Bruce Pennington

Thus the chart now has "RA" in '41, but with a footnote: (note: Pasting the chart on the NMB site causes spacing distortion) 1941 WA ワ KA カ YO ヨ TA タ RE レ SO ソ TSU ツ NE ネ NA ナ WA 6 -S WA 134S WA 158S WA 175S WA 231S WA 238S WA 638S KA 89-S KA 228-S KA 232-S KA 236-S KA 238-S KA 275-S KA 353-S KA 405-S KA 458-S YO 11 YO 57-S YO 122-S YO 150-S YO 162-S YO 234 YO 320-S YO 349-S YO 350-S YO 352-S TA 24-S TA 68-S TA 127-S TA 181-S TA 287-S TA 298-S TA 277-S TA 305-S TA 313-S TA 336-S RE 6-S RE 71-S RE 153-S RE 193-S RE 347-S RE 413-S RE 409-S RE 476-S RE 524-S SO 25-S SO 66-S SO 185-S SO 216-S SO 219-S SO 231-S SO 257-S SO 308-S SO 453-S SO 482-S SO 564-S SO 574-S SO 620-S SO 630-S SO 718-S Tsu 29-S Tsu 95-S Tsu556-S Tsu 198S Tsu 254S Tsu 438S Tsu 573S Tsu 575S Tso 601S Tsu 651S NE 2-S NE 26-S NE 144-S NE 347-S NE 384-S NE 396-S NE 401-S NE 414-S NA 5-S NA 124-S NA 106-S NA 184-S NA 232-S NA 354-S NA 377-S NA 379-S Na 383-S NA 484-S NA 573-S NA 574-S NA 716-S RA 222-S# ? 218 ? 283 ?xxx Filed off.Bohi 1942 RAラ MUム U ウ WIヰ NOノ O オ* KUク YAヤ MAマ RA 7(?)-S RA 100-S RA 341-S RA 495-S RA 768-S RA 820-S RA 823-S RA 858-S RA 934-S RA 984-S RA1027S RA1030S RA1071S RA1162S RA1196S RA1232S RA1256S RA1333S RA1356S Mu 87-S Mu 89-S Mu213-S Mu528-S Mu555-S Mu595-S Mu637-S Mu705-S U 20-S U 70-S U 99-S U 255-S U 357-S U 414-S U 481-S U 592-S U 703-S U 704-S U 1593-S NO 34-S NO 273-S NO 302-S NO 430-S NO 474-S NO 493-S NO 533-S NO 730-A Ku 33-A Ku 101-A Ku 327-A Ku 452-A Ku 466-A Ku 471-A Ku 560-A Ku 878-A Ku 897-A Ku 947-A Ku1020A Ku1087A Ku1200A Ku1226A Ku1327A YA 72-A YA 79-A YA 201-A YA 246-W YA 350-A YA 353-A YA 417-A YA 475-A YA 505-A YA 608-A YA 622-A YA 623-A YA 677-A YA 702-A YA 710-A YA 736-A YA 957-A YA1048-A Ma 77-A Ma 78-A ? 26-S ? 345-S ? 483-S ? 529-S ? 744-S ノ???-A

For those that enjoy the SMR Mantetsu world, we just came across this 1941 Koa Isshin that has a number - RA 222. That series is from the first series of 1942. My first thought was "Ah, overlap! They started the RA series in '41 and continued through to '42", but after consulting the chart, it's clear the RA series began in '42. We have 1942 blades numbered RA 7 and RA 100 already, both with the distinct 1942 mei. Quoting Thomas, @Kiipu: "... the mei 満鐵作之 is 1941 but the series ラ would be 1942 and a different mei 満鐵謹作. If correct, could it be a blade from 1941 that was not finished until 1942?" His hypothesis is the best one I can think of. Photos

Excellent! Rare to see bonji on a gunto blade. Any estimate of a date range?

Looks like something made by Hanwei. I just checked their site and didn't see any WWII replicas, but I have seen examples of their work posted on NMB. Top notch workmanship.

I just checked his listing. He only is shipping within the United States. Sorry!

Not common, but we have seen one or two, like that one. I posted a while back and @Lareon commented on.

A bad one for auction of fleabay HERE

eBay Link

I have often heard that the tsuka wood can dry out and shrink over the decades. Maybe this is what happened in this case? What about the idea of folding small pieces of paper to stuff underneath the loose places? Side question: Is this on your Nagamitsu blade I have on file?

It is an old myth that the steel fuchi and tsuba were late war. Richard Fuller has a brief chart showing them seemingly randomly scattered throughout the serial numbers. On that, though, @Kiipu might have a more specific answer.

Posting for discussion's sake. I've been imagining this style pattern as representing a stone wall, but this one makes me wonder. strange for a wall shape, unless the artist just ran with the idea and modified it to enhance beauty. Posted by @Nazar HERE.

That's a great story and a nice 95, thanks for sharing! Sam or Thomas will help you with the date estimate. The Tokyo 1st arsenal didn't make any efforts to stamp the steel fuchi, only Nagoya did that.

The Sadakiyo I have on file match those, too, and are unlike the one in question.

Made in November 1944. I think you have the name right. Sesko lists 2 by that name working during the war: "MICHIZANE (道真), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Michizane” (道真), real name Kosaka Takao (小坂隆男), born February 20th 1921, he worked as guntō smith and died December 17th 1964 MICHIZANE (道真), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Michizane” (道真), family name Nagao (長尾), he worked as guntō smith, ryōkō no retsu (Akihide)" You got the small Seki stamp right, of the Nagoya Army Arsenal Seki inspector. The other is the "Gifu" stamp. Not much known about it. It showed up in 1943 - 1945 on Gifu/Seki area blades. Likely another Nagoya arsenal inspector.

That's great! First one from him in the RJT chart. I'll post it that way.

Thanks, Conway! Who did the translation and said Sadakiyo? After looking at them both in Sesko's list, I'd lean more to Sadatoshi, too. Interesting that he was the son of Sadakiyo: "SADATOSHI (貞寿), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Niigata – “Sadatoshi” (貞寿), real name Uemura Jirō (上村二郎), born 1916, he studied under his father Sadakiyo (貞清) and worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō, jōko no jōi (Akihide), Fourth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)" I only have 2 Sadakiyo on file and both use standard writing rather than this 'cursive' (or rather a mix of both in this case) on yours. I don't have any Sadatoshi on file for comparison. Have you searched for other Sadatoshi examples?

@NewbieSwordGuy Is this mounted in a Type 3, contingency model, or a kaigunto?

English version: "Katana - Sword officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy Kai Gunto, also known as kaigunto, from the II - Japan - Edo Period (1600-1868)"

Conway, Could I get shots of the nakago mei and date for my files? We'll have to see what the experts say on the stamp. @BANGBANGSAN @Kiipu @SteveM, but generally speaking, numbers on RJT blades tend (not always) to be read with the blade horizontal, while logo and other emblems tend to be observed blade tip up.

Thanks, Sam. The date is June 1938, so this picture is interesting in light of the fact that the Type 95s were out for some time. I do believe that once the military announced they were going back to samurai-styled swords, there must have been rush to bring out the family blades when the official military gunto were not yet available. The only uniform regulation Nick Komiya could find officially permitting NCOs to carry civil swords was dated 1943. Who knows what guys were doing unofficially.

Yep! Matches the mei style of the others in my files. Just couldn't remember who it was. Thanks, Steve!

Yes, large Seki stamp.

They both could be right, Showa era tachi, missing parts or bad shape, restored by a recent collector. I just recently saw that mei in my files, but have forgotten who it was. Maybe @SteveM can helps us out?

That is what I mean when I said double stamped. All 5 have a large stamp and a small stamp, same side. I checked my files, and for a while I was filing circled anchors and have a few dozen. The problem is that they are ALL undated. So, it seems unlikely we could tie the use to a timeline. I have not gone through them to sort large stamps from small. I think @mecox had a discussion of the use in his Navy article. The ones in my file that are signed are: Hiratoshi Inaba Kanenayo Kiyomichi Masahiro Taketada Takeyasu Takeyoshi Toyosuke

I don't have a good feel for how or why the 2 sizes were used. My only tracking numbers are due to the souvenir chart, so I cannot speak to the broader spectrum of Navy blades. But in my chart, I only have 5 that are double stamped: Mumei - 3 Mitsunaga - 1 Takeyasu - 1 I have 6 Takayama blades in the souvenir chart. The breakdown of large vs small: Large -1 Small - 2 No stamps - 2 Unknown - 1 Of the souvenirs in general, out of 108 blades: Large - 58 Small - 16 The rest are not shown in photos. It would take someone like @Kiipu to discuss the practice on wartime blades.