SmilodonCinder

Thank you all very much! Any thoughts on what that menuki could represent?

That's interesting, because another fellow told me that I should have it polished before having it formally identified. He also mentioned the polish could be concealing the true hamon. (Remember I'm a rank amateur at these things!)

Well, thank you all. I think my next step will be to try to take it to a live show somewhere, then get it polished up somewhere in the U.S. It's a shame someone trimmed the tang. Maybe it was to make it easier to use? And SteveM: Thank you very much in particular for the comment on the glitter. I always looked at that and thought "Well, if it has glitter on it, it can't be THAT old." Nice to know what it could have been from!!

Thank you for the advice. It turns out that I am an abominable photographer. I have attached some new ones that I tried to shoot; two on both sides. But I'll see if my husband can do better tomorrow.

Thanks very much! I will try to take some new photos tomorrow if you think they might help. The one in those photos certainly seems to be better-maintained than mine. For my reference, is there anything in particular that I should try to capture, other than trying to emulate some of those photos? I'd really like to have the handle fixed. The hole in the handle doesn't seem to line up with the hole in the tang of the blade.

Thank you! That's very interesting. It's sort of what I was leaning towards: "Well, if it's a counterfeit, it's an old one." And I am now learning how many different "Kane-somethings" there were. How embarrassing. Thank you for pardoning my amateur status!

Thank you, I sure appreciate your thoughts! I am a complete novice here, and I don't want to dominate your time or anything. But I guess here's just a couple more questions: Would it really be possible to authenticate a blade with only a fragment of a kanji? And -- any ideas what the symbols carved into the wood of the handle could mean? One pair of them looks like "jyuu-nin" to me, but I can't figure out what the others could be.

Would I want to have the handle repaired before doing something formal like that?

Good Morning/Evening, While searching the internet for tips on identifying katana, I found some good sword identification threads here, and I thought I would make an account on Reddit and see if anyone could assist me. A helpful person referred me here for more information. I am not an expert on katana terminology, nor a great photographer, so please bear with me. I have uploaded the photographs to a shared Drive folder here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lei3ZyuvpQ5YgIBrrN-NRb9wxW0zKYD0. And I've attached to this post a photo of the katana as a whole. Here's what I know (or think I know): I inherited the sword from my grandfather, who acquired it during or shortly after World War II. If my memory holds, he told me that he traded for it on the black market in the Asia-Pacific area, possibly in or near Shanghai. Judging from the tang of the blade, it appears to have been shortened at some point. The very top of a mei signature is still visible, and it appears to be the first character of a Kanemoto mei. (See the photo for a close-up. Google image search provided several examples for comparison.) The top of the handle has some markings cut into the wood. I believe I know what some of them mean, but not others. Any ideas? The handle no longer fits the tang correctly. I've always dreamed of having it fixed. Any advice on where to look for someone with the skill to do that? Several of the pictures are close-ups of the menuki under the wrappings. Any idea what it could be? I can't tell what it's supposed to represent. Do you think it would be worth seeing if someone can confirm it as a real Kanemoto piece? If so, any idea where to start with that? Thanks all for any thoughts!