Bruce Pennington

John, is the kissaki half imbeded in the carpet, or is that a naganita-style kissaki?

John, After re-reading Nick's document, he mentions that after 2 years, problems with the 25 were identified and fixes proposed, but he says that he didn't know if any of them were actually applied. I have not looked at the 25s enough to say for sure, but I think the first one was never made, right? "Improvement request 1 A button to free the sword from the scabbard was located on the backstrap of the grip, but this position being exposed to falling rain, let the rain seep into the grip from around the button, which further led to the scabbard filling with water and causing the blade to rust. In addition, the spring effect of the Chuso lock got weaker and soon would not suffice to hold the blade in the scabbard. So the idea was to eliminate water entry by discontinuing the unlock button and instead adopt leafsprings attached to the mouth piece of the scabbard, like the construction applied to bayonet scabbards, which hold the blade and prevent slipping out of the scabbard."

Jeff, You have a Type 98 officer sword. You can read up on them here: Commissioned Officer Sword - 1938; Ohmura Care and cleaning tips: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Hi Kevin! Just curious, is your screenname from the movie? Loved that one! For starters, a civil blade fitted with leather cover for the war. Looks like a wakizashi (cutting edge shorter than 24"). Is the tassel all brown?

Marcin, The civil swords refitted for the war came in all sorts of combinations. I've seen old blades in: full military koshirae; military koshirae, but civil tsuka; military koshirae, with civil menugi; full civil fittings, leather cover; civil fittings, military tsuka; field saya, civil tsuka, army menugi; etc.

Luke, I tried finding the Warrelics post this came from, but couldn't. Maybe Thomas - @Kiipu - or @IJASWORDS = can help you. While the letter from the polisher had some interesting insight to wartime blade production, he wasn't correct about the source of the Showa stamp. My thought is that, as a polisher, he simply saw blades at the arsenal with the Showa and anchor stamps and assumed they were put there by arsenal inspectors. We now know, from a wartime magazine article, that the Showa stamp was an inspector of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. Thomas, he's referencing this post:

The fastener method is quite common. That kabutogane is a bit unusual, but knowing what we do about the late war effect on supplies, it doesn't bother me. I agree, it's likely late war. As to who carried it, it's not possible to know. We've seen it carried by active officers, NCOs, and Gunzoku.

Thanks Sam. An odd one. I have several of his blades with numbers, but they are 3 and 4 digit and follow sequentially. As Gilda Radner said - It's always somethin'!

Here's one of FB. "Kill the enemy, Serve the nation", with Buddhist symbols of peach and pearl:

Con, where is the "80?"

Interesting theory, Marcin. It would normally be considered a fittings assembly number, but supporting your idea is the fact that the number is not on the other pieces (only one side of the seppa are shown. It would help to see the other side, too). I have two blades on file with an "8" on the nakagojiri. A Kanemichi and a Hidetoshi: Filed under "Unknown". I've been assuming they are a shop logo, but your idea is just as plausible.

Kaigunto with white samegane and army colored ito. At this O'Gallerie Auction. Blade is a Seki stamped Yoshinaga.

Ah yes. I've heard of the nanban blades. And I should have said "imported" because I don't know that it was Western steel they used.

Ha, and even that is messy! We know that some makers, way back, used Western steel. Yet, today, no one would be able to tell which blades had it. So, they would be labeled as nihonto by collectors. It's messy. I will often just say "traditionally made" or "non-traditionally made".

I've never heard the history of how the collecting world started using "gendaito" to mean Showa-era nihonto, but it's probably a short-hand way of saying that.

Mike, Welcome to NMB! You can read up on your Navy sword (kaigunto) on Ohmura's site: Naval Officer Swords Care and cleaning tips: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Thanks Marcin. I have some NCO 95s with black spots. I'll try this method and let you know how it comes out.

I hate it when auctions don't show the nakago. Looks like someone recently did a refurb/rebuild.

Marcin, I'm with Nathaniel in that I'd like to know your process. I can hold baking soda and choji abura in my hands .... but what do I do with them?

I probably should wait for the full translation, but this should be your guy, if I've gotten the right name: "HIDETOSHI (秀俊), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Hidetoshi” (秀俊), real name Ido Shunzō (井戸俊三), born June 14th 1915, he worked as a guntō smith and died Semtepber 18th 1985, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide)"

Sam, maybe split this off to either Translation or Military forum? Hi Dustin, the real translators will fill us in better, but I believe your blade was made by Hidetoshi. The stamp is the Showa stamp of the civil Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. An industry group tasked to make quality control inspections on all blades made in the area. Got to go for now, but we'll get you more info on him later today.

Here's a significant find - A sword surrendered by Capt Endo in Borneo with a purple cord wrapped through the haikan. Note the photo. The cord was there when he surrendered it! Hard to see in my photo of a photo, but it can be clearly seen wrapped just the way it is, in hand. Owned by @Ian B3HR2UH Ian Brooks. The photo is taken from a video of the surrender which shows the cord in place must better. In the future, I won't be dismissing such cords so easily when they show up on gunto.

Good eye there, Con! There might have been a little more experimentation in the first couple of years. Photos for later when the link goes dead:

Ha! Yes, there are two photos on that page, both army pilots, and both wearing the goggles upside down.

Interestingly, I had just re-read Ohmura's discussion. He states the daggers being issued in his photo were to Kaiten, human bomb, pilots and to his knowledge there are no photos or documentation that the daggers had been issued to any other kamikaze groups.