Bruce Pennington

Hi Ryan, Like the Treasury Dept detectives that study the real money so that when the fake shows up, they recognize it right away, your best defense is to spend time looking at the real thing. You can start, for free, on Ohmura's excellent site: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html. 65+ pages of pristine Japanese swords. You'll find as you go through, he posts several nakago with mei, that you can compare to the sword in this thread. You can also peruse the various threads here at NMB for examples of nakago and real hamon (temper patterns). The final item I would add to Ray's list is the ito (handle wrap). Japanese always alternate the fold direction of the wrap. Chinese fold it in the same direction across the handle.

It is quite common to see unstamped blades in kaigunto. Just means the blade was sold to a private sword shop. The photos aren't good enough quality to make a judgement call on whether it was gendaito or showato. Odds are it's a wartime showato, but better photos will tell.

A nice varitation of the clasped hands sarute, found on this Gunboards Thread.

John, Found this one on this Gunboards Thread. It's got a mumei older blade, Clased hands sarute, too.

We'll need a Jedi Master like @Ray Singer or @SteveM for the smith. Could it be: 良重 (Yoshishige)? But the second kanji looks more like a 貞 sada. Sesko lists some 良貞, but doesn't show any Showa era ones. I'm probably way off, though.

David, Thanks for the mune shot! I agree with John - can see a "2" but corrosion has taken everything else. I've filed it as a Spring 1940 Koa Isshin # ? 2.

Thanks Ray! I did try to find it online. I have your link for eras, but don't have a bookmarked link for months using this type naming system.

Need help with this kanji in the date, please. It's 1941, but I don't know what that month is. Thanks! It's on a Kanemori blade. Is the "Kiku Ichi" date-side, some tip-of-the-hat to the old school?

Agreed

Hi James! The smith was Fukuda Kanetsugu, from Seki (I always forget what/where "Noshu" is). The small stamp is partially struck, but is the "Showa" stamp of the civilian organization (not an arsenal) Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. They were asked by industry shops and smiths, in the early 1930's to inspect sword blades, due to a large number of poor quality blades hurting the market. The stamp was used from 1935 to 1942, with most dated blades in '40 and '41.

Wow, the difference 1 stroke makes! Thanks again guys!

Yes, that is certainly possible. Not struck well enough to tell.

@Ray Singer or @SteveM sometimes watch the Military forum, but the majority of them hang out on the Translation Assistance forum. That shop stamp isn't struck very well, so I can see how it resembles a Suya stamp. They marked their tsuba with the cutting edge down. But I think it's actually the Yamamoto Gunto Shop, which marked them with cutting edge up:

Thanks guys! I'll pass that on.

Thanks Michael! I spotted that one back in July. I do believe it is Takehisa with the "hisa" missing or obscured. His blades have the W and he always uses Spring or Autumn in the dates.

Yes, awaiting serial number! Interesting looking gunto. The haikan (belt hanger ring) looks like it was made for a leather cover, which, as is often the case, has gone missing.

This 1944 Yoshimitsu oshigata popped up over on this Wehrmacht-awards thread. Can someone tell me what the small section at the top of the mei is saying?

Is that an alien head on the board?!

Wow, even has a second set of petals behind the flower.

These fittings have the double release buttons, and quite often have blades with a star stamp above the signature. Please take the hand guard and fittings fully off of the nakago (tang) and check above the hole above the signature for a star.

Wow. You and Ray are both Jedi Warriors of mei reading!!! Andy, you already know about the Seki stamp, so you probably already know that the stamp was used between 1940 and 1944, with most of the dated blades made in 1942. It should be a good looking blade with the large Seki stamp present.

Thanks for the number, Nicholas! That was a common practice with the RJT blades. I have a mix of both saka + number and just numbers.

I also saw in the first post that civilians sought after the Yasukuni-to. Also interesting was that he made blades for 2 instructors, which they signed.

Wow, that is earth shaking news. With the Army, with have a Uniform Regulation that has a chart of Army stamps. Do we have something similar for the Navy? If so, is the circled anchor in it? If not, do you have any thoughts on which arsenal was accepting blades and stamping them? If they all were, then I could see the circled anchor being used by them all, generically. If not, if Toyokawa was the only one accepting/inspecting blades, then even if "generic" it would still be tied to the Toyokawa Arsenal, right? The only other naval arsenal I have on file is the Kure Naval Arsenal that stamped a dirk. @mecox - May I ask what your source/sources were for your Toyokawa paragraph in your Naval Swords article? "Blades from this arsenal were typically stainless steel with an anchor in circle stamp and mostly mumei, but occasion-ally had a simple signature mei. Usually they are well crafted with neat sujikai yasurime. From mid-war most of the stainless steel “anti-rust” blades (industrial steel with a higher chromium content) were of a regulation kaigunto shape and size and made in Seki. Earlier in the war some of these Seki-produced swords were made of Yasuki steel. When finished and signed the blades were sent to the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal for mounting; when received and accepted they were stamped with the “anchor in the circle”. Many of these blades are unsigned and have only a stamp of an anchor in a circle or sakura blossom (above centre and left)."

That bottom one definitely looks like the head was messed up. Might have had to drill it to remove it. But original. If you can't find replacements, many of these are found with bamboo mekugi, and some with a mix of both, so it won't hurt the originality if you decide to replace them with bamboo. Also, I only have 1 other Kunitada on file with stamps. Can you check the nakago mune for Na stamps, please? The other was posted by @Itomagoi, also an August 1943.