Sword Writing Identification?

[Shortstack227]

My Family has had this sword in the attic for years now and I was hoping someone could help decipher where or what this text entails? Ive tried deciphering it on my own but to no avail, Thanks for the help.

[Yumso]

濃州住兼明作之
Noshu ju Kaneaki saku

Kaneaki of Noshu made this.

[Bruce Pennington]

Hi Alexander,

Can you give us a couple shots of the blade and fittings?

 

The small stamp near the top is the Showa stamp.  It looks to be partially struck, or double struck, making the detail of the stamp obscured.  But it was the approval stamp of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association.  They used the stamp between 1935 - 1942, with most of them appearing in 1940 - '41, in case there is no date on the other side.

[Shortstack227]

Thank you all for the fast help! I've been looking online regarding kaneaki, some swords from this province have kuriyama kaneaki but this one doesn't is there any reason it's omitted? This sword was from my greatgrandfathers who fought in the pacific, Maurice LeMay, his cousin Curtis gave it to him while they were both there. 

The blade seems stuck in the saya which is unfortunate because I was hoping to find a way to restore it but don't want to break either of the pieces by prying it out.

[mecox]

@Shortstack227 Alexander,   your sword is  濃州住兼明作之    Noshu ju Kaneaki saku kore

There are three wartime smiths of that name, but with a different "aki" , yours is Kuriyama:

 

KANEAKI (兼明),  real name Kuriyama Kenjirō (栗山鍵次郎), born in Meiji 21 (1888) December 4, was a  student of early school of Watanabe Kanenaga (渡辺兼永) and Niwa Kanenobu (丹羽兼信) and also of Fujiwara Kanezumi (藤原兼住).  He lived in Gifu, Kamo-gun, Kajita-mura, Tochibora, and registered early on as a Seki swordsmith on Showa 14 (1939) October 20.   He died on August 23rd 1966.  He was ranked in 1942 as  jōkō no retsu, and in 1941 exhibition as Second Seat.    So he was a very good smith.  Be good to see the sword blade.  As noted it has a Sho-sakura stamp so not fully traditional  made.

 

NOTE:   I should have done this before, SEARCH on NMB shows we have had much discussion on Kaneaki.

 

 

[Kiipu]

Early Type 95 Scabbard or am I mistaken?

[Conway S]

I believe that’s a Type 98 saya. The screw hole for the ishizuki is visible in the picture. 
 

Conway 

[Bruce Pennington]

Alexander,

Your blade could be stuck for a few reasons.  First, it may be rust.  If so, it's important that your get it out to oil and preserve the blade.  Secondly, there are several dents in the bottom half of the saya, which may be wedging against the blade.  Third, like Thomas said, this may have been a Type 95, copper-handled, NCO saya repurposed for this sword (maybe due to damage to the original?).  I doubt it was a post-war add-on as I can see the shading of the officer styled haikan (belt hanger ring attachment) where it used to be.  I realize there were some variations of saya manufacturing styles, but this one sure looks like it started life on a copper handled Type 95.  That's a long story to say that it may be tightly wedge in because the curvature of the blade and saya don't match (which would be an odd thing, if my proposal that it was re-purposed was right).  

 

In any case, I would recommend placing a hard plastic or wood block against the top edge of the saya, laying on the nakago, and try to knock it loose with a hammer.