SteveM

景運 - I don't know what it means or how to pronounce it. Keiun?

Mei is 祥楽齊　勝貞　　Shōrakusai Katsusada. To the left of the nakago ana is 寫　百鬼夜行之圖　　Utsushi Hyakki yagyō no zu 　Copied from the Hyakki yagyō (or yakō) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyakki_Yagy%C5%8D

But that didn't require anybody to cut up their swords.

I wouldn't automatically think kanbun. I also wouldn't assume this has been shortened. I wonder what law the author of the blurb is referring to when he/she says "by law at the end of the samurai era". Looks suspiciously like a guntō without the arsenal stamps. Blue tsuka ito looks strange for a gunto. The fittings are an absolute hodgepodge of styles, which is not normally a good sign. The resolution of the photos doesn't allow for any much more informed commentary. Not from me, anyway.

Or, we can google national tax office! http://www.tax.metro.tokyo.jp/shitsumon/tozei/index_o.htm Land, buildings, or depreciable assets. This sword wouldn't fall under any of those categories. A Porsche could be a depreciable asset, but automobiles are subject to another tax, so they are excluded from fixed asset taxes. Even if the sword were somehow construed as a depreciating asset, the sword's book value would reduce every year until it eventually reached "zero", and the lady would owe no taxes on the sword because it would be deemed valueless. (← but this wouldn't happen with an antique sword like the one in question). Not meaning to call you out publicly Piers, but there was a question above on this point and it caught my interest. With regards to the rich friend, this may be a case where lack of knowledge of obscure things like swords (and taxes!) causes people to make strange assumptions. (For example, so many Japanese people seem to think you need a special "sword license" before you are allowed to buy a sword...). Anyway, I've never owned a national treasure, so if there is an even more obscure twist in the tax code that renders these things taxable, I will happily stand corrected. Sorry to take the thread slightly down this side alley.

Hakogaki is (with some gaps where it is illegible to me) 平安城 - Heianjō 鉄地丸形 - Tetsuji marugata 菊花散らし真鍮象嵌 - Kikuhana chirashi, Shinchū Zōgan Chrysanthemum with scattered petals 無名 (illegible) - Mumei 健全にて雅味あり - Kenzen ni te gami ari. A fine work in good condition 昭和囗囗初夏 - Showa ?? shoka. Showa ? early summer 公囗誌 - Kimi ? shirusu

There is another possible reading for this mei = Seijō. Kiyonori is also possible. I'll have a flip through the books when I get back home to see if this mei matches anything. Edit: Actually I don't think YUKI is a possible reading. Did you get 清 for the first kanji? If so, you would be looking for either Seijō or Kiyonori. If you got YUKI, then you probably have this kanji mistaken for something else.

乗 It is very stylized in the mei, as these things usually are. You don't see any resemblance? The left and right symmetry, the upper half of horizontal and vertical lines at right angles (this is stylized in your mei), and the lower half consisting of a vertical stroke flanked by two diagonal strokes.

Hint: Gotō family of metalworkers often used this in their names.

There is no annual tax imposed on an asset like this in Japan. There are storage requirements imposed on national treasures, so these storage requirements may be something of a burden. The usual capital gains taxes and inheritance taxes apply if/when ownership of the item is transferred. The amount mentioned is correct, but slightly less now in US$ due to the slight strengthening of the dollar vs. the yen in the past couple of weeks. Article in the local Jōetsu paper↓ https://www.joetsutj.com/articles/37390279 Edit: Just reading some of the comments in that paper...seems a lot of the local people are opposed to this purchase. One person questioning why the owner is selling the item instead of loaning it to the local museum, considering that up until now the owner loaned it to the Okayama museum.

For the tsuba I am tempted to say 光近 (Mitsuchika), of which there are three listed in Wakayama. My guess is that this is the third one listed (late Edo period metalworker). Steve

On the sword: 天照山鍛錬場作　　Tenshōzan tanrenjō saku see more info here →　http://ohmura-study.net/731.html

Maybe that was the process used here too, as apparently this sword is going to the municipal government in Jōetsu, Niigata.

Nitpicking: Chūkō-kaisan Also see here; https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=qdb7T5IrXtcC&pg=PT119&lpg=PT119&dq=ch%C5%ABk%C5%8D-kaisan&source=bl&ots=03O-67kYxa&sig=n-T5jAVtbfMNA9T5qMQXIjlV6nc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOpZyUl8zPAhVCHJQKHX8rC8MQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=ch%C5%ABk%C5%8D-kaisan&f=false

Just to clarify - it does indeed look like Gotō Denjō. 後藤伝乗 or 傳乗 using the traditional kanji. So in that sense the translation is accurate. As to authenticity of the thing, that is beyond me.

This is the "Kicho Ninteisho" paper. You can find out about it here on this site if you use the search function, or check out the link below http://www.nihontocraft.com/japanese_sword_papers.html This paper attributes the sword to Shintō Jyumyō.

Hello Ed 本籍山口県豊浦郡宇賀村 現在所天津特別市桃山街入 井上正雄 Address: Yamaguchi-ken, Toyoura-gun, Uga-mura Current Location: Tianjin City, Momoyama ? Inoue Masaō I have indicated in red those kanji for which the reading is unknown to me. The owner's personal name is Inoue Masa~, and the kanji is obscured by the fold in the tag, but I'm fairly certain it is 正雄 Masaō I've also left off the numbers of the address after Uga-mura. These should be fairly easy for you to pick out.

（藤）原兼永以耐錆鋼作之 (Fuji)wara Kanenaga taiseikō wo motte kore wo tsukuru Made with anti-rust steel by Fujiwara Kanenaga. The "Fuji" is not visible, but I suspect it is lurking under the tsuka. As usual, this is rendered in kanbun style. My transliteration may be slightly off - but it is close enough.

Ahh - funny, I was expecting a pictorial representation of Amaterasu... I didn't realize it was the actual words "Amaterasu Bodhissatva" arising from a lotus.

兼房　Kanefusa is another slight possibility. But I would lean towards Kanehiro. I'm not mega-confident in either of these. Now the sword has to tell you who made it. Tough for it to do when its out of polish. Edit: Looking at this on a better screen now... I doubt its Kanefusa. Still not confident about any of the possibilities so far.

Congratulations Brian. Great site, great effort, great resource, great contribution to the nihonto/tosogu world.

Michitaka from Chōshū is listed in Wakayama, so I'm liking the looks of that one. The Myōchin mei I feel confident that its intending to be Ki no Munetsugu, but there is no Munetsugu listed in Wakayama. I did find a few references to Myōchin Ōsumi no kami Ki no Munetsugu (same kanji) on the net, but they were mostly for auction sites. Wakayama says there were a lot of metalworkers of the Myōchin Ki branch who signed Mune~ (and then put their own kanji after the Mune). So I think if anyone has a comprehensive Myōchin lineage family try of the Ki branch, you might find Munetsugu listed there.

For the other, I would say 紀宗継 Ki no Munetsugu But I'm away from my books now, so I can't check on either of these. Will look later today.

長州住通高　Chōshū-jū Michitaka would be my guess. 　

I thought Hiro (廣), too.