Help identifying authenticity

[Falcochino]

Hello everyone. I was referred to this board by another Reddit thread. I have a katana that’s been passed down to me from my father. My plan is to keep the blade. But we have no paperwork for it. At this point I have a date: 1682 august. 
the signature is INOUE SHINKAI 井上眞改. From what I’ve been told and read this is a big name and thus could possibly be a forgery. So I’m reaching out to get anyone’s opinion and I’ll be grateful for any insight. 

[ROKUJURO]

Falco,

welcome to the NMB!

To be able to read the KANJI on the NAKAGO and to compare with authenticated examples, we would need sharp close-up photos of the tang shown tip-upwards without HABAKI (copper collar), preferably with dark background and light from the side.

As a general remark, your blade seems to be in good condition which is important for the value. Take good care that nobody touches the bare blade with their fingers!

[Tanuki Yokai]

Im no fan of the shape but it definitely has many similarities with Authentic Exampled in my Opinion. 
You could try to compare the Mei to other examples but the blade looks promising in my opinion. 

[SteveM]

Mei is as commented on by the guys at Reddit

 

井上真改　　Inoue Shinkai

天和二年八月日　　Tenna ninen hachigatsu hi  (August 1682)

 

Inoue Shinkai died in November of that year, so this sword would be one of the last he made in his lifetime, assuming the mei is legitimate. As luck would have it, there is an authenticated Shinkai sword made in, and dated with, the same year. This sword has been authenticated, so we can be reasonably confident it is an actual Inoue Shinkai sword.

 

https://www.e-sword.jp/sale/0810_2040syousai.htm

 

You'll notice the sword above has an imperial chrysanthemum inscribed on it. Inoue Shinkai was allowed the use of this emblem a decade or so earlier (can't remember the exact date), and from that point on his swords have this emblem on them. Yours could be an outlier, but obviously with a big name like Inoue Shinkai, the scrutiny becomes much more demanding than it does for a medium or low-ranked smith. 

 

Yours looks slightly shortened because the hamon runs well into the nakago. The Shinkai blade linked above has the hamon ending right at the notch where the blade stops and the nakago (handle, tang) begins. The butt end of your sword is also slightly pointed, whereas Shinkai blades have a more rounded butt-end, but this might not be such a huge issue. The inscription for the date is also done in a different style to the one linked. The one linked uses a cursive style of handwriting, whereas yours is more or less standard "block" style letters. 

 

So, given the big name, and given the slightly problematic inscription, I'd be skeptical of it being a genuine Shinkai blade. But the real test is the blade itself, and I think its too hard to say anything definitively given the current state of your sword. Regardless, yours is a real, antique sword from Japan's feudal period, so it should be preserved and cared for. Links on care and handling should be somewhere near the top of this page. 

 

 

　

[SteveM]

Looking at the signatures side by side, I can see some differences that look problematic.

Yours is on the left, and the authenticated one on the right. 

 

Anyway, false signatures are incredibly common in the sword world. As I mentioned before, don't go thinking your sword is junk because it probably has a false signature on it. Its still an antique, hand-forged Japanese sword. Maybe its 200 years old, or 300 years old - hard to say. Take care of it and keep the rust away. You can always send the sword to Japan to get authenticated (at some cost and effort). Or, you can bring it to one of the authentication sessions that are held in the US once or twice a year. 

 

 

[Brian]

Steve has given you an excellent summary of just about all that could be said.
Big name swords found without papers are generally expected or assumed to be gimei until proven otherwise. But looks like a decent sword anyways, with nice fittings.

[Falcochino]

Thanks so much everyone. This has really been insightful and I’m super grateful for everyone taking the time to give me some advice, produce examples, set up side by sides. Definitely a group of passionate people here. I would love to head to to the US for one of the authentication sessions and yes even if it is a forgery I will still cherish and take care of it. Thanks again for everyone’s time with this 🙏🏽