Something yoshi?

[Bruce Pennington]

One more today and I'll give it a rest!

 

[Ray Singer]

Perhaps Yoshinaga. 

 

 

[nulldevice]

永?

[Ray Singer]

Yes, that's what I see as well. Yoshinaga. 

 

26 minutes ago, nulldevice said:

永?

 

[xiayang]

濃州関住星谷義永 = Nōshū Seki-jū Hoshiya Yoshinaga

 

See also this example.

 

Note that there was also a Seki smith who signed with the homophone 星谷義長 (e.g., here).  Not sure if they are related.  

To add to the confusion, both Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan and the Japanese Sword Index list a Hoshiya Yoshinaga with the spelling 星屋義長, but I haven't been able to find any examples for this variant at all, so perhaps they got the last name wrong.

[nulldevice]

I was looking in the online index and didn't see any smiths that used 義永. 

 

Many more seemed to use 吉永 or 吉長. I have no clue how homophones work when writing one's name. That's something I'd like to learn more about.

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks guys!  Really appreciate your work here.

 

Just checked for other Yoshinaga on file.  I have 2 and they're both 星谷義長.  Seems to be the same mei except the last kanji: