tbonesullivan

Definitely Yoshiaki.

I have seen plenty of very old patinated blades, and plenty of WWII blades that barely have any oxidation. This just didn't look right. I can't see any traces of Yasurime, and the edges are not really straight. The Nakago-Jiri in particular just doesn't look shaped right.

This looks to be an old Naginata blade that was turned into a wakizashi, and the blade does look old and used, and like a lot of out of polish blades I have seen before. The characters on the tang are not ones I recognize at all. The fittings for the blade are also made from laminated wood, definitely not what I am used to seeing. The "duck" ornaments on the handle are definitely interesting.

I've seen two like this. Both were late war Showato dated during late 1944. Same "chippy" style markings on the tang as well. How does the rest of the blade look? Looks like the tang and habaki have some oxidation. 正 則 MASANORI was listed in the Seki Tanrensho Booklet printed in 1939. Real name 野呂 栄吉 - Noro Eikichi?? Kanji for the date are 昭 和 十 九 年 八 月 - Showa Era 19th Year, 8th Month August 1944.

That is what I was leaning towards, though there are the little 'arrow' shapes in the very tips of the groups of three. It's definitely an interesting hamon, that's for sure.

Do you have any better pictures of the MEI on the tang? It's not quite clear and the photo is relatively low resolution.

Yeah, well I also got it wrong. I haven't seen 元 used for "first year" before, and I haven't seen winter referred to in that way before. Of course I've only dealt with maybe a handful of zodiac dated swords, and they were almost always Showa era blades.

The last kanji I think is 中 which means "middle" or "central", so maybe the middle of the year? I assume that the two kanji before that are Zodiac markings, but I don't recognize the first one, unless that is 火, for Fire, though that is not the usual character used in the zodiac dates I have seen. The second looks to be 寅 Tora / Tiger. I could be totally off however. If it does read 慶應火寅, that would be for the zodiac year from 15 February 1866 to 4 February 1867. That would fit in with the era correctly, which only lasted May 1, 1865 to October 23, 1868.

This actually came out of a Type 98, and the blade is not signed, but it does look to have a very nice temper line. However, I can't really decide what shape it is. I thought maybe HAKO (box), but it also has some YAHAZU (notched) aspects. I know how hard these can be to describe, as well as to picture. I hope the pictures will suffice, as I don't have access to a real setup for properly photographing Japanese blades.

One of these days I'll get things right. Thanks so much! It's a shame the blade is in such poor shape.

This is a pretty small tanto, which has a lot of wear to the tang, so I was not able to get any truly clear photographs. As best I can tell, it reads KANE NAO SAKU - 兼 尚 作. However part of me thinks maybe the second character is 周 CHIKA or something else. I checked the photos and there are no lines / markings that are missed in them, but due to the wear some may have worn away. Any help is most appreciated!

Definitely showato, and unfortunately the blade is more oxidized than the tang. Stains all over.

Thanks so much! Never really seen a Seki like that, but these "chippy" signatures always seem to confuse me.

Haven't had a chance to look at many tangs lately, so I must be getting rusty. I've tried even drawing this one out in the Kanji finder, and have not had any luck. Last two Kanji I am pretty sure are 正 作 (MASA SAKU), but the first one is eluding me. I went through the oshigata I have access to, and did not find anything that matches. It's got a nice arsenal stamp on it, though the blade itself is almost completely stained. Looks like an arsenal blade. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately it is long gone, and I didn't check the mune for a number stamp.