Veteran purchased old japanese sword

[Bob Coleman]

You now have the signature upside down. As Stu said, it is read vertical with the top being towards the cutting edge and the bottom towards the butt of the tang. The kanji are also quite light and difficult to see even in your present pictures.

[Stu W]

Hi Spencer,

Have a look at post #2 in this thread. That's what we'll need...

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=599494

Regards,
Stu

PS: Forgot to mention...don't clean, buff or polish the tang. Leave it as is.

[Spencer Victory]

How about this one

[Spencer Victory]

2

[Spencer Victory]

3

[Spencer Victory]

Temper line in blade

[Budo45]

well i cant read much more that Kunihide, looks like one side is a made for so and so but it farther away and upside down, ya got to get closer my friend, maybe add some talc powder and wipe off to see if the mei stands out. remember blade up tang down when takeing photos of the nakago.

[Paul G]

When Spencer said it was found in a garbage can with other yard tools, I just about &$#@. Then I remembered seeing some old timers using their plastic/metal garbage cans to store / organise their long handled yard tools inside their garages.

PG-

[Johnny Peppers]

White makes a bad background for taking pictures. The white background is the largest part of the picture, and the camera's light meter has no idea what you want correct exposure on, so it takes the largest area which is white. Get a darker background or edit your photos. This helps some, but they are way over exposed.

[Luis22]

what a beauty!!! Im still hunting for one..... you got the best of both worlds: an old family blade with military mounts....

[blinky]

Hey Spencer, how 'bout a thank you to the guys who identified that pitot tube for you a while back?

[gunto]

Nice hada.

[Brian Robinson]

The kanj look odd, hesitant and wrongly placed (straight down the center of the nakago?) They also don't look the same age as the nakago patina. Maybe added later?
The hada is also odd. You see this sometimes with smiths that mixed steels, but this one looks...odd.
Hopefully someone can get a look at it in hand and give you some better idea.

Brian