Bruce Pennington

Good catch, Matt, I knew something else looked off! He's referring to this:

Hi Timothy! You have an older civil blade re-fitted for WWII. If you want an approximate age, I'd recommend posting (or having Sam move this) to the Nihonto forum of NMB https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/3-nihonto/ They will need to see the bare blade, full length photo, and a couple of measurements like Nagasa and Sori

Thanks to @Marcin for finding this new variant of the 4-Sakura tsuba design on this Jauce.com auction. Slightly different that the one found by @Itomagoi and

Dang! Thanks guys. I get those two terms blended in my head and have to look it up half the time before I type. Just thought I had it today!

Good eye, on that celluloid! Yes, it appears so. The wire sarute is unusual, too. Considering the replacement bolt for menuki, the sword may have had the sarute replace, too. We've had some discussions about the use of celluloid, and working from memory, I want to say it was used almost the whole time throughout the war by various shops. Duncan, would it be too much trouble to get a clear shot of the tsuba (hand guard) by itself showing the detail of the workmanship?

Sam, Here's my Suya, #9811. I suspect all the Suya tsuba are all the same style, so you might not need this:

Davis, Thanks for posting your sword, it's a very nice one. As John mentioned, the seppa (spacers around the hand guard) should be in this order, with the larger of the 'fat' seppa on the side of the blade: Mounting Details - Ohmura Site Yours would be the one on the left. You can read up on these on Ohmura's site: Army Commisioned Officer's Shingunto - Type 98 Your sword has the blue/brown tassel, which is the Company Grade tassel, meaning he could have been either Warrant Officer, Lieutenant, or Captain. One final note - the bolt and nut holding the tsuka to the blade is not "normal". It would originally have been a bamboo peg, called menuki. If someone in your family didn't put it there, then that means the officer must have lost his menuki and replaced it with the bolt. Very interesting, if it was so.

[Sam, want to move this over to Translation Assistance or Nihonto?] Hank, there are a couple guys that frequent the Military section that may be able to help, but Sam will move this over to the group of guys who really know these older blades. They're going to want to see photos of the full-length bare naked blade, a close-up of a section showing hamon (temper line) and steel texture (hada), and maybe blade tip. They'll also need some measurements, like this, but mostly the nagasa and sori:

Duncan, "Field Grade" is a term that includes Majors, Lt. Colonels, and Colonels. "Company Grade" includes Warrant Officers, Lt's, and Capt's. It's a nice rig, overall. Even has an intact leather retention strap. With the Showa stamp, you'll likely get something under $2,000, more in the range of $1,200 - 1,800. And I only say up to $1,800 as it has the field grade tassel, which alone can sell around $350. But all that will depend on where you sell and the market behavior for the moment you are selling.

Ah, yes, I never recognize the stylized "tada", but you're right. I have another of his blades with that same mei. Here's your guy, Duncan: "KANETADA (兼忠), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanetada” (兼忠), real name Ishihara Keiichi (石原銈一), born October 10th 1920, he worked as a guntō smith" Don't know how much you know about your sword, so forgive the over-information, if your already up to speed: Ohmura's pages on the WWII gunto: Military Swords of Imperial Japan - Ohmura Care and cleaning: Japanese Sword Care The Showa stamp was used by the civilian Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association on approved blades between 1935 and 1942, with most dated blades found made in 1940-41. They are usually nice quality showato. I'd appreciate a photo or 2 of the full rig for my files.

What does the rest of the Dirk look like? The wire wrap around the handle does not look standard. this is how a standard Japanese Navy Dirk would look.

But what is that? Anyone?

Oh, I see the difference. Different cord, different tassel top. Don't know what that is.

Tony, I wish I could remember where I read it, but I recall reading that near the end of the war, they dropped the production step of crimping the ends, to speed up the process. This may be what you have.

The tassel is really bizarre! I've never seen one that short before. Does it look like it was made that way? Or was it cut/broken and one end reinserted? Pull the slider up to see if the straps go directly into the tassel heads. Can you see a stitch holding one end to the other? The reference books all the all-brown army tassel a "late war" tassel, however due to a recent Uniform regulation discovery, we now know it was used by the civil branch of the military call Gunzoku. They wore similar looking uniforms and performed jobs like maintenance, administration, teaching, etc. @PNSSHOGUN - John, one for the record books!

Been fast as greased lightning today 6 - 8 Pacific, which is odd, since that is the same time frame as Mark.

This one could be a Type 32 NCO sword, missing the wooden grip. Could we get a better shot of it, maybe without all the other stuff?

Yes, Joseph called it on sword 5: Read up on the Type 32 here: NCO 1889 Type 32. Made between 1889 - 1935, but still carried by some through the end of WWII.

7pm, U.S. Pacific Coast time - really, really slow.

I've been getting email notifications.

OOPS! Sorry, I've been in Kalifornia for over a year now, and I still say "Mountain time" out of habit!!!

Lots of photos of fakes here: NMB Gallery: Fakes And several threads of fakes here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/142-fake-Japanese-swords/

The writing inside the saya are usually just production instructions, type of wood, sometimes a worker's name, so other than pure curiosity, there's no need to work that out. There are plenty of in-depth discussions about photography, but the essence is - dark/black background; dark room with single, bright light above or behind you; take shot so the glare of the light is just off the side of the spot you want to show.

Just back on the site, 2pm Mountain, and everything is fast as lightning! It seems random when it happens, but for me, it's always in the early morning 6 or 7 Mountain time.

Tony, You are right that 1943 was the height of the use of the NA stamp, but it was still seen in 1944, overlapping the use of the small Seki. 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 No Date Na 1 3 17 96 30 1 4 Na & Gi 3 Seki, small, 3mm 12 29 20 2 Gifu Total 2 40 73 4 Gifu 2 21 50 4 Se & Gi 16 17