The condition of this sword is very good considering it was carried during World War II. This sword was appraised by the Japanese sword preservation Society and was deemed to be authentic and made by the Fujishima Tomoshige School back in the 1500s. The blade has some small flaws/fukure/kizu, such is the case with many swords of this age. None of the flaws are fatal flaws. The Hamon or temper line is extremely active and very beautiful. What I find most interesting in this item is it overall history. During world war Japanese soldiers that had Samurai lineage and had swords in their family for many generations would bring their swords to the arsenal and asked for them to be mounted for the war effort in World War II mounts. This is such a sword. On the top of the handle you will find a family crest or Mon in silver. Also, the sword comes with its original tassel. Keep in mind that soldiers that did this felt that their ancestors would be on the battlefield with them. If we analyze this item a little bit we can see that the samurai sword has been a useful weapon for centuries and continued to be a useful weapon up to World War II. Yes, they were weapons but more importantly they were a Spiritual support for Soldiers. This sword was obviously carried in battle and has received damage that is very minor and scuffing on the blade. The most interesting damage of all is in one area on the scabbard that shows what appears to be damage from shrapnel. It actually left a small hole in the metal scabbard. This is very evident in the picture. Included in this sale is the flag carried by the soldier. It has a lot of Japanese writing (Kanji) on it as was commonly found on these flags. Soldiers would right many things on them, mostly propaganda to stimulate patriotism and honor in one’s country. Overall this is a fine collectible lot that shares an abundance of history. History dating back to the 1500s up until World War II.

Fujishima Tomoshige Den 

Fujishima is the name of a place in Echizen Province and it is said that the first generation of Tomoshige lived here first then moved to KagaProvince later. 

The founder of the Fujishima school was Tomoshige, a pupil of Rai Kunitoshi. His work dates to 1334-1338. Smith is Fujishima Tomoshige-mono or majiwari-mono. The characteristics of the swords of the Fujishima school tend to combine the traits of two or three of the Gokaden (five main schools).  Some said that it brings Yamato and Soshu styles to mix.

Certain of the Fujishima smiths, and the later Sanekage school smiths, worked in one or more of the basic traditions and incorporated several of the characteristics of these schools into their work.

Tomoshige and Nobunaga tempered gunome-midare with sunagashi in nie-deki which reminds one of Sue-Bizen smiths and Nobukuni of Yamashiro Province. I have seen sugu-ha of Tomoshige and gentle notare of Nobunaga with hotsure and sunagashi. They normally forged ko-itame-hada or ko-itame-hada combined with masame. I have seen pure masame-hada by Nobunaga. Tomoshige occasionally makes wakizashi and tanto in kanmuri-otoshi-zukuri that was favoured by Yamato smiths. There are some extant works with the mei of ‘Fujishima Yukimitsu’. Yukimitsu tempered notare-midare and Kiyomitsu favour tempering chu-sugu-ha and hiro-sugu-ha, rather than gunome-midare. The production age of the extant works by Kiyomitsu is limited to the Genki and Tensho Eras.

Tomoshige line of smiths who had ten generations of the name during the Koto period and six generations up until the Shintoshinto period.