Bugyotsuji

Not mid-September again?

Are you sure that reads Harushige? Not saying that it isn't, but did you find examples of non-standard versions of "-shige" like that? The cut of the nakagojiri looks to be iriyamagata, said to be Yamato, then Hokurikudo and (later) Shinto, according to Nagayama Kokan. The choice of tsuba gives me a Mino feel to the package. Love the moon above the clouds.

Do you mean two different sets of characters? The top one is kind of double-stamped but I get a feeling of 長春 Choshun in the Japanese reading, Changchun in Chinese.(?)

You could also look at this another way. When did they start coating wooden saya with lacquer? The question is asked here: https://intojapanwaraku.com/rock/craft-rock/45531/ Part of 小菅さんの the expert's answer is that some very old sword furnishings in the famous Shoso-in storehouse are lacquered, and that was in order to preserve the wood. Conversely, the article says that uncoated wooden saya have not survived well because of their fragility compared with the iron blade. So it could be that some form of wooden saya, if not quite the refined 朴の木 hou-no-ki magnolia saya that we are used to seeing today, was used before anything else, or at least in parallel with other possible materials.

三つ柏 check out the famous Makino Daimyo family ‘Mitsu-gashiwa’ mon. https://www.google.com/search?q=牧野氏　家紋&client=safari&sca_esv=a9f1afb3224ba41e&hl=en-gb&ei=2b1baIz3IPbq1e8P9rn0gQs&oq=牧野氏　家紋&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhLniafph47msI_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&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

Ah, ok, then in that case, as others have said above, go for it!!! (The wait will be exciting, and don't forget to let us know the result! )

The best 'they' have. So you don't actually have it? Is it in Japan, and would you be able to ask them to submit it for NBTHK shinsa for you? If you have the patience, time and money, then sure, why not submit it to the NBTHK? If the same attribution comes back, that would make the attribution super solid. (Sometimes an unexpected result comes back, but in this case you don't think it will.) As Jussi says, you could always throw away the result if you don't like it. Ultimately 'gold standard' NBTHK papers tend to hold a little more weight amongst potential buyers, if resale is what you are worrying about. If you are confident in the blade, though, that is the most important thing.

Shoami perhaps, though that last kanji… 正阿弥

Does a magnet stick to it?

That’s the reverse of the tsuba!

The Hachisuka family of Awa, Tokushima, were famous for this Kamon. One branch of the Hachisuka family used it in reverse. You can see examples of both in the Tokushima Prefectural Museum.

Next time around it’s a deal, Jussi. Great that you are able to travel on your own initiative like this. A mixed bag, but altogether worth it I am sure. Drop in for one of the local branch meetings of the NBTHK; Mr Koike always has special blades lined up for viewing.

You have to guess what Jacques above means by “should be”…

ChatGPT being diplomatic I see. Did you see where it found the information? (This NMB site is quoted as reference.)

Are they still running that chūmon-uchi exhibition at the Okayama Prefectural Museum? (With that Naginata; I also know where the other one is!) Wish I’d known you were going to be in Osafuné today, but it sounds as if you got along just fine anyway…

Blade overall shape. (Shapes of blades generally followed fashions down the centuries). Dale, if you can remove the hilt easily, please lay out the whole blade left to right and/or right to left for an overall balanced shot of it, including the tip of the blade and the bottom end of the nakago tang. PS When you handle it, use your fingers freely on the blackened tang, but do not touch the steel of the blade itself.

So strange. Never seen these before but there are three examples above so there must be more! Interesting…

Do you not see a hairline surface crack, Jean, propagating from NW to SE? If it was originally wider and more noticeable, then a hit below and a hit above might have closed it to almost invisible, i.e. Tagane usage for a different purpose, no? Gently squishing together. PS If you can’t see it, then maybe that proves it worked!!!

Looking again at that top photo, Paris, I wonder if those hits might have been to help close that spidery crack from the left edge?

Not my forte, but ‘attaining’ possibly? 福成? Fuku nari And this artisan for the Fuchi? Atsu- or Toku- oki??? (See Sasayama Tokuoki)

Remains of a 三五桐紋 3/5 paulownia crest mon top right, but heavily filed with rough rasp. Fairly generic tsuba, imho. Can it be narrowed down at all? I wonder…

Sadly Curran, that exhibition ended in April. It's Akabane blades now, till 13 July.

兼直 Kanenao 作 saku, but quickly and for that period somewhat fashionably cut.

久 vs 之 Well it could be read Nobuhisa (?) but the Mei is so corrupted. It gives me a stronger vibe of Nobuyuki 信之.

江州住信之 but that last kanji (?)造(?)