Assistance With Translation Please

[Falcs]

Hi, two pictures of the signature of a sword im interested in, i did have more pictures of the whole sword but sadly my camera case decided to obscure the lens, ill upload some more later when I have chance to take them again. There is also some what appear to be chalk marks on the reverse side. Very grateful for any infomation you can offer.

 

Richard D

[Manuel Coden]

Signature says 藤原宗長 Fujiwara Munenaga, several smiths with that name, without seeing more of blade hard to tell more

[Falcs]

Thank you, i thought it interesting how the signature is made up of small strikes into the metal rather long strokes like the other sword I have. 

[Geraint]

Dear Richard.

 

You can add your name to your posts so that it appears every time.  If you can find a video of a smith signing a sword you will  see that the chisel is used in a way that will generate this stepped appearance to the strokes.  Part of the way of looking at a  a mei is the way in which the discrete strikes of the hammer generate the single stroke of the kanji.

 

All the best.

[Falcs]

As promised some more pictures. 143mm tang 543mm blade. I was told that this sword was a gift to a british soldier just after WW2, the soldier jumped into a river and saved someones life, the family gave him this sword obviously it might not be true but its interesting and they had no real reason to make it up. The hamon is very pronounced and the various ridges are very precise and sharp. Some corrosion spots no signifcant damage to edge.

 

Richard.