chrisf

I agree with David.Well before the appearance of Chinese copies I had swords like this with very poorly cast fittings (moulds worn out?) and low quality blades that were also poorly finished,almost certainly NOT a hand forged,water quenched blade but a late war effort at providing a shingunto. It looks genuine and is of interest as a piece of World War II memorabilia.

I stand to be corrected on this but can only find Takasaki Kaneshige for the first mei, he was also a Seki swordsmith licenced Showa 14,20th October.

Second one is Maegawa Kanetsugu,Seki swordsmith received licence 26th October 1939,appears in Kurihara Hikosaburo's listing as a 'Ge' rated smith.

Hello,if you are buying books in order to read inscriptions on Japanese swords might I suggest that you invest in 'oshigata' books. The reason why the signatures that you have tried to read look nothing like the characters in text books is because they are done by hand and show all the variances that you would find in handwriting. Textbooks will tell you what equivalences different characters have but will not show you the many variations seen in swordsmiths' mei. If your interest is in military swords might I suggest Slough's book or the excellent little books published by Gregory and Fuller and use them in conjunction with Hawley's list of characters that are commonly used. If you are looking to study koto,shinto and shinshinto swords then Fujishiro would fit the bill. Hope that's helpful,perhaps more senior members would like to comment?

The notches may have been for re-assembly purposes,I have owned a number of swords with similar notches all with Satsuma Rebellion mounts where I guess swords were assembled as quickly and readily as possible from whatever fittings were available to hand.

Smith is Kato Norisada,received swordsmith's licence 11th September 1943,worked in Seki.

Chris,forgive me but I am not disputing the breadth and wealth of your experience,I have just looked up the article in the June 1998 programme and is written by Paul R. Allman 'Jewels from the Sands' and describes a story told by Robert Haynes about visiting a noble's house and viewing his collection of tsuba and also of another high ranking gentleman with a wonderful collection of koto swords in koshirae,never exhibited,never published and certainly never taken to kantei or public shinsa.

Keith,I think your first post was right on the button in every respect and some years ago there was a fascinating article in a Token GB programme about 'old school' Japanese collectors who did/do exist who still own swords and fittings of great importance that have never been shown outside of their homes.With all due respect to you CAB,these are people that you,as a westerner are not likely to meet and just because you haven't met them doesn't mean they don't exist.

Brian,I think you're being too kind in your efforts to 'enlighten' because these people know exactly what they have and what they're doing and this should be policed by ebay itself,however greed is the currency and it's obvious that they really don't give a toss about blatant con-jobs as long as they receive their fees. I'm not sure that many genuine collectors would be taken in by most of this stuff as they're usually very careful about what they buy and collectors I've known and dealt with in the past seem to buy from sources that they know and trust. I would like to see ebay tighten up on the entire question of how items are described and block the sale of Chinese and other fakes that are touted as being genuine but it's not going to happen because it's $$$$$$$$$ and morals have no equivalence as far as they are concerned.

Joe,I totally agree with you but have to say that my post is no more speculative than those which consider the blades to be koto/shinto and you cannot deny a) that both nakago look odd and b) that selling blades OUT of military koshirae is very commonplace. Also consider this;why is the patina on the second suspension ring so different?Two hanger shingunto are relatively rare,I have seen ordinary gunto with a second wedged on to make it look like a two hanger sword and as they are a friction fit it's not rocket science to do it. And think again about the hoof beats Joe,if you're in Africa the chances are it's NOT horses!

Am I the only one who thinks it odd that both swords have nakago that have been altered in similar fashion and both with two mekugiana also in similar positions.The hamon looks speculative and both nakago have a strange patina and in my view look as though they have possibly been altered recently. Without close-up views of hamon and hada it's impossible to date either blade from sugata alone,it's entirely possible that they are gunto blades that have been 'spoodled' to look like old blades. Why?Because the original blades may have sold without the military koshirae to avoid any connection with the wartime period and remounted in 'samurai' koshirae the blades would become more commercial. Sorry but they don't look right to me.

Me too!Loved music but that's all BUT check out some of the other stuff that's on there if you are depressed and need cheering up,especially the guy with his homemade $50 suit of armour (including kabuto!).

Perhaps done wwith draw shave/sensuki?

That Koa Isshin blades are formed from folded steel can only be supposition unless there is documentary evidence to support it and whilst they appear to have a 'hada' it is quite unlike the hada seen in contemporary gendaito or other traditionally made swords and while that may be explained by the use of their own particular steel it is not enough to convince that their kawagane is forged and folded. Two trained swordsmiths were invited to the facility and my suggestion was that they possibly taught blade forming and shaping and that the blade making was more of a production line process which seems possible given the production number of 400 swords a month in 1939.

Apologies for my error,it is 20 years since I owned 'The Deity and The Sword',I understood the Kanemoto had passed into Master Otake's care but obviously my memory was incorrect.

If you can,check 'The Deity and The Sword' volumes which illustrate some of the kata from TSKSR and in one mention is made of the Magoroku Kanemoto which was passed down to Master Otake and which was noted for the short length of its tsuka. If memory serves me correctly there are a number of good views of his katana which looks to have fairly deep sori,bo-hi and suriage with more than one mekugi ana. I do remember being impressed with the classic understated elegance of the sword and its mounts.

Sadly I have to agree,over the years I've had four swords that have suffered broken mekugi while in transit,fortunately three were in gunto mounts which caused the blades to become jammed into the wooden liners,the last a civilian saya which now has a large split. I ask shippers to send swords with the hilt removed and a load of tape around the nakago to prevent it slipping down but they all seem to know better........ I also ask for large print on parcel for the benefit of PF/PO employees;'FRAGILE - PLEASE THROW UNDERARM'.

So much for my theory of silent kenjutsu! Was the pencil mightier than the sword?

Not so sure about gunto tsuka not being very long,for practical use they are very efficient as they afford more than adequate leverage and a great deal of flexibility in either single or two handed use and also a lot easier to carry or wear than a very long tsuka.

Logically if you were in a combat area especially in a jungle/brush/scrub environment you would try to eliminate anything that would represent a snag hazard and it is recorded that night attacks were popular as a psychological battle tactic so silence was also important.Basic night patrol routine is to jump up and down to ensure no kit rattles and many officers in the IJA were experienced campaigners having fought through China and Manchuria. Unless a sword has a genuine provenance any comments on its possible use and history can only be conjecture on our part.

Kevin,my understanding was that this was a way of making production line swords for combat use avoiding the use of swordsmiths that was time consuming and labour intensive.Is it not possible that the swordsmiths that were involved gave instruction in blade forming techniques rather than forging and that the hada that appears in Koa Isshin blades is an inherent grain in the steel brought out by tempering as opposed to a proper,forged hada?

The only other thing I thought of was to enable a bandage to be threaded through.In stills and film footage most gunto carried into combat seem to have a white bandage wrapped around the tsuka.

In some schools of swordsmanship the kashira/kabutogane is held mostly towards the palm of the left hand,perhaps the tube and sarute were removed to make this more comfortable and quieter?

I did handle an 'Ujifusa' some years ago,it took my eye(not literally!) because it had a decent sugata as do many of the stamped/arsenal swords that I've seen and handled over the years,outstanding amongst them was a Nagamura Kanekiyo that I bought at auction with fumbari,deep sori,'horse tooth' hamon and felt great 'in hand'.It was in poor polish so no hada visible and a Showa stamp,no,not a National Treasure but very acceptable as a sword. I'm probably going over old territory here but it's interesting how many of these smiths are rated reasonably well by Kurihara Hikosaburo and it would be more interesting if we knew by what parameters those swords were judged.Maybe there was a political aspect in rewarding them in consideration of their efforts to contribute during wartime.

Fuller and Gregory 'Swordsmiths of Japan 1926-1945' oshigata 366 Ujifusa with the same 'shiro' character.Possibly Shinoda Ujifusa who received swordsmith's licence 26th October 1939,rated 'Chu' by Kurihara Hikosaburo in 1942 and 'Third seat' in 1941 exhibition. 'Shiro' thought to possibly indicate purity of workmanship or thought.