Bruce Pennington

Ah, I see. This one being - 42224

That's a good point. Can't say I've ever seen a legit mei placed with the shinogi running smack through the center. Certainly a little overlap, but not like this.

Are you referring to a painted number?

Thanks Conway, I've got that one down as "1143". There is a pretty good space between the two ones.

I think you're right, Conway. The blade looks Japanese. Very faint 'feather' yasurime visible on the undated date side if you zoom in. Highly buffed, acid washed. The fittings look like late war, low quality stuff, and the mei .... I have seen discussions of legit old blades with ugly mei, so I know they exist, but we'd need some of the nihonto guys like @Ray Singer to give us a look. When you zoom in, you can see the mei was chiseled in with many small taps.

Agreed. Stamped numbers on habaki, poor imitation fittings, Damascus steel.

Agreed. Yoshimichi was the smith, dated March 1945. Excessively buffed. Rinji seishiki model (contingency model; commonly called Type 3). Late war tsuka, not as good a quality as you can find with other Rinji gunto.

This one was #7 on the first thread, and the smith is Yoshimitsu. The blade looks legit, but someone has done an acid wash to highlight the hamon.

#7 looks like Yoshimitsu

Jake, Are these follow-up photos of the swords in your first post with all the nakago? Do they match the order in the first post?

Type 98 Japanese officer sword. That's all that can be said from those photos.

There is hamon visible in that last photo of the kissaki, so probably highly buffed.

You did well, Kris. We often see spots and stains, especially at the tip, both officer and NCO blades. I think moisture gets in and sits in the end of the saya causing the stains. My RJT blade has even more stains than that.

Posting a photo for the future. Imgur links often go dead after a few years:

Hi Patrick, Could you do us a favor and post a photo of the full length nakago (tang) and a couple shots of the blade? You have a Navy Officer sword, or kaigunto, that had a combat saya (scabbard) originally covered in leather. The leather covers often go missing over time. You can read about them here: Navy Officer Gunto - Ohmura site Here's a good page for caring for your sword: Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com

Interesting! In Tachi fittings. I only have 6 Kanesumi blades on file, and 3 of them are in non-standard fittings - 1 Gunzoku; one Type 95; and this tachi. FWIW the mei of each varies more than "normal", so while this one is the poorest cut, it doesn't surprise me.

I've never read a reason for it, but examples exist both in WWII gunto and blades from the old days. Here's a well known photo of a couple of guys on a sword repair team. Note the longer sword on the right:

That is a beauty, Conway, and a new one for the files, thanks! That makes 15 examples so far. Wouldn't mind getting one of these in my collection some day. Going to have to sell my wife's car, though, to get the cash.

Yes. The navy kyu had black and gold saya. Like this: Working from memory, but the kyugunto came into service due to Japan's efforts to modernize their military, using western weapons as their model. The early models, from around 1880'ish were single-handed tsuka, but complaints convinced the service to move to double-handed tsuka. So, very rough guess yours could be in the 1900-1930 range production. Others may refine that date.

Hi James, Looks like: 兼住 (Kanesumi); dated 1941. The stamp is blurry, but is likely the larger Seki stamp of the civilian Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. So, probably a well made showato. Sesko lists 2 smiths by that name that worked during WWII: "KANESUMI (兼住), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanesumi” (兼住), real name Satō Kōhachi (佐藤幸八), born October 10th 1891, he worked as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō KANESUMI (兼住), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanesumi” (兼住), real name Sakō Hideichi (酒向秀市), student of Kanenobu (兼延), he died February 21st 1973" Can we get a couple of photos of the full blade, and fittings, as well as a close-up of the hamon (temper pattern)?

That's an average market value for an officer gunto. The saya was made to be covered by a leather cover. They often go missing over the past 80 years. You can see the remains of the leather retention strap on in the seppa just above the tsuba. The end with the snap is broken off, which is also pretty common as the leather gets dry and brittle over time.

Welcome back, Chuck! Yes, a company grade kyugunto with a cool kamon I haven't seen. You ought to post it on the Help Identify our Mon thread. Is it signed?

No worries, Sara, this is my hobby and I love chatting about this stuff. I started learning about all this when looking for parts missing from my dad's sword. Pretty soon you'll have a cabinet with 20 swords, too!

Kris, Welcome to the addiction! If you haven't already done so, read up on sword care - Japanese Sword Care - Japaneseswordindex.com, and go online for a cleaning kit. You can get them for less than $20. Just google "Japanese sword cleaning kit." Now you need an Army officer sword and a Navy kaigunto!