So if I understand correctly the third picture (the odd flag) looks like someone's attempt to write in kanji but it doesn't look very natural? That's interesting. When you take the sword out of the scabbard it has some very obvious wear and tear on the blade and the very tip of it even has some nitches, which is understandable if it was truly used during war time then never touched again and placed in a storage chest. I sort of understood that the fourth and fifth picture was a family name (with maybe the rank in regards to the stars?), but it was the scarf bit that really threw me off and makes me absolutely the most curious. So it's more like the name of the person who purchased it along with the price written and then attached to the tsuba? I don't understand if that was merely for identification purposes or if the sword was truly just bought recently and never had the scarf removed.
Thank you very much, both of you. You've really helped in giving a lot of insight.