SteveM

Registered on June 11th, 1964. 昭和丗九年六月拾壹日 最正刀　（not sure of the meaning) 黒ザヤ? (Black scabbard)?

1. "Certificate of Appraisal" is more accurate. 2. One, Wakizashi: (Kanenori). note: the paper makes no mention or promise or hint that it is Kanenori of Mino/Seki. This might be able to be inferred (I honestly don't know how many smiths named "Kanenori" there were, who used these exact kanji), maybe just this one smith. In any event, the paper doesn't make any mention of Mino/Seki. It just says (Kanenori). 3. Just under 1 shaku, 7 sun. (51.53cm) (using this site https://www.kampaibudokai.org/Script.htm for conversion) 4. As a result of examination by this organization, we hereby appraise this sword to be "Worthy Of Preservation". 5. The official English name of the NBTHK is Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords. "Public Interest Incorporated Foundation is slightly tortured English translation of a particular kind of Japanese organization. In the NBTHK's case, its a non-profit organization, but not all of these kinds of groups are non-profit. It's just a signifier of what kind of group it is, like "Co. Ltd" or "Pty Ltd" or "Inc.". Anyway, in my view its best to just use the official English name of Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords.

I think you've gotten all the bits (with some slight corrections as noted above). Are you still unsure of anything? As John (Shugyosha) said above, nearly everything from #4 onward is just boilerplate for this type of certificate. It is a standard "Hozon" certificate. "Hozon" is the basic level of certification from the NBTHK (Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, aka the NBTHK). Hozon literally means "keep" or "preserve", and in this case it means roughly "art sword worthy of preservation". The next level up from this is "Tokubetsu Hozon" which means especially worthy of preservation. Typically only swords with signatures, or particularly good examples from well-known smiths get the Tokubetsu Hozon distinction (the paper looks very similar to the Hozon paper). The next two levels up from this are reserved for museum-worthy pieces, and are hard to obtain. So the vast majority of swords available for sale from most sites/dealers or other collectors are either Hozon or Tokubetsu Hozon-rated swords. These are good certificates to have, because they validate the sword as being a genuine antique nihontō. In the case of a sword without a signature, the certificate provides the NBTHK's opinion of who made the sword. There isn't anything in the boilerplate that changes. The NBTHK doesn't issue certificates with any notes like, "needs more study in order to deem it worthy of preservation". So no need to overthink any of the writing on it.

I think its meant to represent a traditional noshi, which was made from thinly shaved abalone strips.

Issandō Jōi 一𮚌堂　乗意 No idea of the theme, but I'm curious as to what it is.

Yes, I'm sure its Kanezane 兼真. Kanezane Nyūdō (兼真入道). Nyūdō being a word indicating the swordsmith had become a lay priest.

That was Inami Hakusui's attribution: Tegai Kanezane （包真）. But yes, as you mentioned, sometimes the attributions were very generous.

The paper is from the "Kantei Club" dated 1986 (I think). The paper was issued to Kajiwara Kōtōken, who himself was a well-known sword scholar and practitioner of martial arts. The Kantei Club issued papers from the late 80s to early 90s. The scabbard has a separate paper from the NBTHK, certifying the scabbard as "Hozon" (worthy of preservation).

The paper is a certificate of authentication by Inami Hakusui, who was the owner of a sword shop in Tokyo, and (as the paper indicates) chairman of the "Hakusui Sword Research Society of Japan". His grandson still operates the shop. Inami Hakusui's papers are well known, as he produced a lot of papers for GIs and other people visiting Japan after the war. Consider it a nice souvenir. The paper indicates the sword was made by the swordsmith "Kanezane", sometime in the late 1400s. It doesn't mention anything about gold-plating, and I don't think 8k gold-plating would add any value to any of the fittings. Most of the value will be in the sword, and its hard to say what the value of yours would be.

This one should be Gotō Seijō (後藤清乗). But maybe not authentic, as you mention.

Maybe a forgery of 正楽 (Shōraku).

Iwasawa Ryōjin Iron, round shape, two "hitsu" ana Sukidashi-bori, zōgan inlay Image of monkey grasping at moon April, 1964 Mon'yō (pen name of the appraiser Kamiya Mon'ichirō)

Congratulations on your deployment. Ihara Tsutomu (name of recipient). From the "Sanyō Itakami Manufacturing Co., Electronics Section, Sasaki Kiyomatsu" (representative who presented the banner, or in whose name the banner was presented.

or 龍光 (tatsumitsu? ryūkō?)

於東都三囗山麓東海辺　　Made in the ? foothills, in the vicinity of Tōkai, in Tōkyō. I can't read the name of the mountain/foothills. I'm slightly suspicious of this inscription. It doesn't look very well done. I also can't find any mountain in Tokyo that might match this text. "Tōkai" is also an unusual location name. There is such a location name in Tokyo, but there are no mountains around it. A bit odd.

Looks like a surname　大野 (Ohno, or Ōno). The bit under those two would be the given name, but I can't make it out.

The left side should be 住吉太神宮奉以剱余鉄 Made with steel left over from the making/dedication of a sword for Sumiyoshi Taisha (shrine).

Left side is a family name - 堀田 (Horita)

定善寫 Sadayoshi (no) utsushi

法成寺貞廣 Hōjōji Sadahiro

This is a list of possible "name" readings for 任. It lists Ataru, Tae, Taka, Takashi, Tada, Tane, Tamotsu, To, Tō, Nori, Hide, Makashi, Makoto, and Yoshi. I think it notes "Tada" in red because that would be the most common reading for it. https://b-name.jp/赤ちゃん名前辞典/m/moji/任,ただ/

金地容彫　　　　　　Gold, katachi-bori 無銘 Mumei 後藤顕乗 Gotō Kenjō 出来見事也　　　　 Magnificent work　 昭和丗四年秋 Shōwa 34, Autumn 寒山 Kanzan Not 100% sure of the bits in the red.

I don't think any of those figures are Hangaku Gozen. The box says the figures represent the battle of Ichi-no-tani (Kumagai Naozane, I think), and the crossing of Ujigawa by Sasaki Takatsuna.

For Daws:

越後幕下士大村加卜- Echigo Bakka-shi Ōmura Kaboku 真十五枚甲伏作- Shin jūgomai kōbuse saku (Made with 15-times folded steel)