nulldevice

Here are 2 Tokubetsu Juyo examples of signed Kunitsugu work, a tanto and a tachi

An excerpt from Hiroi Yuichi:

Pretty sure it says it’s a Hitstsura Wakizashi “minayaki” meaning tempered all over Hitatsura meaning a full tempered blade. Lots of good examples for hitatsura can be found here: https://www.nihonto-museum.com/collection/sagami-school-mainline/akihiro also see Masahiro, Hasebe Kunishige, etc.

4 kissaki included with 1 tachi!? Thats an incredible deal if I've ever seen one!

You should be able to figure this one out by yourself. The kanji are really easy kanji to see and draw and are commonly used with few strokes. I'd recommend https://kanji.sljfaq.org ...as well as "Translating Mei" tool we have here: It will only make you more capable if you do this yourself because you ask about a LOT of swords here and many of them have very easy mei to read.

Even drawing the kanji as you describe it (remember that many of these smiths have what we call "Chippy" mei where the strokes don't form perfect representations of the kanji that we see on the digital screen today (don't even get started with Japanese calligraphy...)), here are the results on a very good "Handwritten Kanji" deciphering tool. The top result is still "Nori" and the other matches don't really make sense as they aren't used for names with only some appearing as parts of places or titles. Here is a thread with a mei from Tsukahara Kanetsugu, in this case the Kane is exactly what we'd expect from that Mino style and you'll see it everywhere. Once you recognize it, there is nothing mistakable about it: And another Kanetsugu:

It’s definitely not Kanetsugu. Mino smiths had a very distinctive way they wrote the Kane 兼 kanji and this looks nothing like that. Noritsugu looks correct.

祐國 - Sukekuni

Shintogo Kunimitsu 新藤五国光 The date looks to be Showa 2, 12th month (December 1313): 正和二年十二月

Looks like a great show Sam! I'm still hoping to make Vegas show this year! We'll see how the newly inbound family member will be coming along around that time!

That book is the Japanese (Original) version of "The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords (刀剣鑑定読本) by Kokan Nagayama. Its English translation is one of the most common books for sword collecting and comes highly recommended here.

You are correct the TH papers state den Hasebe Kuninobu and not Kunishige. I think that blunder with Aoi should be corrected but you did your due diligence and found the misattribution. There are 3 Mumei Hasebe Kuninobu in that database, 2 with den attributions and 1 TH with a direct attribution to Kuninobu. The 2 den Kuninobu are both Juyo daito, and the first makes mention of Kunishige and says: "Kuninobu is said to have been either the younger or older brother of Kunishige, and many works show the style of Hasebe Kuninobu. Among his works, suguha pieces can also be seen, and three signed tachi are extant." I believe this comment about 3 tachi being extant is now outdated as this came from Juyo 20 and there is another zaimei tachi from Juyo 21, and 1 other Tokubetsu Hozon zaimei tachi listed as well. I suppose the 3 that were being discussed in this explanation are the JuBi Tachi, the one in Shizutani Jinja, and another Juyo/TJ blade from Juyo 16. (Thanks to Jussi again for the data here!) The Juyo 43 den Kuninobu says the following: "This is an ō-suriage mumei katana attributed to Hasebe Kuninobu. The Kyoto Hasebe school is considered a hitatsura group contemporary with Sōshū Kunishige and Akihiro, and Kuninobu is the representative figure. Kuninobu is known for his characteristic hamon composed of notare and gunome with yahazu (arrow-notch) tendencies. Suguha works are also seen among his pieces. In most cases, the Hasebe school shows a foundation of notare mixed with gunome and yahazu elements, displaying a gorgeous Sōshū style. This katana prominently displays these characteristics. The form is also typical of the Northern Court period, around the Enbun (延文, 1356-1361) and Jōji (貞治, 1362-1368) eras, making the attribution to Hasebe Kuninobu most appropriate." There is 1 other TH Mumei Hasebe Kuninobu listed in the database, but being TH, there is no more context on it.

Do you have pictures of the books in question?

I find this explanation of a Tokubetsu Juyo (Den Masamune) appropriate and fitting with the explanation by Hoshi and images above:

The blade looks to be signed Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro. A Shinto smith who signed in this grass style script. He’s also a Sai-Jo Saku smith so the likelihood of gimei is very very high.