One  of the  five greatest Shinto smiths  was  Hizen Tadayoshi, a student of Umetada Myojo.
The  Hizen style  stands out  and is easily  recognized.  Elegant Shinto sugata, with a strong-grain gray steel,  This blade is in CHU-SUGUHA WITH GUNOME MIDARE in NIE. This sword though shortened still retains a partial signature. There is a sugu-ha hamon with ko-maru turnback. The sword was an ancestral blade mounted in military koshirae. The hada is itame covered in ji-nie. There is a hizen like hada in places which are close to the surface and the softer steel shows from multiple polishings. The hada is primarily Itame nagare and tight towards the monouchi area covered in ji-nie. The blade has been shortened with 3 mekugi ana. The blade was probably 29-30″ originally but still retains the elegant sugata even after being shortened.

These are a WWII era koshirae made in the later part of the war. The mounts are sometimes referred to as Shin-gunto . The sword is signed partially Tachi Mei ” Hizen No Ju Fuji ” . The sword is in fair condition and the mounts are of a WWII variety  and sought after by the WWII Japanese sword collector.

Shin-gunto, army officers swords, are the most common style of sword mountings from the World War II era. There is an enormous difference in quality of both blades and mounts of this period. Many, perhaps most, of the blades found in shin-gunto mounts are NOT traditionally made swords. Many are machine made and therefore are of interest only as military relics, not as art swords. Some blades made during the war period were handmade but not by traditional methods. These are classified as either Showato, Muratato, Mantetsuto, Hantanzo or Yotetsuto depending on method of production.  This is a traditionally made sword from the 1600-1700s and not simply a military blade.