Bruce Pennington

Sorry for the constant updates, but I've re-arranged the doc a bit to make it flow in a more logical order. Also realized I had no actual pics of basic stamps like Sho, Seki, Gifu, Star; now added.

NIce, thanks Brian - updated.

Thanks Ronnie! I've added it to the doc. Now that we're rolling - the PERFECT Gifu anyone? I have this one, but it's missing the bottom right leg of the crossed swords. (the one on Ohmura's site is missing the same leg, too)

Thanks Trystan. It is good to know the actual names.

Nice find, Neil! I know I'm one of the worst when it comes to speculating on the unknown, and the "aircrew/tanker" gunto is one of the best examples of why we should avoid doing it. Book writers and website hosts (Ohmura) helped create this myth. They are just waki's fitted for WWII. Matt's video is a good example - guys just bought what they wanted, or brought what they had from home. Although, Ohmura admits that crews didn't always pick waki: "However, crews did not necessarily choose a short Guntō. A large majority of crews were doing the carrying of the Johsun-Guntō so that it might understand also with the upper photograph." His site has pics of submariners and aircrew carrying full sized gunto, though he does have a picture of a tanker & and aircrew with shorties. Another term we used, and I've used it often, that I wonder about is the "combat saya", the leather-covered wood saya. Is that really a term from WWII Japanese? Ohmura calls them "formal" and "informal" saya, but I doubt that was truly their style names to the soldiers carrying them, as many, if not most, of the "formal" saya we see today were collected on the battle field.

Now to find that PERFECT seki stamp ....

Glad you mentioned it Ed, I wouldn't have thought of it on this one! So noted, and anotated! Thanks again.

Thanks JP, that's going in the doc!

Thanks Ed, nice one!

Going through my Stamps document, I realized I don't have an actual, good, clear picture of a Showa stamp. I know there are hundreds out there, but I can't find a nice, complete, clear one for the document. This is all I have and woul like something better, please. Help!

Steve, thanks for the presentation! Very nice example. I have that stamp down as "emergency" also, though I don't recall my source, and as being made by/for Chinese collaboration forces. Quite an interesting tsuba! Seen by itself, I would have written it off as a bad Chinese fake! Great piece of history there.

Agree with the bunching, shoved down too far idea on the kabutogane. And I’d add enough seppa as stated. Sounds like a simple fix.

Ooo, so how many variations now?

That is one of the 2 styles Ohmura lists in his type 1 style.

I got to looking at the screws and it's clear the fitter put the screws in to keep the ashi from sliding/moving on the saya.

Well sorry everybody- after looking at a close-up, I realized the original up top is a boars eye, it just has a screw at the top of it which to my poor eyes on my small phone looked like a totally unique pattern. Sorry!

A beautiful custom gunto! I’ve never seen that pattern ashi before? Neil? Have you seen this?

That's a new one for the books Neil! Thanks for posting!

Interesting. Seems to be Ohmura’s type 2 with that spring

Dang, Stephen, never noticed your post count till you mentioned that! You must have started posting when you were 12, right!? Or maybe you're an old fart, like me!

I think John may be onto something. After re-examining them, each of the ashi on each gunto match in design - leaf style, ridges along bands or no ridge, etc - and are clearly made by the same maker, therefore not added later. The odds of someone, post-war, adding a removable ashi onto a 98 that EXACTLY matches the design of the first ashi, is astronomical. Neil, sorry for stirring up the pot! But I think my first idea was still the correct one - something causes wear on the top ashi that doesn't affect the bottom one (or as John proposed, the second one was often removed and reserved for formal use; but that is something I have not read definitively about).

Mr Rim, may I call you Pacific?, (Ha, please go to your settings and give us a real person's name, forum rules), Nice looking gunto, there! I have felt the same thing, in general. Although, you'll find quality variations in all the years of the war, hence the need for arsenal inspectors. So far, though, the lowest quality Japanese work is, for the most part, a cut above the product being put out by the fakers. It's usually noticable in the finer details of the artwork (leaves, petals, etc).

Brandon, I wondered about that idea as well. On a couple of them, the second ashi still has the gold edge paint where the top one doesn’t.

Logan, Please DON’T stop posting. It is how we all hone our knowledge base and skills. Honestly, I haven’t seen one quite like this, myself, and have enjoyed looking it over. My gut would be to call it a fake, but I’ve been wrong on some oddball stuff before. The nakago does look too long, and the kanji work sloppy, but I can’t read them so I don’t even know if they are real or not.

It's interesting that the wear on the top ashi head is greater than on the lower head. The top ones must rub against the belt or something that the lower one doesn't touch.