Sugiyama

I think my thing lies in the fact that I see the sword as a weapon first and foremost. I definitely am able to appreciate a sword for its subtleties like a wonderful hada, an elegant hamon, and a high class art polish. The process that goes into making a nihonto is fascinating, admirable, and is something I take great pride in being part of my ancestry. But my school of thought largely is influenced by the late swordsman Nakamura Taizaburo, who looked for practicality in a sword, as well as maintaining reverance to the kami, the spirit of the sword, and the ideology of a warrior not wanting to cut, but to polish their mind and body. Perhaps I just need to open myself to some literature that admires the sword and its crafting as more of an art form. Where can I start as far as books? I'm honestly (and likely obviously) a bit new to nihonto and should probably give myself the opportunity to look through this new lens. Forgive my rambling, haha. Maybe I should start a new thread. -Sugi

Yep, I've read early type 3 swords typically had much better blades, but around late '44 and beyond were metal scabbards and lower quality blades. Like I said, the way I see it is they aren't high quality at all in comparison to a gendaito or even a type 98 mass produced gunto, but they are certainly effective weapons that definitely could hold their own in a combat situation. -Sugi

I'll watch out for it! I, too, like the simplistic fittings of the Type 3 koshirae, but since all of my blade's fittings were either missing or in dismal shape, I'm having it sent to be mounted in new koshirae. I'll post the results when that's done. So far as I know, late Type 3 are of a lower quality compared to even the mass produced Type 98 gunto out there. Now granted they are still of a certainly usable quality (as seen here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Japan-WWII-WW2-Signed-Katana-Sword-Scabbard-/131085117517?hash=item1e8548284d:g:KNgAAOxy4dNSxs4a), they just don't hold a candle in workmanship and beauty compared to nihonto. -Sugi

It's wonderful to have this background on my Showato. Thank you very much for your help!

This is actually incredibly helpful. Thank you very much, Mr. Trotter. Nice catch on the stamp, I had been told it was a "sho" stamp, but the two are vaguely similar. My only remaining question is how much work went into the production of the blades themselves. Were the Type 3 blades at this point in the war punched out, ground, and tempered, or was there any level of actual "blacksmithing" going on? Thanks again for all of the help thus far.

http://imgur.com/a/1U4E9 So far as I know, the suguha hamon on this is merely etched, and has a sho stamp. Also, I don't know how well the photos show this, but the blade polish is quite wavy.

Rich, I have been to your website and it has been a massive help to me, so thank you very much. My mei matches closest to Hiromitsu #3 on that list, with the tight, slanted Mitsu with a short tail. It may help me to know how Type 3 Gunto blades were produced in 1945. I have one that's got the etched suguha hamon, metal saya variant. I've been attempting to deduce where the sword was made and, if Type 3 1945 blades were at all done by hand at any point in the process, who forged it.

Are there swords signed with that version of Hiromitsu, or would he have signed it as 廣光?

Thank you! I've also seen 弘 used, in the context of Kofuji Hiromitsu. Is that true in this case as well?

I've come across plenty of sources on the web informing on very general factors for Type 3 production, and some pretty in depth, but none on the blades themselves. What went into the 1945 Type 3 blades? If they were completely machine made, who signed them and why? Also, while browsing various Hiromitsu smiths during the Showa period, I noticed some sources have the kanji for Hiro as 広, but never have seen a nakago signed as 広光, but as 廣光. Are there showato out there signed with the former version of Hiro? The specific smith I'm referencing is Ido Jin'ichi (井戸 仁一), who worked under the name Hiromitsu, but all registries have him listed with the former character for Hiro. If my sword was forged or signed by anyone, he is my most likely candidate, unless the 広 version of Hiro isn't some mistake. Anything any folks can offer to point me in the right direction is greatly appreciated.

Do you have any pictures? Do they appear similar to the ones in mine?

There is something written on the top of the tsuka. I'll post a picture of it later. Would it help to know this and the third example are both Hiromitsu, type 3 guntos?

So as the subject suggests, on the mune of the nakago of my recently acquired Showato, I found a group of three little dents. I became curious because one of the other Showato I had been considering purchasing also had a group of three dents on the nakago, only difference being the dents were on the shinogi-ji portion. I also found another Showato, with what appears to be two dents in the mune portion. I've done some looking and can't find anything about if these bear any significance anywhere. I posted this inquiry to the SBG forum with no luck, and later asked reddit user and resident nihonto enthusiast /u/gabedamien, who directed me here. So I guess my question is are these dents indicative of something, and if so, what is it? Pics of the dents: http://i.imgur.com/zXWrz9m.jpg My Showato http://i.imgur.com/pIPV2to.jpg Other Example 1 http://i.imgur.com/IOBXAr3.jpg Other Example 2 (may just be staining? Hard to tell) Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks, Sugi