Thanks in Advance Please translate this Japanese Samauri Hallmarks in english

[gpapania1]

Hi Thanks in Advance
Please translate this Japanese Samurai ? Hallmarks in english
I appreciate all that answer.

[Nick Komiya]

備前長船祐定, Bizen Osafune Hirosada and　永禄二年八月, August 1559 is what it is trying to say, but the sloppiness of how the Mei is executed compared to known examples of his work makes me wonder whether this is legit

[gpapania1]

Nick, Thank you I have Us ww1 Bayonets. Real Navy cutlasses. period pieces from 1700's and Blue face geisha porcelain dolls from 1700's this was part of a collection i got. It is in a wwi or ww2 scabord. Do you think it might be 17 or 1889 I thank you in advance. God Bless George and if you endevor to maybe translate the other side if possible.. Again I thank you

[gpapania1]

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[Bruce Pennington]

The image on the left is the smith and the one of the right is the date, so both sides already translated.

If you give us a picture of the scabbard and fittings, we can tell you about the war era.

[gpapania1]

again I thank you very much! in advance
I scrubbed the lower handle to show the hallmarks with 0000 polishing wool for like 3 days because it was black with rust. I know this hasnt been touched for at least 70 years as it was in vault stiorage iin a trust. Thanks again. Attachment 1298300

[gpapania1]

Thanks Bruce I posted the scabbard and fittings I appreciate you for looking and tyring to date the samurai sword. god Bless

[ghp95134]

...I scrubbed the lower handle to show the hallmarks with 0000 polishing wool for like 3 days because it was black with rust....

Well, whatever value the blade might have had .... you just ruined it by "cleaning" the rust from the tang [nakago]. The darker the inactive rust, the older the blade ... it helps evaluators to determine the age of the sword.

Live and learn ......<sigh>

...The patina and depth of rust on the nakago is an important factor in kantei (appraisal), and so the nakago should NEVER be cleaned or polished.
Link

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks for the added pictures. What you have is an older blade, either donated, or brought to the war by the owner, or one bought by the government from the puclic for WWII. They would remove most of the civilian fittings and remount them with the leather covered saya (scabbard). Some would retain the original tsuba (handguard) and tsuka (handle), some would be fully retrofitted. Yours looks like it was almost fully retrofitted but they left the civil kabutogane (handle endcap). Definitely WWII, though.

Nice sword. Like the guys above stated, part of the dating process is by seeing the amount and color of rust on the tang. I take before-and-after pictures of mine if I'm going to clean them, just for that purpose. Sometimes simply the smith's name can put a date range on a blade. Detailed measurements and good, clear pictures of the blade can reveal certain stylistic characteristics that can point to an era also. I'm not schooled in any of these areas, so can't help. But there are many guys who are, if you provide the measurements and pictures I mentioned. You can find the measurements needed here;
JAPANESE SWORD MEASUREMENT

[gpapania1]

thank you. I had someone locally tell me the same thing but i trusted the opinions here only.. Super sharp (blade untouched) and the balance is amazing. God Bless one and all here Both critical (my rust cleaning) and positive I appreciate you all.