Translation request

[rebcannonshooter]

Hello all, two weeks ago I posted two pics of the nakago of a sword I was buying. Moriyama-san was able to translate the very interesting inscription for me. The sword arrived today! There are four horimono on the blade. I initially thought that they might be Bonji, but now I believe they are Kanji. One of them appears to be "Shu", "to protect" not sure what the others are. Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks in advance, Tom

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Thomas, glad you ended up with that sword. Could you please spare us some photos of the whole sword and mounts, this looks like a really good find. 

[rebcannonshooter]

Hi John, The sword is in beautiful field grade officer's Kyu-gunto mounts. I'm planning on posting an article about LT. General Noguchi Kon'no with photos of the mounts and sword. Wanted to make sure what the horimono were on the blade first.

Tom

[John C]

Thomas:

I think the bottom character in the second pic is the word attack. But not sure how it is combined with the others.

 

John C.

[SteveM]

I think it is meant to be the 4-character idiom 以守為攻 (守りを以て、攻めと為す), which in colloquial English would be "the best offense is a good defense". It means secure your victory by shoring up your defense. But it looks like they've spelled it as 以守以攻, with a slight variance in the third character. 

[rebcannonshooter]

Thanks, John and Steve; I knew there were some carvings on the blade when I bought it but didn't realize that they were kanji until the blade arrived, and I got a clear look at them. Since this was a gift from an elder statesman to a young 2nd lieutenant at the start of his military career, an apothegm like that would make perfect sense. 

Thanks again, Tom