John Miller

I see other Ishihara Naotane signatures and that looks spot on. Really great info, thanks!

I found this sword at a local auction, The scabbard is the usual army officer style mountings, But the handle and tsuba look unusual. Was wondering if I could get any help with a translation and marking identification, Seki mark? Thanks!

Thanks for Information, Has far as I can tell the sword is in nice most likely restorable condition. It does have small nicks, along with a "casting" flaw about half up, The weather is horrid here right now and think outside is my best chance to get some larger pictures. I have owned a few swords before this but I am completely floored that this one seems to have been made in 1500s.

I have translated the data on other nco/gunto swords to 1943 and the like but when I tried with this one and came out with Tensho, I thought I was making a mistake. The blade is in okayish condition, Some small nicks, but better then most the others I have. All of my books deal with the more modern period, Is there a book or site I should be looking at for the Tensho era?

This is my first time posting, I have bought a few Japanese swords in the past and found lot of great info on this site. With my newest sword I am kinda at a dead end, I am familiar with the most common showa/arsenal markings but have been unable to figure out much of anything about this sword. It was in shin gunto mounts that seem to be of really nice quality, It a good bit shorter then my other military swords and I suppose it is wakizashi length. I can provide any extra pictures that would help. Thanks for your help.