Help With Tanto Mei

[mafea]

Good morning, I am relatively new to this hobby, and I am struggling with the mei on a tanto. The first kanji I got as "hisa", but the next kanji has me stumped. The pictures don't show the hamon very well, but in real life it is straight with a slight wave, visible what I would call ko-nie. I know that I should be able to at least get the era, but tanto's seem to be more difficult, with forms of blade, etc. the same or copied throughout time. Again, I am new to this with a small collection that I am slowly growing, so I appreciate your patience with a neophyte; I have put in a ton of time slowly trying to educate myself and am building a library, but as I am sure everyone will agree there is nothing easy about this! Thank you, Cheers

[ROKUJURO]

Mafea,

is that your name? If not, please sign all your posts with one plus an initial, so we may address you politely.

It is always difficult to assess an item just with photos, but to me your blade does not look like an authentic Japanese TANTO. It may have been made by an amateur from a broken blade or so, but it seems he never saw an authentic TANTO blade.  The signature is not in the style I would expect in a MEI, and I am not sure it is readable at all.

But perhaps I am totally wrong and others read the MEI as HONJO MASAMUNE.....

[Brian]

Hi (name?)
Afraid there is a lot wrong with this. Shape, style, finish, lines etc etc.
Can you post a pic of the whole blade without habaki and handle? At best, this is the front end of a broken sword. or the rear. I doubt the signature was done at the time of manufacture. Sorry to be the bearer of such news, but hopefully you aren't into it for too much. Let's see what others say.

[mafea]

Thank you all for the info, I apologize for the breach in etiquette, (Pat B). The habaki doesn't want to budge, I tapped on it, etc. but opted to not get too aggressive. I bought this with a few other blades, including a wakizashi with tokubetsu kicho nintei-sho nbthk papers, (Yamishiro Daijo Minimoto Kunishige). The cost seemed reasonable for just that so everything else is a bonus... I will plug along at identifying the other three blades, it is a great challenge! If I get completely stalled I will prevail upon your expertise. Thank you all again, Pat B

[Jean]

Don’t bother about adding your name Pat, I dit it for you so it will automatically appear each time you post.

[Brian]

Pat,
Ask away, anytime. No-one here is ever criticized for asking too much