old japanese short sword for id please
 

This is a Japanese sword dagger which I recently acquired , the blade is 13 inches long , I'm looking for any info possible age etc , I'm no expert in this area but I can see it has some age ,
thanks

This is a ko-wakizashi (small wakizashi) or o-tanto (large tanto) - your choice. Normally tanto are under 12 inches and waks are 12-24 inches but many are borderline (like yours). It is mumei (unsigned) and has been remounted at least once (has two mekugi-ana) tang holes. The fuchi/kashira (collar and end cap) are in a kabuto motif (Japanese helmet). Condition is not good, so can't tell anything about the hada (steel grain) or hamon (temperline). It would take a good Japanese sword polisher to restore the blade. For the time being I'd suggest just apply a very thin coat of oil to be the blade (not enough to make droplets - don't want oil running into the saya (scabbard). Wish I could tell you more, but that's all I can see in it's current state.

Rich

Japanese Sword Guide
http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/nihonto.htm

Can you please post better photos of the both sides of the tang? Can you discern any Chinese characters on the tang? Also photos of the tip of the blade would be useful.

You may also want to address this question on the Nihonto Message Board forum.

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/index.php

hi there , I have just uploaded a couple of pics , there is no sign of any Chinese characters and the tang looks like it has lots of age ,
thanks

hi rich thanks for your reply and advice , I don't expect its worth the expense of having it polished , but when looked in the right light you can see a tight wavy hamon line , I expect it would look very nice polished ,
regards,matthew

Also please don't polish it yourself or bring it to a non professional (it will destroy it and make it all but worthless)

And if you are thinking about having it polished... make very very very sure the blade is worth the cost of a polish $1000-5000 and after this your sword could still be worth 500... beware

Seems old, might well be a Koto sword (1600 or older).
Koshirae are of decent quality as far I can see.