of the otherside, it is dated 1942

standing on my head it looks like Hidetoshi. The stamp is a "Seki" arsenal stamp. sword is circa 1941

here is the show website, the one for the shisa you listed http://www.tampajapaneseswordshow.com/ I will be there, stop by my table and say hi.

Mr Cjharpy where are you located? maybe we could point you to a local collector who could give an opinion and assistance

based on that one picture it looks genuine, but machine made NCO blades are not the NMB area or expertise

thanks for the pictures! great to learn a little about history.

can the person who has the sword in Japan do it for you? if not i have used both Robert Hughes http://www.keichodo.com/ and Bob Benson http://www.bushidojapaneseswords.com/ and been happy with the service from both

congratulations on winning the sword, i had bid but you liked it a whole lot more. The paper looks to say Izumi no Kami kaneshige, maker from around 1650, it seemed to me strange that the sword would be cut down then tested within a couple of years but who knows what happened, flashy nakago for sure

John Thanks!

Can someone assist with the date. I can see Empo 3 so August 1675, but i see an additional kanji between "year" and "8". Maybe it is a Zodiac date? thanks

i think the sword may be suriage, or it was made mumei, so the makers name is not on the nakago, so you will not find it on a picture of the nakago, the paper is an attribution, saying an OPINION is it was made Kaneshige, not that it is signed by him and genuine

i am not a "board expert" but my computer screen is now covered in the liquid i was drinking when i checked the auction

Thanks Chris and Piers. That makes sense. The poem is on a cane sword made to look like a branch of a cherry tree with a section shaved off and the poem written there.

Piers Thanks! Maybe someone else will know what it is, it is an interesting research project. Thanks for the lead and pointing out the right direction.

Piers, Thanks! I appreciate the search. I tried a translation program and got "Chopped (called white cherry cross poems and) cross poetry as you snuck a patron hotel garden single penetrate tight guard Kojima takatoku furiously cherry tree stem white at. Tian Mo empty goujian made at non-無范 Li [書き下し statement] heaven, goujian 空（むな）し till that he (average) and. When Fan Li 無きにしも非ず. [Drift] heaven is abandoned, and servile defeated in battle with the Wu and Yue King goujian never forsake the late Emperor did not like. Make sure 現れましょう is a faithful servant, was a faithful servant named hanrei goujian led the late Emperor" So i think the program is not getting the meaning of the Japanese text. Can someone give me the meaning? I am thinking it is a poem or saying thanks again

there is writing on the saya of a cane style sword. I can not make out the meaning. Thanks for the help

Thanks to all! I appreicate the info and link to the past discussion.

i "think" i see ToTo (Tokyo) ? ? Ju Sa Masa Masa but that makes no sense, so i am missing something. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Matt I will be visiting Louisville in December. If that is close enough i would be happy to look at it if we can get together

looks like it was a red lacquer attribution maybe by one of the Honami

picture is not that clear but looks like Yoshihiro