Ray Singer

I missed the third column earlier but it appears to be a special order inscription. 為堀祐明造之

And dated a day in the 8th month of Bunka 8.

Mei - Bizen (no) kuni ju Osafune Sukesada saku Date - Genki san nen hachi gatsu kichi jitsu (a lucky day in August, 1572)

Thomas, here is the bio from Markus Sesko on this smith. NORIMITSU (徳光), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Iwate – “Ōshū Gose-jū Minamoto Norimitsu kore o saku” (奥州御所住源徳光作之), real name Yasumoto Tokusada (安本徳定), he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō

The sword was not used for any kind of martial arts practice since it was last restored. What you were seeing is uchiko type scratches. Regardless, please contact the present owner if you have any further questions on the sword. Best regards, Ray

There were no issues with the blade and certainly no hagire (please look at the listing, the blade has NBTHK kanteisho which wouid not be the case with a hagire). The seller explained above that he needed to sell due to unexpected financial needs.

Japanese Kanban (signs for storefronts) were an art in their own right.

Appears to read Sadayoshi (貞吉).

Bosco, it is extremely difficult to give a value on something based on low resolution photos. You can do some competitive shopping by searching online and see what similar pieces have sold for, to provide a general range of pricing for the work of an individual. However there are so many subtle details that can affect and greatly reduce value, including flaws that are not easily seen in a photograph. One thing I will say from your photos is that the blade appears to have quite coarse jihada, which may be a bit worrying given that Hizen-to tend to have thin kawagane (skin steel) and this may indicate other condition issues with the blade. My suggestion if you are interested in Hizen-to is to study first about the school and come to understand what is desirable about the work of specific smiths. You'll find an excellent website at hizento.com that provides a high level overview of the school. The gentleman who runs it, Roger Robertshaw, is also one of the most knowledgeable individuals outside of Japan on the topic of Hizen-to. Good luck with your studies and your next acquisition.

Matt, this board is an amazing source of information. Please see below. https://www.google.c...rome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Ietsugu. There were a number of individuals who signed with this inscription. Your blade appears to be Shinto (early Edo period). https://nihontoclub....contains&mei=Ietsugu

The smith name may be Kanetoshi. Not sure off hand with the upper portion is

Look into the WWII smith Fukumoto Kanemune. https://www.google.c...=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

Signed Kanemune

https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/NOB174

Kurihara Chikuzen (no) kami Nobuhide Keio gannen hachi gatsu hi

https://www.google.c...rome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

This is the gunto smith ido Hidetoshi. You can find many references to this individual searching of the board here.

Showa ju roku nen shogatsu (January, Showa 16)

Perhaps 以餅鐵盛岡住山内藤源國多作 - Motte Mochitetsu Morioka ju Yamauchi Fujiwara Kunikazu saku

Echizen ju Kanesada Province = Echizen Swordsmith = Kanesada

I provided the translation below previously on your Facebook posts and identified this in my response as a Type 3 koshirae. Is there something further you are looking for? Noshu ju Kanetoshi October, 1943

All types of strange things were done post-war. It is likely this is the same, a post-war modification. That said, the tsukamaki looks like the type we see in Satsuma rebellion koshirae and the habaki may date from that same time (it appears to be a makeshift piece formed out of a wrapped band of metal).

Nicholas, this looks like an excellent sword and Kawano Sadashige did impressive work. Beautiful type 3 koshirae as well. Congratulations and please take good care of this one.

In many cases, I believe the authors likely interfaced directly with collectors/owners to obtain the oshigata they wanted to represent in their references. They may have done the oshigata themselves hands-on to control quality (or arranged for a specific individual do so so for the entire reference for consistency).