Bruce Pennington

Jumyo

Thanks Thomas! They both look to be in late-war fittings, although that kai has an upgraded saya. Can't imagine paying for saya upgrade, yet still having that icky tsuka.

I am out of town for a few weeks, and don't have my books. Maybe someone with a Hawley list can answer about his rating. I haven't intentionally noted which blades were in gunto with mon, but I suspect you will find everything in them. Maybe @PNSSHOGUN has experience with that question.

Amazing, @Jimny posted a gunto by the exact same smith, today: The stamp was used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association on inspected/approved showato. It was a civilian organization doing the inspections at the request of area shops and forges to maintain quality blades. "KATSUMASA (勝正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Katsumasa” (勝正), real name Kojima Shichi´emon (小島七右衛門), born October 20th 1892, he studied under Kaneyoshi (兼吉), worked as a guntō smith and died September 22nd 1947" Likely no date on the other side, with that large Seki stamp, but most of those were made in 1942, plus or minus a year.

Nice find, Perry! Don't know how much you know about it. Smith was Katsumasa: "KATSUMASA (勝正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Katsumasa” (勝正), real name Kojima Shichi´emon (小島七右衛門), born October 20th 1892, he studied under Kaneyoshi (兼吉), worked as a guntō smith and died September 22nd 1947" Likely no date on the other side, with that large Seki stamp, but most of those were made in 1942, plus or minus a year. Faded blue/brown tassel was for Capt's & Lt's.

Hi Robert, For clarification, blades with the Showa stamp, like yours, were not "arsenal blades." The stamp was an inspection stamp of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. The Association began inspecting blades made by the industry at the request of sword makers and sellers. The demand for Japanese blades exploded in the mid 1930s as Japan transitioned away from Western styled swords, back to Japanese, Samurai, styled swords. There were low-quality blades hitting the market and hurting the industry's reputation. So, they approached the Cutlery Association asking them to do Quality Control by inspecting all blades (more likely all non-traditionally made) made in the area. The stamp showed up in 1935, but most blades with the stamp were made in 1940-41. After logging yours into my files, it was surprising to see how many of them were in civilian fittings. I'll run a count to see the percentages, but it seems higher than blades with other stamps. My point being, that they were not "arsenal" blades. The majority were sold to the Army and fitted out that way, but many of these blades were being initially bought by civilians or civil shops, later donated to the war effort and refitted, sometimes with just a leather cover, like yours. On another note, I'm glad to hear you had success recovering the leather cover. I have read many time of guys trying to preserve their leather covers, but had never heard of such success as you've had. The blade does have a temper line, hamon in Japanese. It is the straight pattern called suguha. Here is a care guide: Japanese Sword Care Guide - Japaneseswordindex.com

This white-painted leather covered Type 98 with white ito, posted by @kanemotows6 here:

Dang, Matt! I just realized what I was looking at with that crumbing saya (scabbard). It's a leather cover that was painted white, and even the ito (cloth handle wrap) is white! There are a couple of threads discussing legit WWII swords, often NCO Type 95s, but some officer swords. Read these: Winter Is Coming - White Type 95s Greetings From AZ .... Type 98, white

Thanks Matt. That's "NA" "HO"; Na of the Nagoya Army Arsenal that likely processed the blade, then HO of Kokura Army Arsenal that had supervisory authority over them at the time.

Oh, and the sword was a Type 98 Japanese officer sword. You can see examples on Ohmura's site here: Army Officer Type 98 - Ohmura Care and cleaning guide: Japanese Sword Care - JSI

Matt, In spite of the condition of the fittings, you've likely got a really nice blade there. Sukenobu, from Noshu (Modern day Gifu, If I have that right) and was an RJT rated smith that made blades traditionally. I don't know when he got RJT qualified, maybe @mecox or @vajo might know. Check a litter higher above the smith name to see if there was a star stamped up there. The earliest I have on file from him is Oct '42, so far, with a star.

Late to the conversation, sorry, busy day yesterday. Seems like a moderator for each forum would be ideal. But that's coming from my world where I only study 1 thing - military gunto. Tough topic to discuss openly, I'd hate to hurt anyone's feelings by not naming someone, but hey - we're all big boys (and girls!), right? I'm online everyday, quite often only once per day, but could do it if only the Military section. Life puts too many demands on me to consider more than that. Some names I would consider: Experienced guys I've never seen say a cross word: @george trotter @mecox @Grey Doffin @b.hennick @Bugyotsuji @uwe @Nobody @Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN (and I'm missing somebody that I can't remember their name!!!) Newer guys, but same deal: @John C @Scogg @Conway S Heck, more names are coming to mind, but this would be a good start. It would be an honor to help, yes.

Dan, That would depend upon the market it is being sold in. It also depends upon whether that blade is a zoheito (factory blade) or something old. As a zoheito, with all the corrosion, it would go toward the low end of the market, say $600-900 USD. If the blade is older, it would be worth more.

George, You are right about the brown tassel. It indicates the sword was carried by someone in the civil branch of the military - Gunzoku. The large Seki stamp was a civil inspector stamp with the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. Civil stamped blades, both Showa and Seki, were always katana mei. Blades inspected and stamped by the Army, were tachi mei. So, this one is perfectly correct. I'd appreciate a full nakago shot of that one showing the Seki stamp, and an overall shot of the sword, for my files if possible!

Waiting for John, @PNSSHOGUN, and I'm away from home for a bit, so don't have my tassels to compare. But here is Type 32 diagram that seems to show the upper band. The one you are looking at appears legit to me, so it's a variation, or the upper band simply went missing over time.

Here are the updated photos: I believe the impression of a bend comes from puff in the towel and/or lighting.

Got these in from the owner, but don't think he showed enough to answer your question about a bend. I've asked him for more blade, and he said he's send when able:

Zoheito? And another T98 with that unusual dark fabric for same'.

And that would explain why my brain has been carrying around both numbers, 1940 & 1942! I think I will default back to '42 after reviewing Nick's post and chart page, which I'll post below: "Further on details of interest to collectors, I understood from Stu W's article that there were unknown markings. Production statistics information often help in clarifying such points, so I show you an excerpt of production capacity projections for March and September 1942. You will see a supplier called Mizuno , who is not included in Stu W's thread. They only produced for a few months in 1942 before getting sacked. They had a logo consisting of the character 水 in a hexagon. Also of note is the switching in arsenal jurisdictions that occurred in Sept. 1942, which would have changed markings, too."

Nice observation, Sam! Had not picked up on that before. Here's a Tokyo and a Nagoya, legit, for comparison:

I don't study the old blades and methods, so someone else will have to answer about that. I know it was used in the 20th century, though.

All good, Steve!

Ed, You can read about these a bit on this Yasukuni-to Thread. To add to Brian's post, they all have the same yasurime (file mark style), mei style, and the smiths are listed.

I've emailed the owner, asking for another shot of the blade, with different lighting, different surface background. I'll update if you sends us something.

Might help to see some photos, Mustafa. By your description, it sounds much like the zoheito, factory blades of the early 1930s and also like the Type 95 NCO blades of WWII. But photos, and maybe an explanation as to why you think it is mono-steel, would help.