I don't think the rainguard is turned in an incorrect direction... FWIW.
I'm with the Sentinel... that sword didn't get there simply by happenstance.
A couple possibilities come to mind.
..It was stolen, placed up in a tree, and not recovered...
..or, possibly, it's direction could be pointing to SOMETHING.
THAT could be an interesting possibility. Well worth investigating.
Or did I read too many YAMASH*TA posts?
BTW, fellow Tnet folks have found a number of swords in the last year.
I can think of one found in the yard of a home, buried in the grass... somewhere in Dixie, I think...
And there was another, cached in a crack in a rock in Germany? It was very old.
Best
rmptr