Bruce Pennington

Your right, it's a common fake.

Thanks Joe! That small vertical stroke on the left side thew me off. But I do have 6 of his blades on file, and one of them has that same little stroke on the left. Both have that light blue painted number, different numbers.

This was posted as Kanenao. Is that correct? I don't see a Kanenao or Kinnao or Kinmichi on the RJT list, and don't see the name in Sesko's list either.

Good point on the added numbers of 32s, Conway! That would greatly increase the number of NCO gunto, and we know from photos that many 32s were part of the post-war confiscation. Russ, I also agree that your idea may be true. Another option to consider is the provision, during shortages, for officers to purchase Type 95s. I think it's possible an officer could have bought this and filed off the number. Sam, After reading Nick's post stating that "senior NCOs and Warrant officers" were authorized, it would certainly reduce the number of NCOs that needed swords. I suspect that the reality was a bit different than the regulatory picture. Just from photographs alone, my impression is that more guys were carrying these than just Sergeant Majors and Warrant officers. But your numbers certainly brings that reality back closer to Nick's observation than my idea that all NCOs carried them. Thanks for bringing this up!

The owner posted more photos, turns out to be a waki in civilian mounts.

It is quite interesting, Sam. Still trying to wrap my head around it in light of Fuller's numbers. He stated that according to American records 661,621 swords were collected at the end of the war. (372,609 were kept and distributed; 289,012 were destroyed) That number included all the private swords confiscated, too. It would not account for all the swords lost to the Russians, and lost on the battlefield. His estimate for total swords made during the war is 2 million. I don't know the officer/NCO ratio, but it's likely that there were 2 to 3 times more NCO's than officer in the Japanese military. Just using the 661,000 number, and let's presume confiscated swords were 100,000, then of the 500,000 military, you would expect 2/3 to be NCO swords = 330,000 NCO swords. Now, Fuller pointed out that many officers owned more than 1 sword, so that could account for the larger number of officer swords. But even if flipped, 300,000 officer; 200,000 NCO, that would require that 100% of all manufactured NCO blades were accounted for at the post-war count, which seems very unlikely. I don't see anything wrong with your math. But it just seems to me, in light of Fuller's numbers, that there should be more. Open to hearing other ideas!!!

You guys must frequent a different circle of sword sellers than I do. I just watched this one go for $1,900 And this one runs in August 22nd, and is already up to $1,100

Ohmura's site is the Premium spot for that: Military Swords of Imperial Japan I also own an RJT gendaito in the steel saya. These tend to be a darker, mid-level brown as opposed to the lighter tan. A 1945 Kunitoshi I did a survey of RS fittings, and of the 75 with RJT star blades, there were 15 in the mid-brown metal saya. The rest were custom.

Interestingly, I only have two other blades by him, with Showa stamp, and he used different dating 'language' on each one! Standard Imperial

The Rinji seishiki (Type 3, etc) is the only model that has a clear distinction in blades between the standard, light tan saya vs the custom saya with double release buttons. You almost always find a gendaito in the custom Rinji fittings.

March 1944

I might have found the answer. A "old fashioned" kanji for 10 was 拾, right?

I ran this by Guy and Akira at Warrelics. Akira-san said this: "My initial google search returned a very similar result; according to the AI generated summary the derives from the Chinese saying 一簷之下、可以保隣, something like “if under a single eaves (roof) you can protect your neighbors “ and that the words are sometimes seen engraved on sword accessories such as tsuba and menuki which is a prayer that these were not just weapons but the means to protect the lineage of the wielder. However, what was weird is that there were no actual examples of the term in use either in some writing or engraved on sword accessories which is normally the case, so I have no faith in the results. (Subsequent searches using the same term now says it is a name of a sword smith as AI no doubt picked up the activities on the net in the context of sword such as here, the NMBS as well as my own search for a sword smith named 一簷子保隣.)" I wonder if our Chinese members have ever heard of the saying, or can find any existing examples of it online? @xiayang @YourBabyBjornBorg and maybe @BANGBANGSAN

I understand the double "2" meaning "4", but I don't understand the circled kanji. Is that a text version of "10"?

You may be right, I was just curious. Ohmura calls it "last stage" He certainly knows more about Japanese military swords than I do, but I wonder how he came about his dating. From simple appearance, it seems he is going by quality workmanship, left to right, finest to crudest. That may be true as a generalized trend for the war, but I've seen some really nice tsuba/fittings on gunto from the last year of the war, too. I haven't paid enough attention to the topic to say more, and I don't recall whether I've seen crude tsuba/fittings on early or mid-war gunto. Guess I'll have to start paying attention.

Yes, 3 has less well defined details. Sam, just curious as to why you feel they are late-war?

Speaking of different versions, Marcin found this one. Hard to say for sure, but it appears to have the clasped hands as well:

Hey guys! Another one of those dates written in a different way. Pretty sure the smith is Kanehiro, but correct me if I'm wrong on that. Thanks in advance for the help!

Thanks gentlemen. I'll pass it on to the owner.

I agree with all the above. Additionally, look at the size and position of the flags on this one compared to the one in the reference book.

Marcin, Remember the saying “with World War II Japanese swords, never say never or always.“ I agree that we have seen some sets where the stamps are found on the drag, as well as the tsuba. But we have also seen plenty where it is just found on the drag. Now I will admit that maybe not all cases show both parts. You would have to run a search and a survey to collect data and find out.

This one found by @Marcin:

Ah good, thanks Robert. The earlier photo played tricks on my eyes. It seemed flat on the end, like a drag. But with these, I see the true shape. Very nice collection!

You can also look higher above the smith's name (mei). If there is a small stamp, I can give you a date range. If not, we are down to 1935-1945.

Come on Brian! When do we get Scratch-'N-Sniff option for NMB? Ha!