Help Identifying Katana

If you look closely at the photo of the mei, that one character is the only one completely obscured. It alone has much more damage to it than the others. Damage which looks to be where someone used a chisel or punch to defile it.

It is not uncommon, and was kind of the poor mans way of removing a mei. The correct, but much more expensive way is to have a polisher remove it and professionally replace the file marks and patination.


Perhaps it is my destiny to have old blades with signatures removed, as evidenced by my partial Rohm.

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I'll send you an email regarding the polishing, etc. we discussed previously.
 
You should always remove the habaki completely for photos. The side with the single groove, the groove is called koshi-bi with maru dome. The carving or Horimono seen under the habaki and along that side is a buddhist bonji rendai and ken. This was originally on the polished portion blade, above the habaki, until it was shortened.

It is a real Japanese sword. Someone tried to clean it with steel wool or something, which is what caused all the fine surface scratches or hike kizu. Nothing but a new polish will repair that. DO NOT attempt that yourself ! Restoration of a Japanese sword should only be performed by a licensed professional.

Thank you so much for all of your help SouthernComfort. I knew from the start that I shouldn't try to polish it. As I understand it, the polisher in Hawaii is the only licensed polisher in the USA. I'm not sure if this blade is worth the time and expense. Do you recommend any in-print or on-line sources to help identify the provenance of the blade?
 
It is definitely a real pre WW2 katana.
Fuller and carving is normal.

As to value, that's a different story.
There's a couple big red flags in that department.
-The tang looks like there was an attempted cleaning.
-Likely the original maker's mark was removed. The carving on the 'tang' looks relatively new, and is too high up to have been on the sword in it's original configuration, likely being a fake signature of some sort.
-The sword was shortened from it's original stature.
-The condition of the polish on the blade is poor.
-the tip of the sword looks somewhat modified(?) I'm not sure on this point.

Not particularly valuable from a collector's stand point, but it is a genuine katana and definitely worth appreciating for what it is. Nice find.
 
It is definitely a real pre WW2 katana.
Fuller and carving is normal.

As to value, that's a different story.
There's a couple big red flags in that department.
-The tang looks like there was an attempted cleaning.
-Likely the original maker's mark was removed. The carving on the 'tang' looks relatively new, and is too high up to have been on the sword in it's original configuration, likely being a fake signature of some sort.
-The sword was shortened from it's original stature.
-The condition of the polish on the blade is poor.
-the tip of the sword looks somewhat modified(?) I'm not sure on this point.

Not particularly valuable from a collector's stand point, but it is a genuine katana and definitely worth appreciating for what it is. Nice find.

Thanks Schmoopy. I agree, this definitely isn't a collector's blade, and the cost of polishing likely is more than the blade. The way I understand it, it's fairly common for blades to not have a maker's mark. There's a post further up the thread that describes the carvings, and it's pretty cool - definitely not a fake signature or add-on. I believe that the tip has not been modified and is just an example of the ko-kisaki type of tip. All-in-all I like it. It has some "warts" that tell the story of the blade, and I'm just happy that I was able to purchase a nihonto blade.
 
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