Found an old Japanese sword, please help identify

[papercranes26]

Hi!

So I recently found a Japanese sword that my grandfather had. The history of how he got it is a bit murky, but as far as I know, he got it from either a brother or friend who got it from someone else that fought in Japan in WW2.

I know nothing about swords etc, so it would be amazing if someone could help me out. I have tried to take a good range of photos of the main parts (I did some brief googling), but I can easily take more if necessary. The writing on the handle is a bit hard to see in the photos, so I tried to shine a light on it to make it more legible.

If it ends up being some sort of antique (unlikely I assume), I plan on emailing the Japanese embassy (in Australia) to find out if they can get it sent back to the family or descendants of the owner (although I can't say I'd be too disappointed if they didn't want it and I could keep it ).

thanks so much,
papercranes

[Nick Komiya]

Munefusa, resident of Echizen Domain is what it says. That should make the blade from the early half of the 16 hundreds in age, refitted for use in WW2.

http://sinogi.dee.cc/osigata/sintou/munefusa-setu.jpg

[MAP]

Unfortunately I can't expand the photos to view the sword in detail. Anyway you can post larger format photos?

I will leave it up to the sword experts here but there is nothing attributing this sword back to an individual/family. So there really isn't anything the Japanese Embassy can do.

Furthermore in many cases swords like this are now illegal in Japan. If I'm wrong with this comment, someone please correct me.

[ghp95134]

Munefusa, resident of Echizen Domain is what it says. That should make the blade from the early half of the 16 hundreds in age, refitted for use in WW2.

Following up on Nick's translation:

越前住宗房
Echizen-jū Munefusa.

He is listed in Markus Sesko's Japanese Swordsmiths:

• MUNEFUSA (宗房), Kan´ei (寛永, 1624-1644), Echizen – “Echizen Tsuruga-jū Shimosaka Munefusa” (越前敦賀住下坂宗房), real name Sugatani Kyūbei (菅谷久兵衛), Shimosaka school, gunome-midare, suguha, wazamono

Markus lists five smiths named Munefusa (two of them are Showa/"gendaito").
＝＝＝

This is the same Munefusa that Nick linked to. The oshigata [magenta area] states:
※ この宗房は菅谷久兵衛と云い, 越前国下坂派
This Munefusa is called Sugatani Kyūbei, [following the magenta box] of the Echizen Shimosaka faction/school.



Regarding "wazamono" -- it is a valuation of the blade's sharpness. Again, from Markus Sesko:

As for kotō, shintō, and shinshintō smiths, this publication qotes the wazamono ranking that goes back to revised edition of the 1815 published list of wazamono of the Kaihō Kenjaku (懐宝剣尺), and the so-called Fujishiro Ranking used by Fujishiro Yoshio and Matsuo in their 1935 publications Nihon Tōkō Jiten – Kotō Hen and Nihon Tōkō Jiten – Shintō Hen. The list of wazamono ranks the swordsmiths on the basis of the sharpness of their blades which is based on the vast experience of the Yamada family of sword testers. It consists of four ranks:

• saijō-ō-wazamono (最上大業物) Supreme sharpness

• ō-wazamono (大業物) Great sharpness

• ryō-wazamono (良業物) Good sharp swords

• wazamono (業物) Sharp swords

-- Guy

[papercranes26]

thank you so much for looking at this. I didn't expect it to be anywhere near that old! I read a few different things about handling the blade etc, is there anything I should or shouldn't do to make sure the condition doesn't deteriorate? (I don't want to accidentally destroy it).
- papercranes

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's a good link for sword care: JAPANESE SWORD CARE

It boils down to - sun and humidity are your enemies. I live in Colorado, so humidity isn't a problem. Some guys in the South use dehumidifiers. Then periodic cleaning and light oiling, then wipe off. You don't want standing oil on the blade any more than standing water.