Signature syntax/translation

[noneed2hate]

Greetings all, trying my hand at translating a listing on Ebay I saw out of curiosity

I think I nailed it for the most part but wanted a second set of eyes to have a look.

Omote side - 筑州福岡　Chikushu Fukuoka (the rest sadly appears to have been cut off)

Ura side - 祭無八幡 Matsuru Mu Hachiman? not to sure if I got the this one correct, modern derivatives of the first character show as "offering", and the second character as "nothing" - so "offer nothing to Hachiman?" "Hachiman offers nothing?" I may be confused as to what the proper syntax/grammar is for this. 

Is it odd for Chikuchu Fukoka to be referenced without any other descriptors in between the province and city? (I.E. some extant examples with both of this province and city referenced would be 筑前国福岡住, but none with just 筑州福岡) It also does look like the overall signature and horimono are pretty muddy as best I can tell from the photos which immediately makes me suspect.

Appreciate any input

[Jussi Ekholm]

I think the first letter in horimono is 南 making the beginning Namu 南無.

 

Sorry for bit limited reply as I am typing on phone.

[noneed2hate]

  On 4/2/2022 at 12:21 PM, Jussi Ekholm said:

I think the first letter in horimono is 南 making the beginning Namu 南無.

 

Sorry for bit limited reply as I am typing on phone.

Expand  

aha, that makes a lot more sense, thank you!

[Brian]

Very odd. I can't place any of those ana as the original one which would put the horimono in the correct place. So either something odd going on, or the horimono is atabori.
The most obvious one places the horimono under the tsuba/fuchi. The others leave it too far forward.

[WillFalstaff]

Obviously an o-suriage. Must have been a sad day when the owner realized he had to get the sword chopped away. How common is a mei being re-written when it couldn’t be saved with the known methods? 

[Tensho]

Yasurime appear to be directly above the center mekugi ana on both the omote and ura side of the nakago. The patina is also much darker there. Seems to me the very bottom mekugi ana would be the original. As far as the horimono placement I'm not familiar with why it would be covered under the habaki/tsuka.