W K Clifford

In this sort of text I do not think there are perceptible differences between Japanese and Chinese. Grammars are based on ancient Chinese and contents are buddist teachings. it is not unlike the theological texts written in Latin by the monks in the middle ages in Europe. I'd more or less agree with John's translation of 滿目非, but its subtext means that the world is in peril or in chaos. The 輪三十 part is hard. but it should not mean "look thirty times". it could simply mean, actually, pray thirty times, since 輪 or 法輪 has something to do with praying. Or it could mean have this peril or suffering over and over for thirty times. this makes sense since this is buddist teaching. or, maybe the Loatze reference above is what it aims at, since Zen does take strongly after Daoism. what do you think?

I thought the Kunishege always signed Hasebe Kunishige

yes, if you have better pictures to be honest, the blade does not look too good. nor do the tsubas...

志津三郎兼氏作 Shizu Saburo Kaneuji saku wow! Is it for sale?

There were a lot of smiths whose mei contained the kanjis "Kunishige"(國重), but were there any who signed with just "Kunishige" ？any sample mei?

how does one go around to find a 栗原信秀 sword? :?

well, the discussion is getting profound here, man. I suggest to put the punctuation in the middle: 滿目非，輪三十 but this sort of thing is meant to be vague...

thank you for the explanation, Jean. i was , of course, being sarcastic. If the two numbers are correct, ain't no god damn way this blade is genuine, because Morita-san's number was obtained in modern time and since then probability of any alternation of the nakago is practically zero.

does this mean the blade is o-suriage now？ :D :D :D :D :D

備州住吉光 you need to post more pictures of the blade.

interesting.....never seen such thing before. the smith actually tells you a lot of things concerning the making of this sword.

does it say on the other side of the nakago 武田信玄常所用格虎大刀？ :D i don't think even Morita san or Moriyama san will get the joke (since that requires knowledge of a recent scandalous archaeological excavation in China, allegedly, of the tomb of THE most famous warlord in Chinese history)

the shape of the nakago is very strange. or am I just being a rube? mei: 甲斐國甲府住金火山昭廣南蠻鐵[ ]鍛之

大森英滿 (name) 謹 (with respect) 鐫 (carved it)

Thank you, Morita san.

Thank you all for the comments. Very helpful. This little thing turns out to be much better than I expected. Will post more pictures later. Guess it is hard to determine its age without better pictures, right? The blade, though poor, is pre-Edo.

where is the blade?

I did not get it from ebay. I got it from a local auction. But of course it is possible that someone got it from ebay then sold it at that auction. That someone is perhaps also a member of this forum...

Thank you for the kind words, Ron and Mark. I myself am not knowledgeable to be so definite. That is not my verdict, that is master Bob Benson's. I sent it along with a good sword of mine (初代法城寺正弘, sorry, cannot help bragging about it) to master Bob and he did not think it was worth his time. Here are his own words: A few more pictures:

Thank you for the wonderful comments, Bob, mark, and Ron. Even in its heydays I don't think Pittsburgh steel was good enough for nihonto, let alone now! The tsuba is not with me at the moment. I will post closeup pictures of it as soon as I get it back. The only other picture I have is attached. The blade it came with is also pictured, which is about two feet long and, perhaps you cannot see it here, is in poor condition.

I have had this for a while. It came with a crappy sword. Not sure about the age / quality of this tsuba though. Any comment on it is appreciated.

"Ghost dog: the way of the samurai" is a good movie, man. Not Jarmusch's best, but unique in his oeuvre. It needs multiple viewings for someone who likes films (for someone who likes the samurai it is not required at all). I also highly recommend Yoji Yamada's The Twilight Samurai (the fighting scenes are the most realistic involving nihonto i have seen), sort of the antithesis to the romanticization of the samurai.

already got a better picture from the seller these are not random scratches or a poorly done gimei. It does look like someone tried to remove them. I would guess the first kanji is 勘 and the second 真. actually there seems to be more below the second kanji, but those are impossible to make out.

By "you" of course i mean all of you who have seen or owned such excellent blades by unknown smiths. One thing particularly frustrating for us beginners is that there are not enough pictures in these standard reference books. You see, subjective description works only if you already know what it is supposed to be describing. Not all of us get the chance to go to the nihonto museum in Tokyo or even the shows in the US. Ultimately one's understanding relies on the standard samples one's seen in shows or, more conveniently, in books, over the years. So why do the standard reference books contain such a meager collection of pictures? It is like writing about a painting without even showing you what the painting looks like. Certainly it is not hard to include, say, one picture for each type of hada (or better, three pictures showing the varying qualities). There must be an online database for these things, right? (not just for mei!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270647194493 there does seem to be strokes on the nakago, in fact one can almost make out the second character, either 真 or 奧. But what is it so faint? Did someone try to remove it, you think? any thoughts?