Samurai Sword translation

[dasboot2011]

Hi all,

someone is offering me a katana in gunto mounts. Blade is decent and handle has silver flowers. I’ll attach pics of whole rig if I buy it. He’s claiming this Smith is 1600s. Any thoughts on if that’s true? I’m sure sure if I believe it. Blade is sharp all the way and hole looks crooked but still.

[GHP]

藤原兼廣
Fujiwara Kanehiro

To find this smith, I had to use the modern rendition of "Hiro": 藤原兼広

There are two 17th century Fujiwara Kanehiro listed in Markus Sesko's book, Swordsmiths of Japan, but I do not know which is yours; or if yours is gimei ... I'm not a sword expert. Both smiths used a longer signature, more than just 藤原兼廣 [広]

KANEHIRO (兼広), 1st gen., Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673), Hizen – “Hizen no Kuni Yamato no Daijō Fujiwara Kanehiro” (肥前国大和大掾

藤原兼広), “Yamato no Daijō Fujiwara Kanehiro” (大和大掾藤原兼広), “Hizen no Kuni Saga-jū Yamato no Daijō Fujiwara Kanehiro” (肥前国佐賀住大和大掾藤原兼広), real name Hashimoto Rokurōbei (橋本六郎兵衛), son of Kunihiro (国広), his honorary title Yamato no Daijō was later raised to that of Yamato no Kami but there are hardly any blades known which are signed the latter way, he died in the second year of Hōei (宝永, 1705), dense ko-itame that appears as konuka-hada, suguha, notare-midare or gunome-midare in ko-nie-deki, wazamono, chūjō-saku

KANEHIRO (兼広), 2nd gen., Jōkyō (貞享, 1684-1688), Hizen – “Hizen no Kuni-jū Tōtomi no Kami Fujiwara Kanehiro” (肥前国住遠江守藤原兼広), he also signed with the supplement “hyōtan-tetsu o motte tsukuru” (以瓢箪鉄造, “made by using hyōtan-tetsu,” hyōtan-tetsu was another term for nanban-tetsu), real name Hashimoto Heijibei (橋本平次兵衛), he signed in early years with Kanewaka (兼若), son of the 1st gen. Kanehiro, his younger brother Hashimoto Sō´emon (橋本相右衛門) succeeded as 2nd gen. Hirosada (広貞), dense ko-itame which appears as konuka-hada, suguha, gunome-midare, notare, chūjō-saku.

Cheers,
-- Guy

[GHP]

Dunno why the quote got split like that .... it's not formatted as two separate quotes. I'm finding it extremely difficult to format responses in this new platform ...