simple

I'll try to take more pictures tonight. My dad is getting angry with me, saying that I shouldn't be handling the sword. I'll have to wait till he falls asleep. Thank you everyone. I appreciate your help. Neil Yuzo Kondo

Yeah, definitely some sort of laquer or clear coat on there. My dad said my grandfather put it on to try and cover up some rust. I'll try scanning it later on tonight. I did some searching for a Bizen Kunimitsu but couldn't find anything. Does anyone know of this swordmaker? Also searched for a Bizen Masamitsu because my friend suggested the 3rd character is an alternate character for "masa" and did find something that would date this sword close to how old my grandfather said it was. Any ideas? Thank you everyone for your responses. Neil Yuzo Kondo

here's another shot

i think my grandfather cleaned the area around the mei some 30 years ago...its never really been looked at since. the only camera i have access to is really crappy...sorry for the poor quality. a friend of mine said that she thought it was bizen kunimitsu also...but that the kanji for "kuni" doesn't look quite right and that it could be an alternate for "masa". those are the only 4 characters on the sword. Neil Kondo

according to my grandfather, this sword has been passed down through the family for well over 400 years. it's a wakizashi. my family says that back in the early 40's, the u.s. army searched their home and confiscated the longer sword, leaving only the wakizashi. i've been trying to figure out who it's made by but all of my Japanese friends say that the kanji used is really old school and hard to read. i'm hoping someone here can help.