Nihonto Club

Sword Identification

About a month ago, doing demo work on an abandoned house, I can across this poor soul in between a wall we were knocking down! As you can see from the pictures, this soul has been abused, beaten, chipped, dented and filed. It is stained and sad! The Katana has always been the favorite sword since I was a kid. Seeing this soul in such sad disarray, hurt my heart and soul! The Katana was an extension of a Samurai soul and in my own way, I could feel that!

I joined a Facebook group to get the mei translated and this proved to be the easiest part of the whole day. The signature, 肥前国忠吉, was translated to Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi.

Once I saw the mei, my skeptical side kicked in. How in the hell did a sword, made in Japan, make it all the way to Riverside county in California, to be left in a wall and beat to hell! The metal of the blade is steel, verified via some neodymium magnets. So it wasn’t Stainless or Aluminum. The tang followed the lines from the Nagasa through to the Nakago. The Shinogi ridge line flows from end to end. The was significant patina Nakago, although that seems to have been messed with by a previous owner. You can see file marks on the Nakago, underneath the patina. So far, everything is adding up. Through my research, I understand that replicas were popular in the Japanese sword marking world. Adding those up, the sword I have is either an authentic Hizen Tadayoshi sword or a similarly old replica made as a sort of honor to Tadayoshi between 1600 and and 1890 with the death of the last Tadayoshi.

Great start right! Well, several generations of Tadayoshi used the same signature! Sweet! I have melted my brain doing research, bouncing back and forth from website to website to glean more information! I need help though!

The Scabbard is made of wood on the inside and metal outside which is magnetic. The end cap and knob of the Scabbard are made of a magnetic metal as well. The only other piece of the sword I have is the Habaki. I am unable to see the Hamon under the grime and whatever damage has been done in previous years!

Measurements are as follows.

Nagasa - 26”
Nakago - 8”
Mihaba - 3/4”, 1”, 1 1/8”
Kasane - 0.5cm

What I am really trying to determine is which generation Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi blade this is. Try not to cringe at the condition of the blade!

Thank you in advance for all the help!!
Adam