Bruce Pennington

I see the helmet, now. But what I really see is a Pac Man with a Mohawk.

I think you're right, Ray. I have a similar one, similar mei, on a Jan '45 blade with Gifu stamp posted by @jamesr back in 2021: Rhett, Could you check near the top for a small stamp? It could even be underneath the Tsuba/seppa set. And you got it - Type 98 Japanese officer gunto (sword). You can see lots of pristine examples on Ohmura's site: Military Swords of Japan - Gunto

Mark, For those of us that can't read Japanese, can you fill us in on what that is?

It's certainly something to keep an eye out for. I don't currently see any other gunto of these two with the Nakano fittings, although many who post about a mei don't show the fittings. So, there are possibly more out there, but just not shown. I know in the case of the AOI Art Yoshisuke, the kaigunto fittings only have an "ichi" stamp on them (no sakura, just the Japanese "1"). Something about the Warrior stamp I've been thinking - As with all hotstamps (kokuin), I have found that smiths who use a kokuin, never use them all the time. There are some smiths that seem to use them slightly more frequently and some (one recently found) that has only one time used a kokuin (to our observations, at least). So, it is a mytery to me why smiths used them sometimes but not others. This may be the case for these Warrior stamps. In comparison, the smiths that adopted a kakihan (inscribed kao) they almost always used them, not always, but almost.

Agreed it "should", but only the Tenshozan blade have it. All the Toyokawa and Takayama forge blades are katana mei.

Guy, over at this Wehrmacht-wards thread, did a great translation of the Ohmura page on Murata Tsuneyoshi. There were 2 things I learned that I had never caught before: "Baron Murata Tsuneyoshi, a major general in the army, was an expert marksman. He developed the famous "Murata gun." Afterwards, he wanted to improve military swords, so he made a prototype military sword out of saber steel (sword steel from Solingen, Germany) in stock at the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal. Because it cut very well, under the guidance of Miyamoto Kanenori and Yokoyama Sukekane, he cut the Swedish steel and Japanese steel into strips in a ratio of 6:4, melted them at 1,500℃, and forged them into a round shape and hardened in oil to complete the blade. In October 1891, during a blade test at the arsenal, he used two blades to successfully cut a pig's skull. Since there was no abnormality in either blade, they were adopted as military swords based on this result. Because it was inexpensive and easy for even junior officers to obtain, it was widely used in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, and it was proven to be a practical military sword that was resistant to rust and had a good cutting ability. Manufactured at the Tokyo Army Artillery Arsenal. The inscription read "Shoju Kanemasa" and underneath it he wrote the four characters for Murata Tsuneyoshi in seal, creating a seal that combines the two characters. The year and manufacturing number are stamped on the back. In addition, swords that he forged himself were inscribed with the inscriptions "Kanemasa" and "Murata Tsuneyoshi." As it did not have a blade pattern, it did not receive any recognition in the sword world.(For more information, see "The Spirit of the Sword" by Murata Tsuneyoshi) I had always wondered why the only smith we see on Murata-to (not zoheito) is Kanemasa. That's because Kanemasa was Murata's swordmith name! Also, the stamped numbers were his "manufacturing numbers"! I don't think I've ever seen one with "four characters for Murata Tsuneyoshi in seal, creating a seal that combines the two characters." Very interesting!

Well Harumph!!! I think @Jcstroud already went down this path (if memory serves). Sesko has no record of Kanenao nor Masahiro (using these kanji). He has: Masanao - Gifu - born 1943 ?????? That's got to be a typo @Markus It's a list of Japanese swordsmiths. If he's there because he was making swords by 1958'ish .... Ok? Ujinaga - Gifu - Born 1922 ... no death date Ujifusa - Gifu - Born 1912 ... no death date I also re-discovered the only blade on file by Kanenao are in souvenir fittings .... which is what led JC to speculate that the name was a changed art name of one of the other smiths from the war. Frustrating.

Nice topic Dave! First time I've seen one folded and sewn like your first photo, very cool. I haven't paid close attention to the ones I've seen over the years to note whether only 1 tassel was cut or 2. I'll have to pay attention from now on.

Oops! I glanced right by that and didn’t notice the Swedish reference!

Yes, pages 220-221 of "Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks", 1996/7 edition.

There is plenty about WWII sword production and numbers. The part I sent was all that I could see about using Swedish rails.

I did a survey of Takayama forge blades and found 34. I lightly expected to find more smiths than Mal Cox listed in his Japanese Naval Swords article, but I didn't! @mecox I couldn't find a dedicated thread to the forge (4 pages in the search for Takayama-to, but all about individual blades), so I'm discussing it here. Kanenao - 4 blades Masahiro - 17 Masanao - 12 Ujifusa - 7 Ujinaga - 4 It is interesting (and why I'm posting this on the souvenir thread) that only the "Uji" smiths aren't seen in souvenir fittings. I haven't looked up their bios to see if they were alive at the end of the war. I'll do that for all 5 smiths and update, unless someone else (Mal?) beats me to the point. If any of the 3, Kanenao, Masahiro, or Masanao, were dead before the end of the war, it would tell us that his blades in souvenir fittings were war surplus and not post-war made blades by the smith working for Tenshozan. If they were all still alive, then we still won't have any evidence to point to one option over the other.

A small update on the Tachi vs Katana mei chart - I did a survey of NMB posts for Takayama forge blades and all of them were Katana mei just like the Toyokawa arsenal blades, which makes sense as a few of them have Toyokawa anchor stamps on them. Still a complete mystery as to why they used Katana mei whereas Tenshozan used Tachi mei. TACHI OR KATANA MEI SHOWA KATANA MEI TACHI MEI 1935 1 1937 1 1939 4 1940 21 1 1941 21 1942 1 ND 64 1 SEKI Large 1940 4 1941 7 1942 37 1943 19 1944 6 ND 109 1 SEKI small 1943 1 1944 1 Star 18 (8 Star) 1945 10 (2 Star) ND 1 NA 1941 1 1942 8 (1 Star) 1943 48 (2 Star) 1944 15 1945 1 ND 3 FUKU 1 GIFU 1944 1 1945 18 ND 1 SAKA 1943 2 1944 5 ND 7 Ko 1935 1 1942 3 (1 Star) 1944 1 (1 Star) ND 2 1 YAMA 1943 4 (1 Star) 1944 1 TAN 1940 1 1941 1 1942 3 ND 14 STAR 1941 1 1942 5 16 1943 20 49 1944 5 61 1945 2 19 ND 6 14 Toyokawa 21 1939 1 Kiyomichi Takayama Forge 34 Tenshozan 28 All Dates

OLD THREAD ALERT!!! Takayama-to made by Masahiro. Not able to read the polisher's name.

OLD THREAD RESURRECTION!!! Sorry for dragging these up, guys, but I sit and squirm at the idea of leaving this without a full translation!!! The blade was made by Ujifusa, working for the Takayama forge.

@Kolekt-To Any chance of getting photos of the mei and overall blade for the files?

Bob, Any chance of getting some direct, clear shots of the mei on that one? I see the Ujifusa mentioned above, but it seems like there is a Kanenao at the end.

Jon, Could I get a close, clear shot of this mark at the end:

Sorry or resurrecting old threads, but wanted to note the smith on this is Masahiro, for future searches/research. @mecox

Late to the game on this one and I'm just getting familiar with the Takayama forge and their swords. Mal had a section on the forge in his Japanese Naval Swords, which was published after this thread. Just updating in case someone reads the thread doing research. Their blades were mostly in naval fittings, but some are found in army koshirae. Concerning the narrow blade tip, I don't think all the blades made by the forge had the stereotypical Takayama style. Most of the posts I'm finding online don't show the whole blade, just nakago, but I'm pretty sure I've seen a few with normal, narrower tips. On Ujifusa, so far, I haven't seen another. There is this one made by Ujinaga: @mecox

This takayama forge blade seems to have two smiths at the bottom? Is it saying that the blade was made by 2 smiths? Masano and ? Oops, found the translation: Anyway here are the translations for the inscription. 謹作高山刀 – Respectfully made Takayama-To 刀匠 石原正直 – Sword smith: Ishihara Masanao 研師 木村忠兼 – Polisher: Kimura Tadakane by @Nobody on this January 2009 post.

@Ray Singer @SteveM Any thoughts on the inked writing on the habaki?

Hi Jon! Your sword is a navy sword, called a kaigunto (army swords are gunto, "kai" is navy). It would help to see an overall photo of the whole rig, but it seems to be a late-war (last year of the war) kaigunto. They are Type 97 (style released in 1937) and you can read all about them on Ohmura's site: Navy Officers Tachi - Ohmura He also has a page on the anti-rust blades: Stainless Steel Sword

Ok, I see it. Must have some yellow paint in it. I just realized we are talking about the RJT smith Tsugukiyo. I have a few of his blades on file, many without star, but many with stamped numbers. Some have a "saka + number" on the nakago mune (back edge of tang). Have you checked the back edge of the nakago for stamps? As for a star, it would be above the mei (might have to remove all fittings to see it), however with no date, it's unlikely to have a star stamp. Let me know what you find!

El, I saw nothing in either Fuller's nor Dawson's books that specified Swedish rail steel, just simply "imported western steels". What I DID find was a reference to it in Leon Kapp & Yoshinndo Yoshihara's book "Modenr Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths, From 1868 to the Present.