SteveM

嘱託＝contract employee

Got it! I'll keep you posted. Steve

I think he's talking about this bit here, but I'm not sure if it is actually a "P Y", or if it is part of the design of the bamboo leaves on snow.

My guess: very late Edo. It's just hard to preserve lacquer for 100+ years unless its stored in pristine conditions, or if you can afford staff who can look after lacquered goods. The metal bits can survive for centuries, even without them being kept in a nice, stable environment, but lacquer is more difficult. I'm slightly suspicious of the blank tsuba. It has no signs of being modified to fit the sword tang, and and it strikes me as being a later addition.

Hello Chansen, It is difficult to draw conclusions about the owner of a sword by looking at the koshirae. The crest is used by many families (the site below lists no less than 10 families associated with crest, and it isn't an exhaustive list). The site also says the crest is known in several prefectures, but none of them are in Kyushu, where Bungo was located. https://irohakamon.com/kamon/kashiwa/marunichuukashiwa.html Another reason it is difficult to draw conclusions is because the parts on a koshirae are meant to be replaced as they are worn out, so its possible that some of the fittings on your koshirae have been replaced in the last 150 years or so by its various owners. Shopkeepers are also known to switch out the components, as some items are easier to sell individually. So a shop owner may break up the components of the koshirae and swap them out for other components. Sad, but true. Anyway, the family crest is nice to have on a saya. The habaki also looks like it was something of a "special order" habaki due to the patterning on it.

Other side says 安来鋼 Yasuki steel. See this one as well

Hi John, No dates yet. Typically we meet on the 2nd Friday of the month, but November and December are unusual since many people are away in Japan at the Dai Tōken Ichi, and because of the holidays. We were talking about meeting up for an end-of-year Christmas dinner sort of thing, but nothing concrete yet. Will drop you a line if we decide on anything. Steve

If we can get a photo of the other side of that registration certificate, it will show you what the authorities thought the signature is.

Nanka Tōken Kai meeting tomorrow (Friday) October 10th at the Japanese Cultural Institute in Gardena, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Club Sensei Mike Yamasaki will not be attending, so there will be no specific topics. Bring your swords by if you would like to share with the group. If you have any swords or related items with Japanese inscriptions that you would like read/deciphered, bring them by and I will be happy to take a look. Gardena Valley JCI, 1964 W. 162nd Street, Gardena, CA 90247 Steve

Looks right to me.

✕弥生　→　初夏

Aritsune 有恒 Another example below https://www.tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/b00085.html

Do you use Wakayama's reference? I guess its the most comprehensive one around, but a bit user unfriendly for non-Japanese speakers.It sounds like two different art names. Nobukuni doesn't sound like a typical surname.

The mark on the bottom says 宣徳 (Sentoku), which was originally a brass made in, and exported from, China. The word exists in Japan also, and the meaning is a bit more broadly applied to other types of brass. Judging from the decorations, I'd say this was Chinese.

Kishu Ishido?

無く also led me down a dead end, as I thought it was read as なく instead of むく.

おもひ切て 古ちら無く時 郭公 おもひきりて こちらむくとき ほととぎす I wonder if the cuckoo will sing in full voice, when he turns in my direction This is a tough one. 郭公 (hototogisu/cuckoo) is easy, but there are a lot of haiku that use this, and there are several alternative spellings, so there are lots of opportunities to get stuck. Anyway, if you could pick out 郭公, or at least the 郭 part, it gives a bit of a foothold (because the following kanji is almost assuredly going to be 公 due to it being rarely used for anything but this word). Plus, "hototogisu" is a 5-syllable word so that gives a bit of assurance that you are looking at a the last word of a haiku, which slightly helps sort out the preceding bits. I struggled for a while because I thought the first part was something-no-hana, so that led me down a few dead ends until I gave up that line of thought.

Maybe 玉雪刀 (Carved by Gyokusetsu). Gyokusetsu would be the artist's "art name".

I think Nick Komiya covered this term extensively over on the Warrelics site, but the search feature might be paywalled now. Anyway, ryakushiki (略式) means "simplified" or "informal". I'm not sure its an official type designation, or if it is sales talk. I don't think it is an official designation, but its out of my area of expertise.

I don't want to get too deep into the weeds, but in order to submit a sword for authentication by NBTHK, the sword must first be registered. In order for a sword to be registered, it has to be accepted as an art sword, and, in the case of Tokyo, the Tokyo metropolitan government specifies that a sword must be made of tamahagane to be accepted as an "art sword". https://www.kyoiku.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/lifelong/cultural_property/registration/registration_02_01 Now the guys at the Tokyo metropolitan government aren't stupid, and they will certainly accept old/antique swords that are made of nambantetsu, etc... But when it comes to wartime swords they have been less forgiving. As I have come to learn, however, interpretation of the sword registration laws can vary depending on the prefecture. I do believe that most prefectures will follow the Tōkyō standards. But, as always, accommodations are made for exceptional pieces. Lately, this wiggle room seems to be expanding. If your sword can be registered, it can be submitted to shinsa. I think most prefectures will reject it, unless you can make an exceptionally strong case for your sword to be considered an art sword.

Katsuteru 勝照 Same smith as the one in this thread.

享保十年乙巳 Kyōhō 10 (1725) Year of the snake.

She has misread these two; 只雁 should be 隻履, which is part of the 4-character Buddhist idiom I mentioned. 歸 is the old form of 帰, which is the one used here in this scroll.

Left side looks like 二号 (Number 2). Right side: maybe a name, maybe a specification for a type of material. The top one is 本 (Moto), which is often used in surnames, but also can mean "true" or "genuine". The kanji on the bottom is too unclear to make it out.

Yours is a replica of an image drawn by Daikyū Sōkyū (1468-1549), which I think is/was property of Zuigan-ji (瑞厳比之大休筆寫) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/大休宗休 The writing alludes to the Bodhidaruma's return to India with one shoe (隻履西帰), but I'm not sure of the preceding bits. The final four kanji are an idiom meaning "getting better little by little" 漸入佳境".