My First Aquistion... Trying To Learn It's History

[thewired1]

So I recently aquired this sword locally from an older gentleman. It came with the standard story. His uncle was in WWII and came home with it. When his uncle pasted, his Aunt gave it to him. It's been sitting in his closet for years and he didn't want it anymore. My limited knowledge of Japanese swords, led me to believe that it was worth a gamble at the price he was asking. I showed the inscription to a Japanese friend and she was able to translate a portion of the Kanji as a name. With the help of some other members here, I think we were able to translate the entire inscription. 

 

Original translation thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/16365-translation-help-please/?p=170763

 

It's either "Joshu ju Ito Teruyoshi" or "Toshu ju Ito Teruyoshi". I checked the "The Nihonto Knowledge Base, Swordsmith data base" but nothing came up as a good match for his particular spelling. Another helpful member was able to find couple of Ito TeruYoshi's in Markus Sesko's index but I'm unsure if they fit this swordsmith since the Kanji doesn't 100% match (as best as I can tell).

 

Based on it's size, this is a wazakshi and not a full Katana. Someone please correct me if I'm assuming wrong. I'd really love to learn some more about the swordsmith and this sword. I plan to make a nice display case with an engraved plaque displaying it's history and information. Any help would be REALLY appreciated. I'm a fast learner with a lot of things but I've hit a wall with resources here.

 

Thanks!

Edward

 

Here are some photos:

 

ENTIRE WAZAKSHI

 

INSCRIPTION / SIGNATURE

 

TSUBA:

[thewired1]

TSUKA:

 

BLADE:

 

MISC PHOTOS:

 

 

[cabowen]

There was a line of Shimada smiths who signed Joshu ju Teruyoshi, though with a different kanji for yoshi, as you have found. This group worked from late koto into Shinto.

 

To me, your sword looks Shinto. I would venture that your smith was related to the Shimada group but is not recorded. I tend to doubt that this is an alternate signature of a listed smith because none of those listed are recorded as signing  "Ito" as yours is...