Need Help With Two Blades

[Sporkkaji]

I haven't been bitten by the Ebay bug for a long time now but I came across this listing for two bare out of polish blades found by the seller in a storage auction and I decided to grab them ($530 shipped). One of them looks to be a run of the mill gunto with a chippy mei and Seki stamp, but it's the other one that caught my eye as it's clearly never been mounted. I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on how unique it might be to find a blade with no mekugi ana? I'm guessing it probably wouldn't have been signed if there was a defect of some sort and the war may have ended before it was completed?

 

Any translation/date assistance or other relevant information would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[ROKUJURO]

C. Lewis (what is your first name please?),

the SEKI blade is signed KANE XX.

The other one seems to read TENSHIN (may be read differently) in TACHI MEI. The date is SHOWA 22. I cannot say if this one is a genuine Japanese blade. 

[SteveM]

The seki blade is 

囗藤井兼音作　　(?) Fujii Kaneoto Saku 

 

The date on the Tenshin blade could also be Showa 20. I think what looks like a 二 is actually part of 年. Like Jean, I have some doubts about the blade, or at least the signature.  

[george trotter]

Tenshin looks right.

Date is Showa 2 10 nen 1 gatsu lucky day...so Jan. 1945.

Mei looks well cut.

Don't know who made it but "no-mekugi-ana" blades have been seen before.

I would not dismiss it so quickly...may have some merit and be an interesting blade.

Just my opinion,

Regards,

[Sporkkaji]

C. Lewis (what is your first name please?)

Hi, first name is Cory.

Thanks to everyone for the info so far. I don't have them in hand yet so all I have are the photos from the listing. Here's one more if it might help.

[Stephen]

often shrine swords have no ana, heed GT's words not too dismiss 

[Sporkkaji]

Thanks, I'll update if I notice anything interesting once I'm able to inspect it.

[Bruce Pennington]

Any swordsmith experts know where Tenshin worked?

[Salvatori Moretto]

Would be great to see the end results of what you learn about that blade, as I was bidding on these also That whole missing ana and nice file marks/shape is what drew me to it also
-Sal

[Sporkkaji]

Would be great to see the end results of what you learn about that blade, as I was bidding on these also That whole missing ana and nice file marks/shape is what drew me to it also

-Sal

If the seller had a little more Ebay savvy I think we would have had a lot more competition. He didn't have the word "Japanese" in the listing title so anyone with a search notification for "Japanese Sword" wouldn't have received an email. Also he had it ending on a Wednesday at 12:15 PM when folks are at work, a smart seller will time his listing to end on a Sat/Sun evening when more people are at home with their eyes on their computers. Interestingly one entire side of the blade is much more refined than the other with a somewhat visible hamon, yokote line etc. while the opposite side is more rough and scratched. Maybe as if a polish was started but never finished?

 

I'll likely be listing the Seki blade this weekend, feel free to have at it.

[Stephen]

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