ChrisW

See that bamboo pin on the side of the handle (tsuka)? Push it out from the smaller side with something flat about the same size. That little bamboo pin is the only thing that holds the entire assembly together. Make sure to put all the parts back on in the order they were removed! IF the pin breaks apart, that is okay. It can be easily replaced by a chopstick whittled to size.

Authentic but it has been messed with by someone who thought to 'improve' the sharpness or appearance of the blade by treating it like a western sword and grinding it. The nice habaki and decent mounts suggest it could be worth putting it in front of a professionally trained Japanese polisher (togishi). Do not let anyone who isn't trained as a togishi touch it for that purpose.

The intention was to deceive a potential buyer for profit. Don't worry! You've not wasted anyone's time if you're learning from this.

A Chinese fake, there is nothing here to suggest it is of Japanese craftsmanship.

Almost certainly Chinese fakery. The mei is complete jibberish. The nakago treatment is all wrong, the machi do not line up, etc etc. Edit: also looking at pictures of the 'hada' suggest this is some kind of Damascus/etched metal, which is not how the Japanese did theirs. Stay far away from this one. Start with some books and attend some local sword club meetings/shows if possible!

Tokio Takahara is the owner's name I believe. I haven't been able to find any information on him yet, so I believe I'll need to reach out to the Japanese Consulate in Chicago. Something to the effect of "For the frontline of the Asian holy war of Unification" I believe.

And a few more (we're still working on the photography):

@KungFooey As promised, here are some photos of my Yasuhiro after polish. This blade has both the smith's name, a patriotic quote inferring a year, as well as the owner's name.

I have one of his blades. Our token kai meeting is this Saturday, so I will hopefully have some nice pictures to post soon. Freshly polished!

I never once indicated that there were not artisans capable of such work in China. My phrasing was to indicate that the vast majority of nihonto-like items that come out of China are of generally low quality and typically carry many obvious identifiers of fakery and deception. The above item, regardless of its origin, it is a nice piece of work. The issue with said item above would be when an owner would attempt to sell and pass it off as a genuine article (as was probably the case with the tachi you mentioned -- until it was discovered by someone there at Sotheby's). You are making an assumption of someone whom you do not know and it isn't very flattering I'm afraid. And usually, folk here are quite upfront about giving at least a few reasons why something might be considered a fraudulent item; unless the fear of improving the fakery is a substantial issue. I would just take the compliment for your acquisition of an interesting curio piece, which is what the original comment was meant to be for.

Regardless of it being Chinese, the work is quite nice. I like it!

Nakago looks way too long for a tanto. The bohi is running through the boshi which suggests that this is the bottom half of a broken blade. And lastly, with the scrubbed nakago, there isn't much left of this piece. And as Ray points out with the tsuba, this makes me feel that there isn't much of value here in my eyes. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

We all chuckle at this, but a known member here got yelled at by a polisher for doing this to a few blades at the Indiana Token Kai section of the Chicago Show a few years ago (said person shall remain unnamed, but they know who they are). I was about to say something halfway across the table aisle before said polisher got to him. Seems like etiquette can never be taught and enforced enough!

How is it dead Jacques? It is certainly tired and overpolished, but I don't see any apparent fatal flaws. I suppose unless you count core steel as fatal.

Yikes. That's all I've got to say on it.