Mark

Sadayuki

has Lori mentioned where she is located? maybe there is a club or a collector in her area that could offer some additional information after an in hand inspection.

I have owned several swords by thos maker, they were all the same so he intended it that way

hard to be sure without seeing it in hand, but if forced to guess from just the pictures you show i would say 1570-1650

i agree with Henry that it is not something "in" the steel but is something "on" the steel (meaning something has happened to the surface). It may be old oil but i think it could be old stains, maybe they are "spi spots" that someone cleaned and removed any active rust but left the stains, or maybe moisture condensed on the steel and was later cleaned. You should have a good polisher look at it and advise you.

The shinogi line looks strange, it is unusual for it not to line up smoothly through the tang, that would make me look real close. An experianced collector once told me a good thing to sight down the blade holding the tip near you and the tang poited away (sort of backward to the usual way to look at a blade) sometimes that veiw will highlight problems on the nakago

Yoshisada

smiths name is Sukemitsu he lived in Seki, not sure about his personal name i would have to look it up.

maybe Yasuyoshi

i have heard it called Wakimono but that does not seem to match your kanji so maybe there are multiple terms used

before trying to figure out who did what you should try and determine if either had anything to do with the sword == not trying to be too negative but unless it has reliable papers i would work on the validity of the mei first

maybe SoShu Ju Masahisa

I have a katana by 23rd gen Kanefusa with the Kiku on waves on the blade. I will be putting it on ebay when i get motivated. If anyone is interested before i get around to it i would sell it for $1500 If it is inappropriate to post this here i apoligize, please move it to the sale section-- but i only mention it as Kanefusa was mentioned in this thread

I had a dead mint Kunimori in high end army mounts that i sold at the Chicago sword last year (or maybe the year before), i think it sold for around $3000. The buyer and i thought that was a fair price, maybe i sold it too cheaply, but it sat on the table for at least a day with the price tag so i did not think it was way underpriced.

i dealt with him on an ebay item i was selling. you can email me directly if you need specifc information

I have a katana, the mei is hard to read but my guess is Bizen Kuni Osafune Ju Shigemasa tsukuru...... I find that this maker is somewhat obscure, seems to be a student of Shigesane and of the Motoshige school circa 1360's, but i can't find a reference oshigata anywhere, would anyone have an oshigata for this smith? Thanks!

I have known Lee for years, he is a regular at the Tampa sword show and i see him at many other shows. The previous description sounds fair, he is a great guy to talk with.

looks like KaShu (Kaga) Yukimitsu -- not sure what to make of it, does not seem natural, kanji look sharp and the yasuri are either gone or hard to see

the width of the groove suggests Bizen. The way the groove ends near the kissaki suggests Nambukcho. The sugata looks a bit later, it seems that if shortened it would have originally been sakisori. Maybe early muromachi. hard to say more from a picture but i guess late soden bizen might be a possibility

can you show a picture of the back (spine) of the tang? what is the blade thickness where the habaki fits, and what is the thickness at the lower hole (one closest the end of the tang- where the horimono ends)? If the thickness of the blade is the same in both areas, and the blade then radically tapers to the end, it may be a shortened Koto blade, If the tang tapers from the habaki area to the end as is usual then i would say it is not an old shortened blade and may be Shinshinto made as you see it now. It seems strange that the horimono does not "thin out" as it goes along the tang, if it were a shortened blade and the tang was filed down i would not think the horimono would be as deep and sharp at the lower end................. just my observation.

I am not a good judge of writing style, so that is a good point. It just seems to me that if i wanted to put a fake test on a blade i would do it like all the others (gold inlay - and pick a name of a tester who may be uncommon but at least recorded) instead of making it so atypical. At least this is an interesting and educational discussion.

Ian, Thanks for the thoughts. The blade is certainly suriage, possibly O-suriage, I have seen a few gold test inscriptions, but only one or two in silver. Do you think it may be done in silver as the blade was shortened already, or did you mean that the silver may be because the test was done under different circumstances, or something else?

Thanks to everyone for their help. I hope this post at least allows some educational discussion. Grey asked an interesting question about the gold vs. silver -- i would have thought that if this was a later addition to up the value someone would have used gold instead of silver. there is hardly any gold weight so the cost of the materials should not have made that much difference. Any thoughts about that?

Group, I try to help others when i can, so i hope someone can offer me some assistance. I have a wakizashi with a silver inlayed inscription. I think it is a cutting test and the testers name but i am not very experienced with these inscriptions. So everyone knows the situation: I own the sword, it will probably be for sale in the future but i do not plan to put it on eBay, i have a friend i trade with who expressed an interest. Thanks!

could it be Etchu (no) kami Fujiwara ____