Need Help Identifying My Sword's Signature

I got this from my uncle, who got it from a garage sale a few years ago. The previous owner didn't tell him much about it. I'm guessing it is probably just a replica, but I would really like to know for sure: it will still always be my first sword, regardless of whether or not it's fake.

Thank you,
Regards,
Michael Ronco

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Hi Michael,Usually it's

Hi Michael,

Usually it's better to look at few other photos of the sword before coming to any conclusions. It looks fake so far. I'm not 100% sure about the first character, but the first two characters together look very much like Suzuki. If that's correct, we have the name of the smith. Actually, it's not smith at all but ... an actress, Suzuki Honami 鈴木保奈[美] :-) It's not unusual for replicas, Chinese do have a sense of humour.

I deeply apologize if got it completely wrong...

Regards,
Stan

As Stan previoulsy said, you

As Stan previoulsy said, you need more than a signature to decide if it is a real one or a real fake. This being said, a few fake ones can be quite interesting. I can recall a Chinese brass sword "from the Warring State Period" that was actually a fake... from the 17th century.

Putting a date on steel can be quite difficult. The nature of the steel and the forging techniques used can be of some help, but a lot of Chinese "factories" are getting quite good at faking old blades.

Look at the hamon first... is it a real one?

François

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François Marquis