The_ozzy_samurai

Hey guy's I purchased a couple tsuka's that have markings i have not seen or in positions not seen before? well by me anyways?,i have a few gunto's with arsenal markings on kabo,but normally with a star and circle with spikes on one side and tokoyo stamp on other, i had 3 of them from memory all the same,well these 2 handles i purchased seem a bit odd to me? one only has the 1 star stamp in the middle? and the other handle has what looks to me like E or some kind of symbol? as i said i had a couple of these i know these stamps are not that common but these 2 tsuka's are just strange to what i have had or seen,i only purchased them purely for the markings,can anyone help or explain what that back to front E symbol is?thanks guys' Julian

Thanks alot guys for the info, i purchased not knowing its maker but mainly on its high grade mounts in fairly good condition with those rare arsenal stamps at the base of handle, i figure the blade looks ok for a combat sword i wasn't expecting it to be a high grade smith as the file markings on tang look poor compared to my kanenori and koa isshin mantetsu tangs,anyways it should arrive next week,

Hello Guys Well i will admit im no expert and after wasting alot of time trying to match up this signature via websites, im at a loss? i cannot find anything like it,any help would be much appreaciated,its a WW2 blade,almost looks to be like those naval type made blades due to the lack of patina i think? as i said im not an expert,the tang also has a number stamped into it,so i assume its not a high grade smith,thank you Julian

Thanks for the replies and info on this sword, i have decided to go ahead with selling it, i would much prefer this koto blade in gunto mounts,as it is absolute mint condition blade and mounts,cheer's guy's

Hey guys, Thanks for the response and i had a look at those links, some interesting info about these koa mantetsu blades, they do seem to be made strong,its a shame they cut one into 5 piece's tho,but it shows quality atleast, so here is the harder question what is it worth would you think, its in good shape as i maybe looking to sell it as i have my eye on something else,cheer's Julian

Hey guys i have this sword will get some better images in a day or so, the tang looks to be signed somewhat different to another one i saw with same signature,but what i really want to know is what are the marks on spine for? i read somewhere that there is no one man named Koa Isshin Mantetsu but the blade signed like this where made for an exibition of swords in 1939? and that only the best smiths were able to attend or show off there blades, but all the blades where signed the same from many different high grade smiths, is there any truth to this or was that a dodgy website yes i dont have any books, Also is it just a myth that these are highly collectable or hunted more then other swords from that era? i read from a site that said these swords are one of the best and strongest blades to come out of Japan?? surely not i would think but im not an expert,cheer's Julian

Hey guys i have a pretty neat surrender tag,overall the swords in outstanding condition, made by kanenori Feb 1943,and the mounts are very rare too,stamps on fittings at base of tsuka,signed scabbard,surrender cloth,even a name or something stiched into tassel,overall very minty the sword never saw combat as he was a 19th Educational Flight Officer,as you can see its been translated by a Japanese officer, This is what i can read: on english side of course, 19th Educational Flight Regiment Sub Lt. Shigeru Ito 234 Shinotaka, Hoiqun i was told they translate names into english in reverse his name could be Ito Shigeru? there is also some other names or something? He trained pilots from what i am told about those Educational Flight Regiments,the scabbard is minty,all high grade fittings still full of colour,blade is as new,no stains or nicks,and by the look of his efforts to mark his sword he really wanted it back oh yeah the tang also has a funny stamp on spine i have never seen before? i believe its fairly rare sword in this condition and with all the markings,also Kanenori is one of the better smiths,im thinking of maybe selling it but have no idea what its worth? i also have the original sword bag issued for that sword,military brown silk bag with tassel's its frail and torn but still its original,

Hey mate cheers for the reply,thats quite an impressive range of swords you have there,as you did own that other sword i have and by the sound of it most likely owned my new sword too, i can assume you sell a few swords? maybe we can have a chat about it,thanks mate Julian

Hello Guy's, I have this sword arriving in a few days, i have had a go at trying to translate it via the net and books,but come up with a big fail and alot of wasted time, i thought i would i ask if anybody could help with this signature,i was told its an older blade the signature has powder in it to show it much better,but it still did not help me, any help would be much appreaciated as this is a nice collection piece and would love to know who made the blade,as it has unique has grade mounts with mon that i also need help with, i have never seen this type,could it be a private family crest of some kind?,thanks Julian

Hey mate yes thats the one,i buy a few swords from him,he is a great seller and ships fast to me in Australia,i also just purchased one this week in similar condition from that same seller,but with mon on Kabo and in its menuki too, leather wrapping around grib section on metal scabbard,with an old signed blade,cant wait for that one to arrive next week, do you have any other minty type 98's?? Thanks Julian,

Hey mate im not to good with the technical terms,but i believe im seeing its a 16th century blade from the opinions, i appreaciate any help,as the older blades can be quite a headache for a rookie like me, im most likely going to sell it,im not much of a fan of Wakizashi's or Crew gunto or what ever it was made into with its war mounts,i collect the Type 98's and varients of that type of sword,thank you for the help guy's Julian

Ok so i have measured it,im not sure if i said before but its a short blade, here is specs Cutting Edge: 52.5 cm Tang : 15 cm Overall 67.5cm blade thickness at base hear habik : 7.1mm blade thickess at tip area: 4 mm width from spine of blade to cutting edge at habiki area: 28.5 mm width from spine to cutting edge tip area: 20mm Im not sure what the correct terms are for these measuring points but i hope you can make it out,its mounted in a shorter scabbard also,its not full length compared to my type 98's scabbards,and this norimitsu is wooden scabbard with some kind of skin covering it,the hamon is very hard to capture in the lights i have inside,the hamon is faint at best i think the blade could use a professional polish it looks to have bveen powder balled or cleaned at some stage??,its got scratchs and chips,but its pretty old and still razor sharp for 80-90% of edge, thank you Julian

Hello guys here is a new sword i aquired,its 100% authentic and extremely minty condition,has a few very very tiny marks here and there but retians 98% original colour,mounts are in great shape,as is this whole sword, i have sold many of these but never had or seen one in this good of condition, can anybody show me a cleaner more crisp in colour Type 98?? Julian

Hey mate im so sorry if offened you, i did see the new images,they are 100% genuine without a doubt in the world, and yes minty does not mean fake, i have a few type 98's that look like they where made yesterday they are so clean of marks and scratch's and fresh in colour,its hard to believe its WW2 era made swords,anyways mate im very jealous of those tassel's the price of them each is about what i spend on each sword,about $2000-$3000 if im correct they have sold for recently, amazing for some silk hey!! Julian

Hello Paul, thank you kindly for the information i will get some much better images tommorow,and will measure it in the ways you have explained, i did not think i had one of those super expensive ones as im not that lucky, to be honest i almost sold it a few days ago,but thought it maybe worth my time to get it checked out first by some expert's in this field, i do sell alot of WW2 swords and collect a few minty ones,but i would not consider myself an expert by any means,thank you again Paul Regard's Julian

Hello Guys, i had this sword translated by fellow NMB users a few days ago as Norimitsu,as when i purchased it had a tag saying nobu?? unknown and i have to ask myself if its koto or shinto like tag said,as it was wrong with name i can assume it maybe wrong with age too, i cant find much information on this Norimitsu only some extremely high priced blades with the same name in maurmachi era i was told that is also known as koto era?, im not that good with older blades and era's,the sword was purchased as it is blade in wooden scabbard with shark or ray skin cover and military gunto mounts, Any help or information on norimitsu would be greatly appreaciated,the tang appears to look pretty old, i purchased this blade from a guy who had it sitting in his back room for 30 years and never bothered to get checked out,the hamon and overall blade is pretty good shape,i will get some better images its night time here so it does not help me with taking pic's, thank you Julian B

They do look nice and fresh the yellow is a bit to yellow maybe i saw one in flesh it looked more of gold colour then bright yellow?? im not an expert,but im a bit suspect on the lack of that funny zig zag pattern seen on the inside layers on these tassel's?? Julian

Hello Guys,thank you for the response,i really appreaciate it, i will do the powder trick and try to get a clear picture,but thank you for that translation i thought the 2nd symbol looked maybe close to kanemitsu shinto blade,but from the images you done very well,thank you again Julian

Hello Guys, well i have this sword set to arrive anyday,i cannot make out anything from this signature,the bottom symbol is mostly pitted and hard to see, i know the picture is not the best,but i think maybe the top symbol could be made out by someone who know's his stuff,im not an expert and i have tried to match up symbols but cannot,any help would be appreaciated,thank you Julian

Yes i am sorry for in-correct terms, you now how it is in Australia we forget how much we cut everything down to make each word shorter, but yes its not right by any means and i apolagise to anyone offended,but im in contact with guy i purchased it off i can ring him anytime,in fact i rang him on monday asking to buy one of his other rare piece's minty sharkskin scabbard type 98 with another shinto blade which he shot me down he just wont part with that one,but thank you for opinions of my stuff,im far from an expert i like to think i have a good eye for the right or rare type of military WW2 era swords,thanks Julian

Thanks again Matt,i will get some tang pics and some better blade pics,as i said these are just pics off net that sucked me in to buying this sword,and thanks i thought he had his name mixed im no expert but even i thought it was kanemitsu and not kanemoto, i cant read it all its more like matching up images for me,but thank you again Julian

Thanks Matt & Matt J i appreaciate the replies,i have tried to research the banner's but cant find one that exist or one for sale anywhere online and nobody i know is up to date with Japanese silk artwork,but it for sure very old, and the guy i purchased is very old he knew the Vet directly,i dont doubt for 1 second the truth behind how his friend killed this jap officer and took his stuff,i just dont see how else the banner and sword have been paired up? the banner does have some slight red/brown stains here and there it does look like somebodies blood is on it,is frail and has some slight damage here and there,but overall i believe its a great set,cheers guys Julian

Hello Guys another problem sword,im yet to take images of this so i will use the images i used to decide to purchase this,after pruchasing i noticed the signature did not look quite right for that age? could it have been re-signed or something maybe after being cut down for war mounts?? im far from an expert so any help or opions on this or my other topic would be great,in my novice opinion i dont think the tang has a thick enough patina to be that old where my other shinto era sword has thick black tar on it almost,thank you Also just to add i did try to search for this name,i found kanemitsu looks more like this the kanemoto? the kane symbol is the similar to my kanenori sword,just not as professionally cut i dont think, Julian

Ok Guy's i know this sword is in military mounts,but upon purchase i was told its a shinto era blade,the sword was captured during WW2 by an australian soldier in the kokoda area, he found the banner rooled up in the Japanese officer's backpack and noticed it matched the symbol on the sword he also took from him and kept it,i was told the banner is also from the shinto era and flown by samurai on horseback,also most likely sword and banner had been passed down through the families over the years,but cut down for war mounts?i notice the hamon goes way past the habiki and into the patina but yeah i just dont know,i have attached images of the sword,tang,mon,banner i hope somebody out there can help me,the sword does have some pitting and some stains but appears to be in good health,still deadly sharp and the hamon is a bit wild im no expert i just jumped on this package when i got the chance,from an old collector down sizing his stash of goodies,i also have another sword with similar problems to list in 5 minutes,apparently 1600's-1700's kanemitsu or kanemoto im not sure?? thanks guys Julian

Hello Guys,here is one sword here i recently aquired for my collection,its unknown and i would love to have it or see if it can translated please if anybody can help it would be much appreaciated,the scabbard has surrender tag glued to it,the tassel has a symbol stiched into it,the tang is signed but unknown to me and others i show, i have tried and after a few hours infront of the swordsmiths lists online the symbols all look the same to me,this will be 100% wrong but i saw a symbols that relate to kaneriki that look similar,yes my blurry vision of kanji mahem made that out??as i said look similar im far from an expert,and have no idea about kanji symbols,thank you Julian