Hi all,
What is written on Algren's sword is translated as "I belong to the one who combines the old with the new".
However, the actual kanji, courtesy of the photo book on the shelves is more like
now-past-have-divine-serve-virtuous-person
Even with differences in the Chinese and the Japanese language and how I'm interpreting the kanji, the translation of what is written on the sword is a farcry from the English translation....
Incidently, I didn't think most katana had grooves?
P.S. If you get a chance to see the moviebook, the sections on the Japanese sword and technique is fairly *funny*....