Markus

The name on the backside seems to be "Ryûsô" (竜叟), a gô of Tanaka Kiyotoshi. As the workmanship is of this school too, I tend to think that Yuiga Kazumichi (唯我一道) was maybe an otherwise not recorded Tanaka student

Hawley lists a "Masayasu" (應保) MAS1763 but as Ko-Bizen smith. The tang is clearly from a later Muromachi-period Bizen blade. Maybe the smith is just "meikan-more" (銘鑑漏れ), i.e. "not in the lists".

There are older, nowadays rather unused characters for "shû" (州), "province". For example: But I bet the second one is "nai" as in "Kinai": 記内

Lions Club :D http://heiwa-lc.sakura.ne.jp/

Yep, surely not a perfect zôgan design. For the purpose of comparison, two other Umetada-tsuba with the round-square-round concept. Both are signed "Umetada" to the right, and "Myôju" to the left of the seppa-dai. Please take a look at the raimon-zôgan along the rim. Its hard to say of there was such a zôgan on the piece in question or if this part was accentuated only by carvings?

I strongly assume that there was originally more zôgan on this one. The aesthetical concept of this interpretation was already introcuded by the Ko-Shôami group. It is based on a contrast of round (the shape of the tsuba), angular (the masume), and round (the tsuka/saya) when worn. This concept got later a lyrical name when adopted by the Higo artists, namely "sugimori-hôen" (杉森方円), meaning about "cedar forst in an square" (see pic below). Otherwise it is just called "masume" (枡目), "measure" or "square". Or take a look at this link, a nice example for a typical Higo-koshirae: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/sword/10 ... nemoto.htm

Wow, 100 bucks per half a page! Maybe I should raise my charges :D

播姫臣伊勢城美守造 Banki no shin Ise-jô Yoshimori zô Made by Ise-jô Yoshimori, retainer of the Himeji-fief of Harima province. 元治元年五月日 Genji gannen gogatsu-hi A day in the fifth month of the first year of Genji (= 1864).

As seen in the cc list, some other of this board have received this mail too. Someone (email kept confidential but its ridiculous anyway) wants to sell a katana by Higo Kawachi no Daijo Fujiwara Masahiro in gunto mounts. So far so good. Asked price: TEN MILLION DOLLARS (US $ 10,000,000) Plus superb nonsense descriptions like "This is ONLY 100 katana in THE WHOLE WORLD".

It is a sayagaki by Tanobe-sensei and mentions: "Bingo no Kuni Ko-Mihara The blade is ô-suriage and mumei but the jiba shows the characteristical features of this school very well. Production time is the Nanbokuchô period. Blade length 2 shaku 3 sun ? bu Date seems to be kanoe-tora (= 2010)" Errors excepted due to the quality of the pic

The nagasa in combination with the fact that the blade is ubu or only slightly shortened speaks for the later Tenbun-period Masumori. But because of the somewhat elongated kissaki, I would place it a little later, i.e. to the end of the Muromachi period. Other opinions warmly welcomed :D

Can you provide some measurements of the blade (nagasa, motohaba ...).

The name is read as "Senpu". It refers directly to the jôka-machi of the Sendai fief, i.e. the area around Sendai Castle (where the government "fu" [府] of the fief was located).

Hi Dave, Yes, "Harima no Kuni Suzuki Gorô´emon no Jô Munehide" and the dates are correct.

Thank you for the update Morita-san. I only checked good´ol Hawley. Mea culpa.

Stephen is correct. The full mei reads: "Harima no Kuni Suzuki Gorô´emon no Jô Muneyoshi" 播磨国鈴木五郎右衛門尉宗榮 He worked between Kanbun (1661-1673) and Genroku (1688-1704) in Harima province. Subsequent generations Muneyoshi worked there until the end of Edo period.

Unfortunately the sword exhibition was only three days. Bad luck because I am in Amsterdam this Wednesday and Thusday. Well, a miss is as good as a mile...

Seems to be "Masumori saku" 増守作 Hawley lists a Bingo-Masumori group working in late Nanbokuchô, and a Bungo-Masumori group for the end of the Muromachi period. The shape of the entire blade would reveal more about the time of production.

Hi Todd, your tantô is signed "Mago´emon", the "Mago" character is just a bit weaker than the others. Great pics btw.

My pre-WM bet is still in the race: Finals Argentina - Netherlands :D I want to see Maradona holding this golden thing one more time in his hands...

Does anybody want to browse through the NMB in WM style? http://www.vuvuzela-time.co.uk/www.militaria.co.za/nmb/

At a glance, I thought about this reading too, but then the smith in question would be "meikan-more", i.e. not listed in any references. I also thought about "Masayuki" (当之) but ditto. Minamoto Moriyuki on the other hand is listed, and the artistic period is about matching. That´s why I tend towards Moriyuki.

Seems to be Minamoto Moriyuki. 源守之 Hawley MOR454.

I don´t want to go into detail about mizukage but as Franco suggested, you have to be careful at which blade you see one. A mizukage is regarded as characteristical feature for example of Ko-Ichimonji or Ko-Bizen (although it is not a must). As for me, if I had the money, I would buy it at a glance. Great piece of history too...

I think it oversea orders should be fine (at least it works to Japan;). But if anybody is interested and the ordering does not work, he can also get a copy from me personally (to be paid via PayPal + shipping).