  We present the results of optical spectroscopic identifications of a bright
subsample of 2-10keV hard X-ray selected sources from the ASCA Medium
Sensitivity Survey in the northern sky. The flux limit of the subsample is
3*10^-13 erg s^-1 cm^-2 in the 2-10keV band. All but one of the 87 hard X-ray
selected sources are optically identified, with AGNs, 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 ~3*10^23 cm^-2 from
their X-ray spectra. Optical properties of X-ray absorbed AGNs with N_H >
1*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 f2-10keV/fR > +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 and less-absorbed AGNs are compared.
