Bruce Pennington

Wow, thanks Sam! Extraordinary. @SteveM @BANGBANGSAN Interesting to see the leather band on the haikan, too.

I agree. The nakago appears to be something older than WWII.

Yes, it is active. Thanks for the input. Definitely a custom kaigunto. That would be extremely unusual if both sets of seppa are one piece! Hard to know from the photos. i agree with you, the ito might be a re-wrap, as the diamond gaps are smaller than normal. Seeing how customized the whole rig is, though, leaves the possibility that it was made this way.

One-piece seppa fuchi is a late-war sign. This appears to be a late-war zoheito. Harvey, zoheito were arsenal made blades of single sheet steel. They were real swords, just not hammered and folded like samurai swords. Zoheito were made throughout the war.

Ok, still catching up. So "kinzogan" is the gold inlay. Is Yoshihiro Hon'a the guy that did the gold inlay? If so, this is his kao? My earlier comment about cut test was a mix-up from another thread I was reading. This one is not a cut test, correct?

Thanks, HB. I just realized this is a cut tester and his kao. If you don't mind another question. I document all the kao I come across and have one of Matsuyo Yoshihiro, but the kakihan is quite different. I realize there can be multiple generations, but the kao don't usually change this drastically.

Brett, I don't see him in Sesko. Is he listed under a different name?

And I love photos like this that show very unusual fittings. If I had seen this one on sale on eBay or even presented here, I would say it could be a post war Bubba job.

Hi Harvey, Don't know if it's just me, but these photos didn't come out. Seem strangely digitized. So far, looks fine, but would love to see some normal photos.

Yamanaka V4 NL08 On another note, can someone please give me the smith name above the kao on this, from the post above?

Made by Yoshichika, in 1944. A Gifu smith. "YOSHICHIKA (吉近), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshichika” (吉近), real name Yoshioka Tetsujirō (吉岡鉄次郎)" Might have a small Seki stamp near the top. It's a nice looking sword and lucky to have the leather cover in such good shape. Company grade officer's tassel is a plus. Worth the price.

Here's your guy: "KANEMUNE (兼宗), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemune” (兼宗), real name Fukumoto Koichi (福本小市), born October 14th 1902, adopted son-in-law of Fukumoto Amahide (天秀), he died on March 8th 1977, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide)" I appreciate how you feel about your grandfather and this sword that represents so much. If you haven't read up on caring for the blade, this is a good site: Japanese Sword Care

Mindy, Is that a small mark at the end of the nagako? Could I get a closer shot of it?

Don't know if you have this one yet, Marcin. Long mei with general's tassel in a UK auction HERE. They know what they have and are asking a pretty penny as expected.

Wow, nice to see we are finally making some progress in the collecting world! ZevAntiques has a souvenir at auction HERE with a title of "US 8th Army Japan Occupation Souvenir Sword" and a full accurate description! Hurray!!! It's the first souvenir on file with an Inaba blade, third with "29"

Do us all a favor and remove the screw that is holding on the handle. The underlying tang could be signed and dated.

@BANGBANGSAN What do you think about this one? I have other blades with various shop mei. Think this our same Hyakuren-do?

Thanks, Trystan! Very interesting information. @mecox Do you have info linking this smith to this shop? If not, looks like you do now. The other one I have on file was made by Kanehisa. Also just found this mumei one, also bearing the Seki stamp, beginning at this post:

Chandler, You'll find a more in depth discussion of that here, but I don't think anyone knows the answer for sure:

Ted, No way to know whether an officer or NCO equivalent. Could have been either.

Great, thanks, Conway! @SteveM Steve, can you confirm Kaneyuki?

The other side is the date - 1942

Hi BP. First a forum technical note. If you actually go by "BP", then never mind, but if that's not what you go by, please go to your profile page and add a first name. It's NMB policy and we all like to talk to real people. Thanks! So, for decades the collecting community have held the all-brown tassel to be a late-war army tassel (Navy is all brown, but it's a richer, darker color and of course found on kaigunto). Even the reference books call it that. However, a couple years ago, a respected researcher found the 1943 Uniform Regulation Change that spoke of the brown tassel and said that it was assigned to the Gunzoku. I asked Nick if the wording would have allowed that the tassel was already in use by the army, but was now also assigned to Gunzoku. Nick answered that due to the wording, it would have been specific to just the Gunzoku. That's all I can say. If you would like to read his discussion, see this: The All Brown Army Tassel - Nick Komiya

Here is a video showing how the remove the handle (tsuka). These blades were often signed and dated by the sword smiths. The all-brown tassel was used by the civil branch of the military, called Gunzoku. The wore military styled uniforms and performed many non-combat functions like maintenance, admin, etc.

I like that one, Sam. Actual example of a Type 8/19 being worn in a formal function, rather than a photo posing setting.