Mark

nakago looks poorly finished, yasuri sloppy, mei not that well done. maybe a "factory" blade signed by someone who is not known

tsuba should be worth $100-200 even if the blade has no value

where are you located? maybe one of us are nearby and can look at it and give you an idea of the quality and that may help decide

Konrad wish you the best on buying it. You asked about the damage. In my OPINION this is clearly damage done by Americans, the vets often played sword fighting on the boring long ship ride home, also many were abused after they got home. A Japanese may nick a sword in battle but would never abuse it as in this example......... at least that is based on what i have seen and heard. No problem from my end about where you placed the inquire, your title stated what you wanted and i was happy to give you the name.

ichihara nagamitsu -- you can find a lot about him on the net

looks like maker is Ujisada but i twisted my neck looking at the pictures so did not check the rest

one part seems to read May 1954 (but not written as a Japanese would)

Soshu Ju HIROmitsu -- i think

try Kuniiye there is a lot of information available about him, but i will let you have fun doing some research

looks nothing like either reference, spacing between 2 kanji of Yamato clearly different than references, Masa and Nori not close (at least to me)

i agree

picture or link to one?

John i think there was a thread in the past about books, you might try a search. Sword says Ichiryushi saku, check R Steins website he has a bunch of info on him, look under Nagamitsu

Bizen Osa..... so it is Bizen Osafune, makers name is cut off

if a saya has been repaired (even years ago) with some type of modern glue it is possible it is giving off fumes or something that will damage the blade

don't know much about these but the "kanji" inside look a bit like Masakiyo, i guess you have already checked that

Louis, Thanks for the kind thought. I agree with Eric, if the person posts a "wanted" ad and gives us an idea what he is looking for and price range I, and others, will surely post what we have taht might fit his needs

army officer's sword, blade made by Masahiro. Probably not hand made from Tamahagane but is tempered so may be good Showato

i thinkthe sword is genuine. It looks like an older blade, probably cut down. It is hand made and probably 250+ years old. The parts are genuine and antique but nothing special. It is hard to say value from a few pictures. Can't say is retempered, or if it has hagire etc. If it were offered for sale "as is" from the pictures shown i would think it would bring $4-800, but it could be a very old naginata-naoshi and worth a lot more, or it could be a retempered blade with an hagire and worth the value of the parts (couple of hundred). Where are you located? maybe you could atttend a club meeting or bring it to a future show

Brian I came across a set of Elephant menuki, they are the first i have seen. I listed them for sale on eBay, check them out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT any comments, good or bad welcome

re: movie clip....... i think they are trying to show that he cut a slash through the side on the draw and ended with the sword at the back.

the pictures in the eBay auction show additional ware'. The shinogi line appears to be rouned off so maybe it was "cleaned" or polished by an amatuer. the seller seems to be up front showing the poor condition.

has the temper been treated with acid? it has a strange look as it nears the hamachi, it is not a natural change in the temper, must be due to something the polisher did, but looks strange

if it were a Rai blade, or Hosho school etc it may be somewhat common....... but even so would reduce the value. As you say it may be Bizen then the only reason to forgive it is if it were definatly a Kamakura blade and priced with the flaw considered

En-po may have started as late as december 1673 (death) so 1673 before that would be Kanbun 13......... remember too that news took longer to travel to distant parts (not the case here )