Kirst

That was my thought. ....bang on swordguyjoe

Thanks heaps for all the help. Just thought pop back and let you know how I went. Andrew got back to me and agreed with you all that it is signed kunitoshi but not the kunitoshi. Andrew couldn't see any arsenal marks ao said there is a chance that it could be genuine but would need to have it in hand or possibly polish a window. I had also contacted a markus sesko who got back to me with this. However, it is not Rai Kunitoshi in his earlyer Nijimei phase but a WWII smith with that name, most likely the work of the Kunitoshi whose real name was Mori Kunimatsu. He was from Gifu and was born in 1914. There were three more smiths active at that time who signed with Kunitoshi - Nigara Hiroshi, Fujimura Matsutaro, and Enju Kunitoshi - but their signature style differs from your blade and therefore I think it we are facing a work of Mori Kunimatsu alias Kunitoshi. Best regards, Markus I have a new found love of Japanese swords now, I had no idea the complexity behind them. I take my hat off to all who study this acient art and now complete understand how addictive it can get. I have 2 other Japanese swords I might look into now, much newer ones. Also like to say thanks to bazza for the info and amazing offer. Kirsty

Have made contact with andrew. Thanks heaps everyone.

Yes i am aware of the cherry blossom but it is not where it should be and also not dated at all and all of the writing down the blade. I will wait till I can take it somewhere.

I put the signature in the translation section yesterday asking for mai to be translated and two guys came back with kunitoshi.

We are about 3 hour out of melbourne. So does andrew do appraisals? It has no arsenal stamps other then the cherry blossom under the mai.

Ray I made contact with the embassy and they could only help us if we wanted to donate it back to the family. Where abouts is andrew lckeringill?

Joe if you could pass on details that would be great.

Okay I did post pic on here just before every thing got wiped. And 2 people agreed ot was kunitoshi. I am not concerned if it is genuine or not as I know where it has been the last 60+ years. Just need info or contacts please. I added pic to original post. Sorry it took a bit when I upload here it makes me take the pic not upload from gallery. So it took awhile to get decent pics. Tried to capture markings on blade.

Hi I really need help!! Was doing some research on an old katana that my grandfather had accepted during the surrender from a Japanese general in paua. Well OMG!! what we have is a niji kunitoshi 2 mai tatchi/katana not sure. What makes it even more interesting is that it has alot of encryption down the blade which is unfortunately in bad shape so hard to read. How amazing!!!! Mind blow aside......where do I go? What do I do? Appraisal, insurance, national treasure listing?? Really confused and not sure who to reach out to and feel I am not taken seriously. Thanks in advance.