Mark

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 ____

I have a Sukemune katana (34") that is a custom order and is signed 58Th Gen Tomonari

I have seen in hand a genuine (Juyo) example of this smiths work. I remebeber noting the hada was quite loose. the hamon was also somewhat "soft".

you could ask for a "window" to be polished so the temper can be seen. Then make sure the agent clearly knows that, -- if the sword has no temper or appears retempered you want it returned as is. that way you can find out at minimum cost

from what i see it is common to use these terms for swords made 1926-1945 --Showato to refer to swords made that are mass produced, or oil tempered, in contrast to Gendaito which is commonly used to describe swords that are hand made in the traditional way from tamahagane

looks like a Soshu stlye dragon around/swallowing a sword/ken it is stylized but you this

I saw a Hisamichi on Danny M's site http://www.nihontocraft.com/Hisamichi_katana.html

A person i knew swore he had a dozen sets of 3 matching swords he called Trisho...... strangely enough when i visited his home and asked to see them they were all out at the cleaners so i did not get to see this impressive collection. true story.

I am not a tsuba collector, but it looks Namban to me. The square opening for the kogai is usually associated with early tsuba but my guess is that this is a later cast copy, maybe circa late 1800's

Hard to make out in the pictures, sort of out of focus in the first one...... If i had to guess based on what i can see i would venture Munemitsu

thanks for the help...... i will keep searching, it would be great to find something on my guy and this school

Syd Thanks! I am not sure i understand, is the listing you showed information on the group i am looking for? I can not read the information, is there any way for me to contact this group and ask if they have historical information on the man i am trying to research? Thanks again for the help mark

John Thanks! I am very ignorant when it comes to Bujinkan arts........ any and all info will be appreciated

I remember seeing the sword in Tampa and at Chicago, interesting at first glance but i think Grey did diligent research, asked a lot of opinons, and even had a window put in it... so i doubt it is an undiscovered treasure ----- just my opinion

Not sure if this is the right classification for this request, a moderator can move it if it should be in another catagory. I am trying to research a person in regards to a sword i have. The inscription says it was made for 藤原Fujihara 陣左衛門Jinzaemon (or Jin-emon) who was assocated with é–¢å£Sekiguchi 玉心æµGyokushinryu -- i think this is a martial arts school or dojo, the sword was made in 1864 so the person must havve been alive and active then.......... I have tried Googling in English but have not found much. It was suggested that if someone could research it it Japanese using the kanji there may be some information .......... Any help appreciated Thanks!

i found the old thread it was .................Help with Gendai "Stamped" Mei -- not sure how to link or reference it........ check out the pictures and see if you think it is the same

I have a katana with a mei like that (maybe the same), i asked about it a while ago and was helped to see it was Shigenaga, there was a picture of the mei on R Stein's site, maybe someone can find the old thread........ anyone at Chicago can see the sword, it will be for sale, stop by my table

sword looks "real" and handmade to me. It certainly has been messed with. It could be retempered and have a weak temper so someone added the "chemical" temper to hide that.