SteveM

Looks like Tenshō (天正). 1573-1592.

Yes, this is correct. I would say the reading is: Ishii-ke mamorigatana

The squares in the diamond shape is called "maru ni yotsume-hishi", used by numerous families. https://myoji-kamon.net/kamonDetail.htm?from=rank&kamonName=丸に四つ目菱 The "yin-yang" symbol is also a family crest (hidari-futatsu tomoe). https://irohakamon.com/kamon/tomoe/hidarifutatsutomoe.html The round, indistinct remains of a seal may be "maru ni mitsuhiki-ryō", also used by many families. https://irohakamon.com/kamon/hikiryou/marunimitsuhiki.html As for the meaning; they could be crests representing a joining of families, or an alliance of some sort. And of course you can't discount the possibility that the item was made in the late 1800s to appeal to foreign tourists. I'm probably inclined to think the latter. Quite flashy, not suitable for the battlefield, not suitable for official business - so probably something made for some non-samurai with a bit of money, or made for the foreign tourist trade.

As a start, here is the website of a swordsmith who takes orders, allows on-site visits, and has some information in English. https://www.hiratatantoujou.com/

會津藤四郎 Aizu Fujishirō

Yours is signed Morikawa Teruhisa (森川英久). There is no Morikawa Teruhisa listed in Wakayama's directory. There was a Teruhisa who studied under Ōmori Teruhide, but according to Wakayama he never used the "Morikawa" name. So...an unknown smith, or a name that is intended to deceive?

Without provenance there is no way to tell the precise age of the koshirae, but the organic nature of the materials causes them to become worn-down over time. Therefore a lot of the koshirae found on blades being sold in the shops, come from the 1800s. This is my belief, anyway. I have no empirical evidence to back this up. And with frequent handling, the silk wrapping of the hilt becomes grimy and loose and the threads start to fall apart. So rewrapping is common. I would assume your koshirae fits this pattern, and was probably made mid-1800s, and the hilt rewrapped maybe once or twice since then. And yes, it was almost certainly crafted for the blade (although it is possible an orphaned scabbard was found that coincidentally matched the size/shape of your sword, and the two were thus paired - but usually the scabbards are custom-made for the swords.) Yes. I also think the koshirae is a wonderful example of lacquer craftsmanship. Hard, if not impossible, to make a scabbard like this today. The dragonfly motif on the metal bits is nice. Incidentally, "dragonfly" in Japanese is kachi-mushi (勝虫), and the first character of that word means "victory". Dragonflies were therefore a favorite theme of samurai, due to the auspicious spelling.

Hello Morgan, The NBTHK is saying "Sukesada (shintō-era)", which means any time past 1596 to the late 1700s. Since the NBTHK didn't (or couldn't?) nail down a specific smith, I don't think any of us could offer a better, more fine-tuned guess. And, the name "Sukesada" is almost a generic brand name. Swords with this name were produced in great volume, so the individual smith doesn't really get recorded or noted anywhere, except for the several Sukesada smiths whose work was outstanding. The outstanding Sukesada smiths signed not only with the two-character Sukesada name, but also included their own personal name as well. (And they tend to predate the "shintō" era.)

The little rectangles of paper are covering up the name of the person who submitted the swords for the authentication certificates. It is for the protection of the privacy of that person. The papers for the sword were issued in 1967 and 1976. Both papers are "kichō" (literally: precious) papers. It was the basic appraisal certificate for an authentic Japanese sword. I'm not sure why the owner had the same paper issued 9 years after the initial paper was issued. Anyway, this sort of paper was terminated in 1982, and replaced with a new paper. The text is just boilerplate..."we hereby certify this sword as a "precious" sword, etc.... The paper for the koshirae (the saya and its various parts) is a "tokubetsu kichō" paper (literally: especially precious), and is also from 1967. It lists the components of the koshirae, but the basic text is the same kind of boilerplate (we hereby appraise this item as "specially precious".)

Maybe 心哉彫, but there is no such smith listed in Wakayama. Kokonari-horu (unsure of how to pronounce...multiple possibilities).

Yes, Kanetaka. Same guy as below

I think its a cursive 市, of the kind below https://codh.rois.ac.jp/char-shape/unicode/U+5E02/

Bravo! I can't understand the 寒からしむ phrase, so I assumed it was, as in the previous translation, "dispells the cold". I completely missed 維新, so that changes that whole mid-section to something much more realistic and less florid. So there are quite a few revelations in Moriyama-san's translation that are a huge improvement in both substance and style. The last characters must be 云爾, indicating the end of the sentence.

Sorry to leave this hanging. The picture is much clearer, but a couple of the characters are still lost on me. I'm afraid I can't offer you a better translation than the one you have already - although I have misgivings about it. As I said, I think its a bit over-the-top, but we're talking about style rather than content, at least for the first 6 vertical lines. The last two vertical lines under the heading of "mei" (as I mentioned previously) seem very unusual, and not like typical Japanese. Well, its all a bit atypical. Wish I could offer you some more clarity.

The Japanese Ministry of Justice puts all their laws on a website, but its a bit user-unfriendly for non-Japanese speakers. The laws regarding registration of swords is at the link below; https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/333AC0000000006 (These are laws related to registration of swords and firearms. I don't believe there are any laws related to conservation of swords.)