Bruce Pennington

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.

Sean, You have a highly collectable sword there! Emura, even if he is middle rated, is popular in collecting circles because of his story. The whole sword is called a Type 98 Japanese officer sword, or "gunto" which is "army sword." You can read all about them on Ohmura's great site: Type 98 Gunto - Ohmura and everything about all the rest of the WWII swords: Military Swords of Imperial Japan - Gunto

Thanks for getting back, Paul. As to value, a non-traditionally made blade certainly goes for less on the market than a nihonto/gendaito, however a standard WWII officer sword still sells from $900 - 1,400 USD. That's more than I have in my hobby money account! Ha!

Those are great, Lawrence, thank you! Nice sword, and nice presentation. The last kanji on the date is 秋 aki Autumn, so it was made Autumn 1939. They started approximately April 1939, so yours came out about 3/4 of the year's production.

Thanks Scott! Worth a try. I think there's a small Na stamp above the date, but too hard to make out. Best wishes with the little one!

delete, posted on wrong thread.

Like the broken clock, I'm bound to get one right now and then!

Hey, who needs A.I. - I can prove Abe Lincoln shot JFK. I have a photo of him with the rifle!

Hi Frank, There are guys that give a more comprehensive history, but essitially, the Kikumon indicated the smith was on retainer with the Shogunate. Awaiting smith name translation, but appears maybe "Kanesada"? I don't have any blades with that name and a Kikumon. And forgive me, but while the mei looks great, that Kiku looks like it was cut by a small child! Like maybe it was added later by someone that really didn't know how to do it. Hope I'm wrong, but Youzee Wowzee!

Yikes! Thanks Mal. Doesn't happen as often anymore, but I still get 5's and 6's mixed up sometimes. I'll correct the chart and file!

I'll give you a couple links, but the article we wrote, that Thomas link above, extensively includes all known sources. You will find interesting stuff on the following, but they won't have near as much as our all-encompassing article. The Whole Aspect of the Koa Isshin Sword -Ohmura Koa Isshin Mantetsu - Japaneseswordindex.com Mantetsu - South Manchurian Railway Sword - Our Article