Okan

So true.

Looks 備陽長船住 But somethings wrong with the signature..Gimei or not I like it

Yup..chinese..sorry

Non taken. But please, first thing you have to do is to enjoy it. You have an authentic Japanese Sword. Being older doesn't make it more precious or more expensive. As I said, it's not easy to age by their pictures. The last picture you shared looks Kanbun, but your is not *that straight. Which is fine, unless the seller advertised it as a Kanbun. That rust on nakago doesn't seem very dark to me..(again, might be the pictures) So koto is out of the question.. I also don't know why it has 3 mekugi-ana...perhaps someone wanted to make it look older than it is? So my bet will be early to late shinshinto... Attaching a shinshinto nakago..In shinshinto period, they made koto looking blades in different shapes.

When you ask a question, what else you expect to hear? It's not easy to age swords by their photos.

Here is a Kanbun...

I don't think this is a Kanbun blade, it should have been more straight... My guess would be early shinshinto or late shinto, by the color of the rust....Also the tip of the nakago definitely had a slight touch to fit the new tsuka..

Scratches..noticing hagiri would be much easier as it looks more like a crack.

It is postponed to July 2023

Maybe?

Here is a Wakizashi @Bruce Pennington 山城守藤原國清 - Yamashiro no Kami Fujiwara Kunikiyo 寛文六年五月四曰 - Kanbun 6th year, 5th month, 4th day 山野加右衛門尉永久 - Yamano Kaemon no Jô Nagahisa 貳ッ胴截断- “Cut through two torsos with one stroke”

I was also a bit obsessed about this some time ago. Tried different microfiber and different white shirts on different blades..Ended up using a quality Vinyl cleaning cloth..And bought a couple meters of Flannel cloth from a fabric shop..made little pieces for oiling the blade.. So my cleaning routine is: Using %97 alcohol with face cleaning cotton patch..microfiber to clean leftover %3 water..very light choji with flannel cotton..and 3 times kleenex.. Samurai is leaving the castle and heading back to his house under a heavy rain..all his cloths and his daisho are soaking wet..When he's home, he gives his swords to his wife..she dries the saya with a (probably dirty) cloth..They eat dinner...Then he decides to clean his blades....according to some old documents, what he actually did was to clean the blades with cotton cloth patch, one round of Uchiko, and same cotton cloth again.next to a gas lamp so it was pretty dark...(I'm sure they would only use microfiber instead of uchiko if they had one) and of course, no oiling as they were literally using these blades..choji was used by swordsmiths on summer times and only for the blades in shirasaya..and of course, after polish.. These are antiques now and some of us have four-five figure blades..but why do we have to clean them so often..You can oil the blades in shirasaya once a year(maybe 2 if you live in India or some very humid place)... and use a piece of kleenex after appreciation..We are doing more harm than good if we clean/oil them too often..Just leave them in peace..they won't get rusted..

Thank you @Bruce Pennington!! I already did but seems like he never used saku at the end.

First time seeing this thought I should share it. Made by Gassan Sadakazu. https://www.rct.uk/collection/62630/field-marshals-sword-gensuito-scabbard-and-case

Will appreciate if you can take a look. Thanks a lot!

Inside the hole lacquerware seems pretty damaged..so it must have been used but for what

@Grevedk By auction house you mean ebay? Isn't this the same sword with different papers? (Photoshopped I presume) https://www.ebay.nl/itm/185399711684?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11051.m43.l1123&mkcid=26&ch=osgood&euid=eae051632503471a80e8ed622a4cddd1&bu=45209607582&osub=-1~1&crd=20220501030930&segname=11051&sojTags=ch%3Dch%2Cbu%3Dbu%2Cosub%3Dosub%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

Yeah Jean, it sadly does..

I was wondering if anyone saw anything like this before..I'm sure there must be a reason for this ugliness but I couldn't come up with anything...

Hmm..

Sword is not papered so I wanted to ask for your opinion if you think it's gimei or not. Thank you!

Thank you!!!

Hello, Can you please help me out on this. (Don't ask about the condition of the tang, not my blade..but someone cleaned it good and tried to re-rust maybe? ) Thank you!

Wow. Great info. What a history..Thanks a lot Ian!

Made using an early 17th century German Solingen blade, re-shaped and re-tempered in Japan in the Japanese style. The scabbard is encased in colourful Dutch leather (goudleer), while a golden mon (Japanese heraldic crest) embellishes the surface. This three-circle motif was associated with the powerful Matsura clan. They governed the island of Hirado, which provided a base for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) until 1641. This blade may have been gifted to the Matsura family by Dutch traders seeking their good will. Indeed, the goudleer on the scabbard might be an indication that the VOC commissioned the whole weapon as a novelty presentation piece, combining Japanese and Dutch elements. Alternatively, a Solingen sword may have been independently acquired and adapted to suit Japanese taste, with the goudleer serving to emphasise its unusual nature.