Bruce Pennington

It isn’t common, but I’ve seen a few with stamps on the drag.

Joel, Do you have a source for this information? By "occupation" are you talking about the The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895)? We know there were swords being made in occupied China during WWII. Just haven't heard of it being done before that.

He was a qualified RJT smith. Lack of a star could mean two things - 1. Blade was made before the RJT program was activated in late-'41, or the blade was made for private contract outside of the military system.

Hi Jozeph! Someone will help you like @Ray Singer or @SteveM on the smith name. You have an excellent item there! The 8 seppa set-up is often indicative of a quality gunto set. Also, the inscription on the leather rain cover is quite unusual. It says "1944". Cannot imagine it being done by the fittings shop, or the owner, yet the writing seems period legit. Maybe Steve or @Kiipu can give us some thoughts on that?

This could have gone on the Leather Cover discussion, but it's more a "fittings" issue, so posting here. Fuchi made for swords, both civil and military, that are fitted with the combat saya can vary. Most are plain or have 'dots'. @Marcin found this one on Jauce. I think I've seen one in the one in the past, but not sure. It's really well done, and different than the norm, so thought I'd post it for viewing pleasure.

Due to the Showa stamp, it was most likely to originally have been made in 1940-41, though '42 is possible. But I feel like it had some repairs later in the war (wire sarute, late-war quality tsuba).

Thanks Duncan! Your gunto keeps getting interesting-er and interesting-er! Ha! Now keep in mind that I am, as my wife would say, "talking out of my butt"! Crude way to say that I'm speculating here. But your tsuba appears to be what Ohmura called a Mid-war manufacture ... and I would postulate even later war make. I have to go right now, but will continue later. Oh, if anyone has reason to think differently on the tsuba, I'm all ears!

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.