Bruce Pennington

I checked his mei on various others and while his Ishihara seems uniform, he did seem to vary how he made the "Kane". Only a couple had "Noshu" while most had "Seki", and a rare few had no locale at all. This one from JSI shows his "normal" "Kane"

Pretty rare to see such a long nakago & tskua on a gunto. Wonder why it was made so long?

Wow, how unique!

We have this Spring '42 Koa Isshin, RA 1027, on file from a post a few months ago by @Big Dan 146, but it is for sale now, at this Case Antiques Auction. Thanks to @Ontario_Archaeology for the tip! Posting because it has Tokyo 1st and Nakano Shoten stamps on the kabutogane. We see these, now and then, but not often:

Compared to other Masashige on file, and while that "shige" has slight problems (maybe done by an apprentice?) it does match the mei of this Masashige: @mecox And he's one of those star-stamped smiths not found on the RJT list.

Hi "A", Not Tony Grady, class of '77, is it? You can read up on your sword at Ohmura's site: Army Officers sword Type 98. It only costs about $300 to get your tsuka (handle) re-wrapped. It'll really give it a nice touch. The tsuka comes off easily. Here's a video: Removing Handle - Japanese Sword And some care instructions: Japanese sword Care - Japaneseindex.com

Silence probably means no one knows. @SteveM @k morita @Nobody @BANGBANGSAN

I scrolled through Sesko's list of "Masa..." smiths and couldn't find any with that kanji. What is that saying? Is it a simplified version of "義"?

For those who follow RJT blades & smiths, I want to clarify currently observed blades by smiths Masayoshi. @mecox @vajo JSI RJT list shows: Ryu Masayoshi ??? Takahashi Masayoshi 正良 - Aomori Kosaka Masayoshi 正美 - Osaka What we have, so far, are these: Masayoshi 正良, Ittosai - Tokushima (source - Mal Cox Article) Masayoshi 正吉, Oki – Shimane Slough said "Oki" while Sesko said "Oku" Don't know which is accurate. Mei includes "Yakumo" city? Masayoshi 正美, Kosaka - Osaka Examples Ittosai Masayoshi (Cox Article) Oki Masayoshi (Smallsword, ebay) Kosaka Masayoshi, (Vajo, NMB) I post this to see if A. I have this right, B. to see if anyone has insights on "Ryu" and "Takahashi", and C. if anyone else has blades from these smiths, I'd love to get photos!

Maybe like our "Certified" marks and labels, today. Nagahisa used it on his too, slightly different version of it, though:

Thanks Steve! What about that kanji I circled?

It actually says both December and August? Also, if you don't mind, I've seen this marking on a couple of cutter mei. Can you tell me what it means (I think I've asked that before, but too much water under that bridge!)

Nice kaigunto, Rob! I've always liked the 8 seppa set-up, looks good. Kanemichi was quite the prolific tosho. I have 46 of his blades on file, half of them Showa stamped, 10 of them 1941.

That's a Poster Child example, for sure, Robert! And yes, this thread seems ideal for continued use.

Might help to see pictures of the tang and the whole bare blade without the fittings.

I have less than $100 in my fun-money account. Just wanted to praise your sword, hoping for a good sale.

I am just beginning to read it and can tell it's quite a substantial work. Thank you, Mal.

But the look was designed to be seen with scary looking battle armor.

As one that studies the Mantetsu blade, it is rewarding, in a way, to see one that was in battle. SMR was making 5-6,000 per year, so intellectually, we know they were in the field. But this is a living proof of a Mantetsu in action. Christopher, you can read all about the Mantetsu on this NMB download: Mantetsu - The South Manchurian Railway

WELL! I'll never be able to look at a formal tachi the same again! That was also interesting to see the paintings showing the saya dressed up like fuzzy tails. Thanks for the video, HB.

Thanks Steven! I see we have that one in the charts - Aug '43. Trystan brought it to our attention a while back.

I'm often wrong on the smiths, but it looks like 兼元 Kanemoto to me. There were 3 in Sesko's list using this kanji, and 3 in the RJT list. No date on the other side?

Steven, Is your star-stamped sword in my files already? If not, can you post photos, please!? Also, out of the 236 star-stamped blades on file, 98 of them were made in 1944 and 1945. So, there were plenty of star stamped blades made after 1943.

Only thing that would have made it better, is if it had a Mantetsu blade in it!