Bruce Pennington

An interesting one posted by @Francis Wick HERE. Waiting for translators, but it seems the officer might have written his surrender info on the cavas cover:

Francis, Can't help with the writing, but just wanted to say that blade would be quite stunning with a professional polish!

That was a really good refresher, thank you, Thomas! Marcel, You nailed it. See Thomas' observation from the discussion in the other thread (click on the photo and it will be clear to read):

Really nice sword, Eric! Are you going to have the tsuka re-wrapped? Curious what causes you to call your fittings Type 94? I see the centered chuso. Are there other indications? Not arguing, just curious.

John, don’t know if this is what you were looking for an artificial leather . It’s on an ersatz sword Don’t know if it’s imitation or not

Thanks, Ed! Looks like that is our third one, now. How about checking that leather to see if you think it is real leather or imitation leather. We have another conversation going on looking for examples of the late war imitation leather. The nakago is surprisingly well made! Even has the feather file marks. Interesting that it has to holes as if it was made for an RS model.

Where did you find that one, Marcel? Here is one I have on file. Found on what Fuller called an "ersatz sword." "The tsuba of an “ersatz” sword possibly made in Manchuria in the last months of the war. 造 could be short for 造兵 which in Japanese apparently translates to "Arsenal."

Oooo, could be

It would be an interesting thing to find if the Tokyo RJT smiths blades had the stamped numbers, especially with the katakana combination, and then Nagoya RJT smiths had painted the numbers like John has shown. John, have you seen any other letters other than “A“?

Sorry buddy, but David is correct. This is a fake.

Good question John. Any of your ideas might be the right one. They might have all been part of a batch order given to a particular sword shop to outfit and the numbering system might have been done by the sword shop. But anything is possible. Interesting that you identified a particular system on multiple blades!

I have seen quite a few, and several where the tsuka was just plain wood, covered tightly in leather. The tsuba might be a civil one.

Marcin, The black army saya is fairly common. At first glance, I often think "Aha! Another souvenir.", when it's really just another army saya. The metal fittings aren't gold gilded.

Yes. He, and/or his forge, had his own kokuin that is seen on his blades, but also on 4 other smiths that must have worked at the forge - Kanemune, Kunimoto, Hidetoshi, and Masafusa And yet, we also have one of his blades with an unknown stamp: And a couple blades with his Retired Servicemen's group, Koa Token Sha, kokuin: All this added to these stamped-mei blades!

Marcin, A mon is a crest, kamon is family crest. We usually just say mon for short. No, the railway emblem is not what we mean when discussing mon. See here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29606-help-identity-our-mon/?do=getNewComment

Thanks, Mal! That one seems to be making the rounds. Found it back in 2022 for sale, then again in Sept '24. Always appreciate the tips, though! Autumn '42 Koa Isshin

Martin, Help me understand your question - Are you asking if presenting swords in high quality cases was a normal practice? Or are you asking if presenting swords to officials, in general, was a normal practice? I personally have not seen them in elaborate cases, but have seen them in plain wooden boxes. I have seen several presentation swords. One in our files was made by the South Manchurian Railway (Mantetsu) and presented to city officials of 3 small towns. Others are found in fancy tachi fittings and were given to railway employees when they reached 25 years of service. Looking forward to seeing the sword and box of your post.

I second that.

The stamped mei were uncommon, but I have a few on file from 4 smiths: Seven blades from Masayuki 9 Naohiro 1 Nobumitsu and now 2 Shigenaga (this one from JSI) We now have 2 Amahide blades with other smith names stamped at the bottom - Shigenaga and Kanemaru.

From Sesko's list: "KANEMARU (金丸), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Nagasaki – “Kanemaru” (金丸), family name Ogawa (小川), ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)"

Ok, thanks, Thomas. I see it's one of those situations where more than one English word can be used for the Japanese word. I'll leave the Stamps doc terminology as is, and use the terms interchangeably in discussions.

Ken, You Tenshozan blade has navy tsuba/seppa (hand guard and spacer) but an army saya (scabbard). Don't know who matched them up that way, but it wouldn't have been that way originally. The second is in army fittings. The wooden saya originally would have had a leather cover. Check the brown tassel for any signs of faded blue or red. If none, then this sword was carried by someone in the Gunzoku, the civilian branch of the army.

Books and time. It will come along. Books won't help much with stamping, though. If you don't have it already, download Stamps of the Japanese Sword, for the latest info.