huntershooter

That is much appreciated Morita san.

That helps to substantiate my guess that "Katsukiyo" mei was used on gun-to. I have oshigata of "Sadakane" in Shinshinto taikan. The "I, (no) Ue, saku" and yasurime look to be by the same hand as the "Katsukiyo" mei. Thank you for your effort Morita san.

Pg. 158, plate 13-8; "Swords of Imperial Japan...", Jim Dawson. Most probably a type 98 "light weight shin-gunto, presumably carried in non combat situations as alternative to dress swords". Don't believe it's a "boys sword". Could we see photos of the tang/nakago?

I've a star stamped gunto signed "I (no) ue Katsukiyo saku", dated "autumn 1944". I know (through communicating with Geo. Trotter-who dredged up the details) that Katsukiyo was the name used by the "future" Sadakane while studying with Sadakazu/Sadakatsu. Question: When did Sadakane begin using the "Sadakane" mei, and was there a son/student using the "Katsukiyo" mei? My thanks.

Wholeheartedly agree with Keith.

Yes it is a small world. Link worked for me. Appears to be a "Showa" stamp on nakago, above mekugi ana. I find no reference to this KaneMitsu in Gendai Toko Meikan or Modern Japanese Swordsmiths. Most likely a "Showato". Perhaps George will have some insight.

AkiMitsu origami is by NTHK NPO.

David; I've a mumei Gendaito attributed to (Tesshudojin) AkiMitsu by NTHK with Kanteisho papers. He was a student of Kurihara AkiHide at Nihonto Tanren Denshusho and a Rikugun Jumei Tosho.

Bruno- by definition Gendaito were made with tamahagane. If made from any other material a sword would not be Gendaito. I'm not sure I understand what your togishi friend was telling you.

Most interesting George. Thank you for your effort!

The polishers marks nicely compliment the masame hada. I really like the blade.

Good looking blade Tom. Was it recently polished? Surely that isn't the original polish?

Bravo George. I am in agreement with your comments. I too, have a Kyu Gunto mounted blade which appears to be Kanbun Shinto (mumei). The Nakago is ubu, the mounts (tsuka) have "two hands" capability.

Smith appears to be MasaMichi. No help on the rest.

Darren; a nameless Master said this: "no learn sword from stick, learn stick from stick". Yes, a bit opinionated. I'm in no position to agree or disagree.

Don't go there pal. You may not like the response. Lets stick to Nihonto.

I've a KaneHide (Rikugun Jumei Tosho) gunto with star stamp and numbers stamped on nakago. Don't believe it was all that unusual.

I have seen videos on "Youtube" featuring Gassan Sadaichi and others. At one time there was a video featuring a Mukansa togishi (whose name escapes me). Don't know if this is any help. Best of luck in your task.

Outstanding polish and blade. As its "curator", you have my admiration. Nothing is as fulfilling as resurecting an abused old blade.

Absolutely no way to know without blade in hand. Smart money is on "it's ruined".

With no frame of reference as to size, this is a guess: Appears to be a .45 cal. round at a very shallow angle. I would take a .45 cal. bullet and see if it matches the apparent radius.

It has been my experience that it is common to find Gendai blades (perhaps not "good") in wooden Ishime sayas.

Yep.

Those diminsions are in the ball park Joe. Do you know the seller, has he/she references?

Being one of the two founding instructors and producing only 500 blades +- would make a YasuHiro a desireable blade (if you get my drift). The mei, it's location on nakago and Yasuri mei look OK in your photos. You don't provide key information like nagasa, sori, hada. Yasukuni-to usually followed a "blueprint" re this, unless blade was a special order. I don't have books with me so can't comment on hamon on this blade. As has been said before, I would want to be able to trust the seller-with assurance blade could be returned if proven gimei. I would not hazard a guess from photos and info provided. Good luck.