Bruce Pennington

Yes, made with Yasugi steel. I have several blades made by Kanemichi with the same inscription, and one from Masatsune. I don't recall the disussion of this steel, but there were a few forges during the war that specialized in their own steels, and sort of bragged about it in the mei. Kim, the small stamp at the top is the Showa stamp. You blade was most likely made in 1940-1941. It was a civil stamp used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association, tasked to weed out poor quality blades that were hurting the industry's reputation. All the blades I've seen with the stamp were quite nice and good quality. Edit: found the discussion. Posted by @BANGBANGSAN: "Before the war, Kisaku Ibe of Yasugi Steel Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Hitachi Metal Yasugi Factory, and others developed high-speed tool steel with electric steel for the first time in the East with the cooperation of Matsue Electric Light, establishing a further brand in modern steelmaking. Currently, it is developed at the Hitachi Metallurgy Laboratory in Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture and is defined as the names of all special steels represented by tool steels for high-performance machines, such as blades and molds that require the strength of materials manufactured using advanced technology. These are registered trademarks as "YSS Yasugi Speciality Steel" (YSS stands for Yasugi Speciality Steel)." From this thread:

I traded that one to Ernie, Stegel, some time ago. But I know it was fatter than standard. You could email him for the measurement.

Fading can really change tassel colors, too. Just a possibility.

Thanks Conway!

Ichi/Kokura 107555 - ebay page Gifu/Kokura 78883 - ebay page Seki Shoten/Kokura 104769 - ebay page

John, The two colors are not what we see on Japanese rank tassels. Without a photo, it won't be possible to tell you what it was. We have seen a variety of unknown tassels on swords. A good many of them were from sword bags and placed on the swords. I suspect some of them were local productions. As John, PNSSHOGUN, alluded to, many units were effectively abandoned by Japan and forced to fend for themselves. As to the officer carrying this, again, we are off to pure speculation. Officers were allowed to rent and buy Type 95 gunto due to repeated sword shortages during the war. It is possible that this is the reason for this one. There are many other scenarios I could imagine (his favorite NCO was killed and the officer was carrying his sword, etc, etc). But, for us, it will remain a mystery.

What do you think, guys?

Sam, Don't know how closely you watch ebay, so you might already have this: Tokyo 109267; steel tsuba; officer tassel Ebay page Also, Iijima/Tokyo 159516, matching: ebay page Also, Suya/Toky 153712, matching - Unique fabric ito over original handle! Looks old/legit: ebay page

Dom, I've never seen a DYI polish that looked good. Buffers leave an artificial looking mirror sheen, and sanding leaves streaks that, regardless how fine, are always visible. If you ever plan to sell, guys that care about that stuff won't like it. It's an heirloom, and a war trophy, if you have the cash, do it some real service and have it polished. That's my 2 cents worth.

We do see these kind of tanto periodically. Without actual provenance, we are just making educated guesses as to it's origins. There is photo of a Japanese soldier holding broken sword. We know there were repair teams in the field fixing broken swords. So, we know it is possible that this blade came from a broken sword, and someone possibly used the end to craft a tanto.

The return address, likely done in lieu of a surrender tag, would have been the officer's home address and not likely any relation to his location when he surrendered the sword. He could have been in Borneo for all we know. Still quite interesting address! The Showa stamp would tell us the blade was made between 1935 and 1942, with most dated blades observed being made in 1940/41. Interestingly, the earliest observed Showa stamp with a date - 1935 - was on a Kanetaka blade!

Like all things, it's going to depend upon who and where you buy them from. I bought a complete set including pierced tsuba from a Japanese dealer for $250. On the other hand, I bought a set of 10 assorted seppa on ebay for $20 (and I only need 2 to work). It will vary considerably from day to day. Here's a set of 25 seppa for $25 at this Crimson Mist Militaria page.

The 10 5 in kanji on the right match the 10 (>) 5 (\) in modified Roman numerals on the left. All I can say.

He was a prolific swordsmith, for sure. I have over 30 of his blades on file, most with the Showa and large Seki stamp. If there are blades of his out there without stamps and possibly gendaito, I do not know as I don't catalog those. Odds are the blade is showato. However, it is my observation that the blades with the large Seki, and Showa for that matter, were quality made showato.

Thank you, Peter. Looking back at Nick Komiya's pages, I see he did an extensive write-up on the 32: How the Type 32 Sword was Born - Nick Komiya, Warrelics. If I were to do anything, it would simply be a condensed version of his work. I tried to find the article you mentioned online, but no success. Probably have to have a subscription. If memory serves me, their mag, "Gun Collector" is the one that published my Souvenir Sword article. Honestly, though, it doesn't seem like they'd publish a second article right on the heels of the first one about the 32.

As close as you're going to get. Obviously, the coloration of the metal is different, but I've seen gunto like that before. Heck, I owned one for a while.

The seki stamp was done side-ways, and only the top half punched in well. Interesting to some of us, the only other Yoshisuke I have, posted by @skip, had the painted number "898" - two blades away from this one in the assembly process! I don't have photos of the fittings, but it would be interesting to find out if it was a kaigunto. Here's his post. Unfortunately, he hasn't been online since 2019:

Hi Sam! You've done some good research already. Shimada was his first name, not a location: "YOSHISUKE (義助), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshisuke” (義助), real name Shimada Ruisuke (島田類助), he was a Seki-based guntō smith" The larger Seki stamp, like yours, was a civilian inspection/acceptance stamp of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. It was used from 1940 to 1944, with most dated blades made in 1942. So that is your date range. I've personally found that blades with the stamp were very well made, with attractive hamon (temper pattern), but not traditionally made. Marcin's estimated value is probably pretty close to the current market pricing.

Hm. Sesko lists two with those kanji, but neither is a Sako: "KANESHIGE (兼茂), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Chiba – “Shimōsa-jū Moriyama Kaneshige saku” (下総住森山 兼茂), real name Moriyama Osamu (森山修), he has a self-taught smith and worked later as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō, he lived in Shōnan (沼南) in the Higashi-Katsushika district (東葛飾) of Chiba Prefecture (see picture right) KANESHIGE (兼茂), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kaneshige” (兼茂), real name Sakai Katsutoshi (酒井勝利), born March 19th 1906, he worked as a guntō smith"

Both Dawson and Fuller's books have sections on the 32's. I own one of each model, as do probably most collectors of WWII gunto. I'm sure they can be found in Japan, just as we occasionally see a 95 or officer showato gunto pop up for sale, but they are rare over there, at least publicly. I'm pretty sure we have one or two guys who like to specifically collect them, but I don't recall who it is. You will see a few of them pop up in the auctions each month and/or on ebay, so they are around and can be found. Fewer in numbers than the WWII swords, but not rare. Prices range around $400-600 USD. For dimensions and a better write-up, see Ohmura's page: NCO Gunto Type 32

Google translate for what it’s worth

This one started as a Type 95 discussion, but has grown to cover all black-painted gunto

Cross-referencing this discussion here:

I, too, have seen an occasional horimono on WWII blades. Kanenobu was RJT qualified, and I have star-stamped blades by him from '42-'45. Any chance there is a star above his mei? Although, without a date, it probably doesn't have a star on second thought. The horimono appears, to me, to be the flaming jewel symbol from Buddhism. I'm no expert on that, though.