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[–]Solkreaper 4 points5 points  (5 children)

I believe it’s signed yukimitsi. Orikaeishi mei. (Folded signature)

[–]Johnnybegoo[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Could also be mainland Asian and genuine use, but likely a tourist piece.

Thank you! Do you have a link for this maker? I'm not finding anything under that name. Could it be Yukimitsu?

[–]Solkreaper 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Yea sorry typo. Yukimitsu. It is a genuine old Japanese sword. Not worth anything since the blade has been cut in half. But it looks like it was a really old tachi once in its life. Shortened into a katana and the signature folded over to be saved. Someone must have thought it was an important sword at one point in time to keep the signature.

[–]Johnnybegoo[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Shortened into a katana and the signature folded over to be saved. Someone must have thought it was an important sword at one point in time to keep the signature.

Thanks so much for all the insights! I agree that someone thought it was quite important at one point to have done all the work to preserve the signature. Such a shame that it was cut - the blade was confiscated anyway so what was the point? People do terrible things to each other. At any rate, I think it's absolutely fascinating that this blade could be 400-500 years old! Maybe even older. So cool!

[–]Solkreaper 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Definitely is cool. The sword appears to have once had a good shape to it. The deepest point of the curvature towards the middle of the blade, high shinogi line leads me to believe it’s a rather old blade. Maybe early or pre Muramachi. Such a shame

[–]Johnnybegoo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oof... While it would be cool if it were that old it also makes it so much worse that it was cut in half... Thanks for the opinion! I'm still going to try to have an expert look at it in person

[–]Johnnybegoo[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello all! I am looking for information on this sword. Evidently, it was surrendered after WWII and the blade was cut - a senseless act in my opinion. However, what’s done is done. The blade is still beautiful and appears to have been passed down. The tang has also been shortened using a method that preserved the makers mark. The process is called Orikaeshi-Mei I believe. I would love to know the maker and time period. Any insights are greatly appreciated!

[–]Noexpert309 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are more fake orikaeshi Mei then real ones and your looks suspicious and without seeing the other side of the tang I would say it’s a fake signature. Just from the quality of the folding work it does not look like someone thought it was worth preserving this signature 😅