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Send a PM to Mill (Martin) as he knows his Japanese swords.
I can read some Chinese, the inscription is in three parts, the first 3 characters (read from tip of sword to the hilt) is in Kanji (Chinese characters) and almost certainly is the surname of someone, the second set of two characters are Japanese. I can only assume this is the given name of the first three characters (Asian names go by Surname-Given name)
The final character is in Kanji, meaning "work" or "craft".
Putting it all together, it could mean the name of the swordmaster who made the blade, or even the name of the workshop where the blade is made.
Asian cultures place a lot of value of master craftsman who makes such blades, but I am not sure how common it is for the craftsman to make such a large name inscription on the blade.
That plus the ornate nature of the sheath and hilt would suggest this is more a ceremonial sword and not a "combat" sword.
The other clue is that most combat swords would have the cutting edge only made in Damascus steel as it would be quite expensive to make the entire sword of the same material. It would be simpler and cheaper to make a carbon steel casing around a Damascus steel core with the cutting edge polished.
Others may know more, but this is purely from my understanding of the Chinese and Japanese cultures.
Bo
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