Translation Help

[Frank Reile]

I just picked this sword up yesterday at an antique auction. There were 15 other Japanese swords there in military mounts. At least 13 of the 15 others had machine made blades, and the other two were ruined by previous owners buffing and sanding them as was the case of most of the other swords. I was amazed what high prices they were going for. I usually only purchase swords that are papered and from reputable dealers, but there were so many so I decided to go to the auction and see if I could get a few deals.. I think the beat up wooden saya was the only reason why I was able to get this sword for a some what reasonable price It has a thick beefy blade. The  habaki is 1 1/2" wide and has a cutting edge of  26 7/16". It looks like a good quality made blade without any flaws. Although I don't collect gendaito, I plan on hanging on to this one for a while, at least until I find something that I can not live without. I have been going through my books and looking through the kanji pages and am having trouble. Any help with the translation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

F. Reile

 

[Frank Reile]

Here is a photo of the tang. Sorry for the bad photos of the blade, not very good at photographing them yet.

 

 

F. Reile

[SteveM]

I think maybe

 

日向国住善盛作

Hyūga Kuni-jū Yoshimori saku

 

It could also be 善秀 (Yoshihide). In fact, I rather suspect its Yoshihide, but I've looked at other Yoshihide signatures on the net and they don't look like this one.

[Frank Reile]

Thank you Steve for having a go at it, when I first took the tsuka off, it looks like an easy one to translate, but It has been a tough one.

 

F. Reile