Muromachi Period Blade?

[Jcremer24]

Thoughts on this blade and the signature? Looks to be Nagamitsu. Muromachi period? Im unsure on the signature though. I am very much so an amateur collector... Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! 

[quoshy]

IMO, gimei (not original signature). To me, it looks like the blade has been shortened over it's life, due to the several ana (holes) in the nakago (tang) meaning, if there was a signature, it may have been lost or would be further down on the nakago. Also, the polish is very poor making blade identification (i.e. if it is a real Nagamitsu) more difficult. I like the sugata (shape) though.

[AntiquarianCat]

I’m useless at mei so I’m not going to try, but I can say if your sword is muromachi it’ll have sakisori (sword curves late into the blade) like these two. 
Since you don’t have a top down photo and I’m using a phone it’s hard for me to tell but it looks like your sword has it, and also might be pretty curved so even if the signature is fake it could be muromachi, maybe even from the same general time period.

[Jacques D.]

11 hours ago, quoshy said:

IMO, gimei (not original signature). To me, it looks like the blade has been shortened over it's life, due to the several ana (holes) in the nakago (tang) meaning, if there was a signature, it may have been lost or would be further down on the nakago. Also, the polish is very poor making blade identification (i.e. if it is a real Nagamitsu) more difficult. I like the sugata (shape) though.

 

I kindly disagree, several mekugi ana are not a proof of suriage,  the location of the mei, the path taken by the nakago shinogi and the nakago jiri suggest that this sword is ubu.

 

There are several Nagamitsu even if we can exlude THE Nagamitsu

Jason, 

 

Measurements will be helpful (nagasa, sori, motohaba, moto kasane etc.).

[Jean]

Furthermore, there are fake mekugi ana to make the blade look older...

[Shugyosha]

Further to what Jacques said, occasionally swords had two mekugi ana so that they could be mounted either as katana or tachi and once in a while a hole for a further peg down the nakago for added security on a long or heavy blade.

 

https://yuhindo.com/tsunbo-nagatsuna-katana/

[Jcremer24]

8 hours ago, Jacques D. said:

 

I kindly disagree, several mekugi ana are not a proof of suriage,  the location of the mei, the path taken by the nakago shinogi and the nakago jiri suggest that this sword is ubu.

 

There are several Nagamitsu even if we can exlude THE Nagamitsu

Jason, 

 

Measurements will be helpful (nagasa, sori, motohaba, moto kasane etc.).

Nagasa: 70cm(27.56in)

Saki-haba 1.9cm(0.75in)

Saki-gasane 0.5cm(0.2in)

Moto-haba 3.1cm(1.22in)

Moto-gasane 0.8cm(0.31in)

Shirasaya full length 105cm(41.34in)

Sori curve 2cm(0.79in)

 

 

measurements from the seller...

[AntiquarianCat]

I think it would be pretty helpful if you could post an overhead photo of your sword like the examples I posted. It would make it easier to see its shape than those angled photos.

[Jacques D.]

Looking at the moto kasane, moto-haba and the size of the ha-machi, it is possible that it is a Shinshinto blade or even a gendai blade that one tries to make look older, but i can be totally wrong.

[quoshy]

On 4/9/2021 at 12:09 AM, Jacques D. said:

 

I kindly disagree, several mekugi ana are not a proof of suriage,  the location of the mei, the path taken by the nakago shinogi and the nakago jiri suggest that this sword is ubu.

 

There are several Nagamitsu even if we can exlude THE Nagamitsu

Jason, 

 

Measurements will be helpful (nagasa, sori, motohaba, moto kasane etc.).

You're absolutely right. Thanks for pointing those features out. I need to slow down and pay more attention.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Jason, I strongly suggest that you ignore the mei on any blade you're considering, until you have a lot more experience. As has been said many times, "buy the blade, not the mei."