Japanese sword help please...

[Milton]

Hello folks. Fresh from an estate call this past weekend, I have an interesting, old, (I believe), Japanese Katana. This one has a dragon etched on one side of the blade, just before the tsuba, and additionally, a small circular etch further down the blade above the temper line. On the other side of the blade, a narrow fuller extends 8 1/4 inches upwards from the base of the blade. The sword measures 39 1/2 inches overall, with a 28 inch blade (tip to base), and appears to be totally un-signed. There is only one hole through the tang. The blade is 1 5/16 inches wide, with a gradually tapering point and still retains a very sharp edge, and a relatively clear temper line. The tsuba appears to be iron w/ gilt embellishments, depicting a bird as well as a few other small designs. The hande wrap is long gone, however the wooden base and sharkskin panels are intact and in good shape, as is the small metal pommel piece. The scabbard is lacquer covered wood in concentric black and green bands, with a metal drag which also has some design work and gilt embellishments. I'm hoping some of you Japanese sword experts can enlighten me as to what kind of sword I have here, and a rough estimate of its approximate age, etc. More than a dozen pix below, and thanks in advance for any help!

[Milton]

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[gunto]

The horimono looks very poorly made.

[Milton]

Thanks for your comments. In reality, it's got quite nice detail, it's just the poor quality of my photo. In hand, the details are quite good. Can you add anything else?

[gunto]

Thanks for your comments. In reality, it's got quite nice detail, it's just the poor quality of my photo. In hand, the details are quite good. Can you add anything else?

It looks like a kid made it .

[Milton]

Here's a hopefully better pic of the front part of the dragon etch. There's also texture to his skin, etc that's more evident in person than in the photograph.

[Milton]

Thanks. That's EXACTLY the kind of information I was looking for....

[nickn]

looks shin shinto
horimono added long after by a not very skilled hand
nice package though
is it for sale?
nick

[Bob Coleman]

From the form of the blade and the point, the blade appears to be 19th century Late Edo period. A decent samurai sword. I concur that the dragon or ryu horimono lacks the depth and detail of the work of a good carver. It is quite poor quality and detracts from what appears to be a decent sword.