Bruce Pennington

They also got the "spring" wrong, though they had it right, "autumn" at the top.

That would be an awesome book, Marcin! I'm just trying to imagine - All of Mal's articles on WWII smiths; the Mantetsu article; the Souvenir Article; Sam's Type 95 article; hopefully a Type 25 article from John. I'd have to check with Akira Komiya, and Nick's wife, but it would be great to include Nick's sword articles. Don't know if the Stamps doc would be too big to add. Hmmm .....

Marcin, Great find! At 21.5" it is a waki, and clearly made that way. That is now the 4th Mantetsu waki I have on file. Interestingly, they are all close together (not literally in a row, but close): 1939 O4 Spring 1940 O166 Autumn 1940 Wa33 Autumn 1940 Wa 73 Autumn @Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN Photos from the links, for when they go dead

Marcin, That would be something more in line with Mal's - @mecox - expertise.

Marcin, No, don't have that one. Any chance of posting a photo of the date and one overall of the gunto? I don't have a FB account, so it won't let me see the link.

Jens, Kaz, over at this Warrelics thread got a full translation of the chart: 平時携帯兵器表 - Google Sheets.pdf

Thanks, Jace! That is the mark of Echizen’ya Tazaki Shōten, one of the makers of these swords. Also, one of the few we actually know the name of. Most are unknowns.

You could try taking a clear, close-up and post it. You are right, though, there is nothing to be gained by taking the 19 apart. As to the originality of the signature on your waki, the other guys would have to help you with that. It's not something I study.

Jace, You may already know, but the longer sword is a Type 19 Japanese officer dress sword (sometimes called a 'parade sword' by collectors). They were worn in non-combat situations and not a real weapon. You can read up on them on Ohuma's site: Command Saber - Ohmura What is the length of the cutting edge of the shorter sword? It appears to be a wakizashi, the shorter sword of the two carried by the Samurai. Under 24" is a waki.

Found this one on an auction site. Slightly different in that it's got the bamboo leaf tsuba, but sakura fuchi, and plain kabutogane: It has a 1940 Hidetoshi blade in it.

It has always puzzled me when others place their expectations on someone. We are all not the same. We do not learn at the same rates. My wife did that to me for decades, causing untold damage to our relationship and lives together. I'm proud of Steven for learning to tolerate the grief that he gets around here. It shows a great deal of patience and determination. I can vouch for the fact that he's making an effort to learn about this stuff. It's simply not going to happen at the rate some of you guys want. Let's just enjoy our time here, together, folks.

Ah, now that you mention that, I remember him. Thanks, Mal.

Hey guys, did I get this one right? Thanks! 1940 Hidetoshi

You guys lost me - what's a "tos violation"?

We've all seen the swords tightly covered in leather, head to toe, but spotted this one in the hands of a pilot in this photo. Interesting to see one "out in the wild" so to speak:

That's a beauty, Marcin! Kanenao in Murata style blade. The fittings are high quality. My personal guess would be that the second haikan simply went missing. The late-war kaigunto, with authorized single haikan, didn't have gold gilding on the fittings.

Both Conway and Mal did, above: Nobumitsu 信光 on tachi-mei, and date is Showa ju kyu nen ju ichi gatsu 昭和十九年十一月 Showa 19 (1944) November.

Pat, Please ask him for a photo of the back edge of the nakago (tang). There will be a serial number there.

I already like the "Subscriptions" label. "Store" had always thrown me off because I think of buying things in a store, and there were never any goodies to buy in that "Store."

The round stamp on the right of of the Nagoya Army Arsenal. You'll find plenty of bayonet specialists on these forums: Firearms of the Rising Sun - Gunboards Japanese Militaria - Wehrmacht-awards

Carlyle - or do you prefer G? - That blade may still be something old. It has a civilian tsuka and tsuba and it fitted with a wooden saya, leather covered, which is what we often see when a family blade was been donated or bought for the war effort. Sure would be nice to see the nakago of both of them, if they will allow you to remove the handels.

Not sure of your exact meaning of "restoring". Just to clarify, Carlyle, the guys don't mock anyone, but they are strongly against do-it-yourself blade polishing. Buffing and sanding regardless of the extreme fineness of the paper always leaves undesirable finish to the blade. Removing active rust, as mentioned above, is always recommended, and no one is against efforts to restore fittings to their glory (even that comes with some difficulty, sometimes.) If your blade turns out to be something really valuable, then attempts to self-polish literally ruin the blade to the collecting community. And blades without signatures are often still appraised to have come from valued smiths, so the rust on the nakago doesn't eliminate that option.

And some of us would love to see photos of the military sword! Please!

An immediate give-away (there are plenty others) is the angle of the blade tip. The Chinese do this with blades, the Japanese don't I THINK I saw a tanto, years ago, with this shape, but it's the only time I've seen one in all my years. On the other hand, 90% of the fakes that come through here have this shape.

Nice work, Thomas! Interesting read. You are the Master Researcher -