Hi, Newbie needing help to identify sword type..Chinese?

Hi, I'm Bob, new member to the forum with questions on a sword I recently acquired. I've been collecting swords, cannons and such for a while so have some decent knowledge about Japanese and medieval type long swords. Truth be told this is an Ebay acquisition. While I've had some really good luck purchasing from that venue I've also admittedly made mistakes. The sword pictured had some photographic appeal so I picked it up taking a chance. It's a bit of an enigma for me. When I received it I was struck by the quality of the blade and it's components. It has aspects of a properly forged Japanese sword but think the blade design more Chinese. It is very sharp and has an active hamon. It has acid etched characters or Kanji but not sure of the language. When you look at the swept and pointed guard I thought medieval in character. I thought it interesting that the blade and guard are brazed together. The pommel is a swept backward C that houses a temple bell shaped tang end. The grip is a very well sewn up black leather cover cross wrapped with leather cord. When I inspected the lines of the sword I noticed that the alignment of the blade, guard and pommel are impressively straight.

The sword is short by medieval single hander standards and somewhere between Wakizashi and Katana length. All in all it feels good in the hand and handles well. I appeal to interested members for information and opinions on this piece as I'm kind of lost on where it fits in. I haven't seen any others like it. Thanks in advance for any help.  Please see following pics.