Rivkin

As far as I remember the wording of the original rescript was commenting explicitly that many attend to Tenno (this is late Muromachi, so both Ashikaga and Tenno courts are very modest) with horn kashira which is not even lacquered and therefore demanding that all kashira at court are to bear black lacquer. After sometime having a black lacquered kashira became a symbol of someone who attends at court and the default attire at court, and persisted in such a role long after the original reasoning was forgotten.

I would be inclined to consider the dates around Tensho. Nakago is in good condition, but we don't see too many higaki yasurime in shinto even for mino, the signature is a bit koto with nijimei closer to the mune and a bit more cursive-shallow and its nijimei... Tensho matches sugata - very beefy powerful, no taper, uniform curvature.

Not much to see in images unfortunately. If it is simply signed "Kunitoshi" or "Kunimitsu", such blades do paper with a note Muromachi. However Rai addition basically makes it impossible to assign it to "Muromachi Rai" since such thing did not exist. There is Rai Chiyozuru but it did not use Rai signatures and is rather different then this blade. Mino Zenjo or Ryokai, later generations, are a possibility. There is some masame and otherwise jigane is not a good match for kai Mihara, so maybe. But its all a speculation.

Two very rare Edo period smiths make for a really attractive signature and its unlikely to be faked. However, quite possibly it is otherwise just average Ishido(?) sword, attractive but not more than that. If its not, that would be an exception rather than a rule.

Thank you very much, I usually assume anything I find here are souvenirs, but will investigate those a bit longer.

As surely many of you do I am used to traverse my village asking people if they have ninja stuff for sale. Most of the time they are just being polite, but yesterday I have indeed received two special items... Chinese? Japanese? I have no idea whatsoever about those things. The female figurine shows some age, but I am not sure if there is a straightforward way to compare those signatures with something online?

The usual hedge that its photos, but purposefully pessimistic and direct take - the blade is in full polish and is already rather tired. The polish could be brighter etc., but its rolling a die and there is not a lot on the upside. Yes, the blade does not sparkle, its grey, its ko nie. Some of it basically its age, some of it - it is not A tier Sa work. I've been many times along this road, holding a blade where you see something brilliant if you look there at this angle... and the polish very seldom manages to just accent the right stuff as one envisions and hopes. Crossing into insulting speculations territory and going even further - it has distinguished history, if it was submitted today without it... possible it would get Bungo Tomoyuki, which is sort of similar suguha based with ko nie Yamato-Soshu-Sa activities and roughish hada... Or Sue Sa.

Yeap, that's Edo period. Don't want to judge whether this is the listed Soshu Hisayoshi, but it can be shinshinto soshu.

Zoom out a bit + overall view.

Oh, I could have actually read the original message. It has papers. If it says province unknown, means unlisted smith but most likely the signature is genuine. With this style and this name there are not too many options, especially with such yasurime. Zenjo, Kanabo, some other Yamato-Mino lineage, and its not exactly what Zenjo is typically associated with, hitatsura.

I can't really see the first kanji, but I assume it was read by someone with much better command of Japanese. With Kanemitsu written this way it is most likely unlisted smith from Mino of Tegai descent, probably of Kanabo lineage. The style is Soshu, hitatsura, which is not that uncommon with some Mino tanto circa 1520+. But its not the mainline Soshu work.

By default I would consider this late Muromachi, but what it really needs much better and more numerous images.

First time seeing this! I had a few "island swords" where the fittings were either plain metal or imitations of gunto, not some bizarre attempt at custom work with nanako and a combination of different motifs on one piece. The leather cover and how's the leather done on saya is more or less typical, but the blade and the fittings are very much not.

Yes, though only one mekugi survived. Habaki is definitely local, its stuck unfortunately and I am yet to hammer it off. Its a massive blade, I am surprised they opted for such narrow suguha.

I appreciate directness of the responses. One of the books on investment I've read suggested setting up a training account with 1,000$ total expenditure cap. Why not just simulate purchases and sales? The argument is that the sense of ownership is a great motivator to study companies. More so with swords. An expensive motivator, but a substantial one. The danger of going to a sword show is you have a feeling you must purchase something to justify the time and expenses, as a newbie you show the blades to ten people who reply "where you got it" and then some become very enthusiastic about this prospective purchase... because yes its a social event. With all the consequences. Sword shows expose you to very many very average blades and if you don't have the resistance build in there is an urge to find some hidden greatness there. And frankly you would be much better off with either of the two blades being shown than 95% of the stuff you see at the show. Its a great place to look at blades, and if you are very experienced it can be a great place to buy, but if you new and want to make a purchase.... I would suggest looking at these two blades in real life by flying to Japan, visiting couple of other stores, since there are plenty in Tokyo and making a purchase. 6 million yen budget justifies that.