Hi all. My friend showed me a sword he bought from an estate sale some years ago in Vermont. He showed it to me the other day and I snapped these photos. I know a bit about Katana smithing, all I could ascertain was that the hamon is real, beyond that, I need some help.

Hello,
Someone can help me on the translation of this Mei
Thank you in advance

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Can anyone ID the highlighted character? It looks like HARU, but is slightly different. I am very new to this so be kind! Thanks for your help guys.

Also, if it's relatively easy, would anyone mind confirming my attempted translation. It's the 1st one I have ever done on a blade I recently aquired.

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Hi all,

My new sword has interesting Koshirae that I'd appreciate your opinion on. The tsuba and menuki have what appears to be Hashiba clan kamon (5-3 kiri), while the kashira and fuchi have beautiful phoenix on them (see photos). I've been trying to find exact matches online, but of course, that's almost impossible. I'm thinking they were kokinko style from Momoyama period, but someone told me he thought they were Edo. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Carl

Submitted by oldguy62 on Wed, 2017-11-08 11:52 katana

Hello there, I hope you may be able to assist me. I am trying to read an iscription on the nakago of my Yari, can you possibly help? I have uploaded four images of the spearhead. Any ideas what dates / period these relate to?

Thanks,
ANDREA

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I am as of recent, a new joined member of the nihonto club. I became a member in hopes to share the Mei of my Katana and authenticate it, either value or if it's genuine. It appears to be handmade but possibly afterwards was sent off to a factory for finishing, that is unless the swordsmith himself devoted over time into the tang of the sword. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested, I am in a bit of a tight hassle over money and wouldn't have a problem selling the sword to someone whom collects and will take care of it.

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See attached images.
One is of the certificate - which I now know is only a registration document and bears no relation to authenticity.
The second image show the nakago signature on the left from a wakizashi I recently purchased. The two images on the right I found on the internet and would appear to be authentic 1st generation Kinmichi signatures. The two on the right are different blades but signatures somewhat similar. The signature on the left is obviously very different in style and would suggest strongly that it is a different person that engraved/etched it into the tang.

I have recently acquired a wakizashi which appears to be either 4th or 5th generation Shigetaka. I note that the swordsmiths listed here under the name SHIGETAKA only covers the first three generations. SHI505, SHI506 and SHI507. There appears to be at least eleven generations of Shigetaka.

I have recently purchased a wakizashi that appears to be a 'Norimitsu' The nakago has a mumei/signature reading (I believe) Bishu Osafune Norimitsu.
I believe that means, in simple terms, that it could have been made anytime between about 1300 and 1700, as there were nine generations of Norimitsu working out of Bizen school/Osafune.