We present the results of optical spectroscopic identifications of a bright subsample of 2–10 keV hard X-ray selected sources from the ASCA 
Medium Sensitivity Survey in the northern sky ( AMSSn ) .
The flux limit of the subsample is 3 \times 10 ^ { -13 } ergs s ^ { -1 } cm ^ { -2 } in the 2–10 keV band .
All but one of the 87 hard X-ray selected sources are optically identified , with AGNs ( including broad-line AGNs , narrow-line AGNs , and 3 BL Lac objects ) , 7 clusters of galaxies , and 1 galactic star .
It is the largest complete sample of hard X-ray selected AGNs at the bright flux limit .
Amounts of absorption to their nuclei are estimated to be hydrogen column densities ( N _ { H } ) of up to \sim 3 \times 10 ^ { 23 } cm ^ { -2 } from their X-ray spectra .
Optical properties of X-ray absorbed AGNs with N _ { H } > 1 \times 10 ^ { 22 } cm ^ { -2 } indicate the effects of dust absorption : at redshifts , z < 0.6 , AGNs without broad H \beta emission lines have significantly larger N _ { H } value than AGNs with broad H \beta emission lines .
At z > 0.6 , the X-ray absorbed AGNs have a large hard X-ray to optical flux ratio ( \log f _ { 2 - 10 ~ { } keV } / f _ { R } > +1 ) .
However , three X-ray absorbed z > 0.6 AGNs show strong broad lines .
In combination with hard X-ray selected AGN samples from the ASCA Large Sky Survey , the ASCA 
Deep Survey in the Lockman Hole and Chandra Deep Field North , the luminosity distributions of absorbed ( N _ { H } > 1 \times 10 ^ { 22 } 
cm ^ { -2 } ) and less-absorbed ( N _ { H } < 1 \times 10 ^ { 22 } cm ^ { -2 } ) AGNs are compared .