Prewar70

Can someone help me classify it as to age and period. Are there any opinions as to what I have? Would you consider polishing and if so, any recomendations here in the US or Japan? Thank you.

Found this today. I was hoping there was a signature as it looked old. It's obviously been mistreated unfortunately but I still see many qualities I like. I am a novice, or maybe even a stage prior to that, so whatever information you can share about what I have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Is this signature correct for the Manchuria Railway Company? Thanks for the assistance.

The Seki character does look like that. I don't know about the rest of your point though.

Well some additional digging and I did find this and I do see the signature now. If it was a snake it would have bit me. The sword does have a seki stamp above the signature. What can you tell me about the swordsmith and his blades?

I'm guessing you couldn't have provided a better hint, but when I look at all four Kanemasas, I do not see any resemblance. How do you do this and what am I missing?

Here are pics, any help would be appreciated.

I'm sure there are a lot of dragon motifs but these are eeeextremely similar, not just close.

Sorry to keep bringing this one up but I was digging around on the internet and found a link through Grey's site to the CA Nihonto club. Here's a link to gold Menuki that are almost exactly the same as the ones on my sword, although different material. THey are so similar I would think they must be by the same maker???? http://www.ncjsc.org/item_momoyama_goto_menuki1.htm

The menuki are very detailed and quite beautiful dragons. Any opinions on them? Would they be considered normal or higher grade?

So I was looking at the sword again last night and I noticed something in the top of the scabbard that I hadn't seen before. It looked like a metal "guide" to perhaps orient the blade. The closer I looked at it I thought, is that supposed to be there? Then the light went on, maybe that's the other part of my habaki? So I got out the needle nosed pliers and gently started to pull not knowing for sure and not wanting to damage anything. Out it popped and presto, the other half to my 2 piece habaki. It seemed like it had been in there for a long time. Tonight I'm searching deeper for the missing tsuba

Maybe this will help. The holes are aligned.

So I live in Minneapolis and Grey's is in Duluth, a short 2.5 hours north of me. How convenient! I plan to leave the sword as is. Everything looks original to me and I like that. I absolutely love the detail on the handle. I can bring everything with me to find an appropriate Tsuba. Do you guys have any advice on selecting one? Style is obvious, but also fit. I noticed when i align the peg hole on the handle with the tang, there is a 1" gap from the handle to where the tsuba would go. Is there another piece that would fit between the end of the handle and the tsuba? What else should I look for that would be age appropriate for the sword? All thoughts and opinons are appreciated. BTW, I love looking at this sword. I'm surprised at how beautiful an edge it has and it's sharpness. So any consensus on age? 200 yrs, 400 yrs? Is it at all possible to attribute it to a smith or school? One afterthought, did it originally have a tsuba or could it have been made to not have one? Anyway to tell for sure?

The curly hair area.

It's a curly hair. I saw that in the pic and I ran to the sword to take a look and it's not there. No stamp!

I will try to take some better pictures tomorrow. I really like the handle. There was no tsuba.

For what it's worth, looking at it in my hand, it doesn't appear reshaped. All lines flow very sharply with the rest of the blade. Crisp.

Couple other pics. I can sort of see the temper line to the point, but not as defined.

Yes I'm a stalker here. I've always had an interest since my grandfather gave me one he brought home from WWII. I am an avid gun collector, and I have an eye for originality, which is the reason I purchased this. The price seemed right, it looked old, original, and of good quality. Any help would be appreciated. Pics are everything, so if there's something better I can do there let me know. Thank you.

This may have been posted here already and if so please direct me to it as I could not find it. Translation and info about the maker along with age would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. James Friedrichs