Bruce Pennington

Nice chart, John! Where'd you get that one? It matches what Trystan said about the stamp and the "Steel for Sword" kanji.

I got it from Trystan, @BANGBANGSAN on this post: Here is the one posted by him on the thread. Clearly not the same sword, so now we have 2!

The RJT list on Japaneseswordindex.com lists 4 Kaneshige, none of which are in Sesko's list, and that list doesn't show the kanji used by them. Like Thomas said, this one is in Sesko's list: KANESHIGE (金重), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kaneshige” (金重), real name Nishimura Jin´ichi (西村仁一), born July 15th 1902, he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died April 28th 1982 I checked his section on Kinju, same spelling, and while there are several, he doesn't list any in the showa era. So, I have 3 others with this same mei, and I've logged them as Kaneshige as well. Nice sword, Marzio! Can I get a shot of the fittings for the files too?

Blades with the large Seki stamp tend to be well made showato.

Thanks for checking, Ed. Don't know why some blades aren't numbered and some are, from the same smith! It's mostly an Army thing, and when they do show up on Navy, the numbers are usually just above the mei.

Yes, a fan.

After looking at the other I have on file, I have to say this one is unique. The stuff on the blade is etched/dremmeled in vs the normal method. Most don't have the plum, but I did find one. Most also have metal tsuka but I did find 1 or 2 with actual wrap. Pointing to fakery is all of them and always dated Showa 15, 1940. They are all in the 30000, 40000, and 50000 serial range, and 47127 is repeated constantly. I have 7 of them on file with this number, and one of them is a Type 19! Usually the plum blossom is on the saya.

John, This will be a personal preference kind of thing. I have a mixture of buckled and no-buckle tassels. I have not read an official uniform reg that specifies, but I suspect you are correct, that and original issue 95 had buckled tassels on brass tusba and no-buckle tassels on steel tsuba gunto. But those tassels seem to come in waves. When I was in the market for some, all I could find were the no-buckle tassels, both long and short. It was hard to find one with a buckle. Now you face the opposite problem. If it were me, I'd rather have a real tassel with buckle than a new imitation. With it in hand, you may find, later, that you want to buy a 95 with the brass tsuba, and viola, you already have a tassel for it.

Agreed. I hope you can get your money back my friend. This is a well-known fake.

Wonder why that would have been scratched out? Maybe done before surrendering the sword?

I have see 95s with both steel and copper fuchi, bearing the steel tsuba. I don't study them in depth, so cannot say whether that was a function of particular serial number groups, or something that changed over time.

Yes, nice example of the Yamato logo. In Chris Bowen's list, it looks like this: But the stamps seem to only use the center portion:

He lists these two. Don't know which is your guy: MASAYUKI (正行), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Ōsaka – “Ikeda Masayuki kore o saku” (池田正行作之), “[Swastika] Masayuki” (卍正行), real name Ikeda Tatsuo (池田辰男), born November 20th 1938, he studied from 1954 under his father Masahisa (正久) (see picture right) MASAYUKI (正行), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Masayuki” (正行), real name Miwa Tomoo (三輪友雄), born August 8th 1895, he worked in Seki as guntō smith

Thanks Matt! That number lines up nicely with the others we have: 1944, Aug Kunihide (RJT) – Kyoto 90 on mune Trotter Survey 1944, Aug Kunihide (RJT) – Kyoto 98 on mune Trotter Survey 1944, Aug Kunihide (RJT) – Kyoto 99 on mune Trotter Survey, no pics 1944, Dec Kunihide (RJT) – Kyoto 135 on mune Mdiddy, NMB, RS

Several choices here: Google Search showing Mekugi for Sale

Oops! Good points about color and the box. Pretend I was never here! Ha!

I bought an original tassel, still with rubber bands, in its original box. So I don’t think you can go by whether something looks new or not. My field grade tassel was original, unused, and essentially brand new from World War II. I bought it from John! Ha! So my source was more reliable. But as you say, the seller is marking reproductions and originals, seemingly with openness.

Found another on this Gunboards thread.

Posting photos, in case the imgur link goes dead in the future:

Everyone has covered it well, already. Price is normal range for a good Type 95 these days. Photo blurriness has distorted the Iijima stamp and made the kissaki-end of the bohi look sharply angled. Tokyo blades SHOULD have bohi that mirrors the shape of the kissaki, so the one in question is correct. My eyes first went to the slightly enlarged Kokura circles, but Steve @Shamsy has pointed out many times that there are variations in their stamps. So with everything else falling in line, the variant of the Kokura stamp is not something to worry about.

Wow! I have heard of, I forgot the term, but people that copy sales and imitate them. You buy the sword, and maybe they can get it from the original seller, maybe they can’t, but it doesn’t matter because they have your money. I don’t search craigslist from other countries, so it had to have been from the USA. I suppose there is a chance that someone in the UK bought this from a USA seller, and is reselling it with the same photos. But that seems like a stretch.

This is the only Yoshisada in Sesko's list: "YOSHISADA (義定), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshisada” (義定), real name Ishihara Jō´ichi (石原錠一)" Don't know if it's the same one. The Showa stamp was used by a civil group called The Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. They were asked by the sword industry to inspect blades and weed out the poor ones that had started popping into the market as the military demand increased. The used the stamp between 1935 and 1942. Most dated blades with the stamp were made in 1940-41. You don't show the fittings, but many sword after the war lost spacers, called seppa. You can often find them for sale on ebay and other site, for not much money, to tighten up the fit.

Nice source, Sam. Another one with some added blade terms is: Japanese Sword Visual Glossary -- Japaneseswordindex.com

I have 2 1942 Morinobu blades with the "Ho Ho" stamps. If I recall Mal's theory, the first stamp could have been from the arsenal that took in/accepted the blade, and the second one a final inspector. I have "Na Ho" blades as early a 1940, though '42, as well as these 3 "Ho Ho" blades. Using Mal's theory, these 3 were all turned into the Kokura Arsenal (first stamp) and final inspection performed by Kokura. Prior to 1942 (late '41), Kokura had overall supervision of sword production of both the Nagoya and Tokyo 1st arsenals. This is why we see their stamps on both officer and NCO blades prior to this date.

Hale, I couldn't say what area of Craigslist, as I didn't record that. My file was created Dec 8, 2024, and the photos are exactly the same. Here's one from my file: Did you buy this from a Craigslist sale? If not, maybe I've mislabeled it. I've done things like that before.