Bruce Pennington

Another fence, posted by @PatB HERE.

Interesting that the writer mistook the samurai's waki to be for suicide. Also interesting that they made a point to lay out the argument that swords collected after the war's end were to be distributed among all. There must have been some front-line guys grumbling about office clerks getting swords!

A clouds & rain habaki presented in gold/silver combo, found in this Guns.ru thread by Бирмач.

Perfect, I see that now, thank you!

Thanks for the help, guys!

Well by golly, after you said that, I checked the Japaneseswordindex.com Oshigata page and it's a match! Just can't imagine he was cutting "Yama" this way, but he did.

I think this is Yoshiomi, but Sesko has him as YOSHIOMI (義臣), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshiomi” (義臣), real name Takeyama Kazuo (武山数男), born April 3rd 1910, he was the younger brother of Yoshinao (義尚) and worked as guntō smith, ryōkō no retsu (Akihide) But this looks like "Takamasa" rather than Takayama 武山

Colin, I can't find a good website page that breaks it all down. Lots of history pages that describe it in wordage, but no kanji. I've picked it up from guys doing translations over the years, like this one: It can be hard to recognize (for me, anyway) the first 2 kanji, depending upon the writing style, but you can always spot the 2 thousand 6, 皇紀二千六百年拾月日 – 2600 Imperial year (1940), 10th month. If it's a year after 1940, you will see a number 1, 2, 3, etc between these two kanji - 皇紀二千六百年拾月日 like this: 皇紀二千六百三年仲冬 (Imperial year 2603, mid winter)

Yes, it's from his imgur link on his June 26 post.

The date is 2603, August, so August of 1943.

It's interesting that they used the slant /// for 30. On most gunto, that was 3 "5s". A half X or "<" was usually used for 10. Just another reminder to never say "always" with gunto!

I have seen this often. The tsuba wasn't made for the blade specifically, and the punches tighten the ana to the blade

Interested, too. /// III could be 18. Vern, love that screen-name! One of my favorite comics

An unusual method of attaching the leather snap strap. Posted by @Itomagoi HERE

That's cool, Peter! I only have 2 tsuba with kiku motif, though different in design:

That is quite specific information about the swordsmith who made this. If you haven't removed the tsuka, how did you get the smith's name?

OUCH! That "Seki" hurts my eyes!!! The Showa stamp was a civil inspection stamp, not arsenal, however the blade was likely showato, though they were usually well made.

Ok, I have some. The "Date" family crest on an 18th century blade: There are the Tokugawa mon: 9th Generation The 1-leaf Tokugawa emblem From Sesko: Eighth Tokugawa-shôgun Yoshimune (徳川吉宗), 1684-1751)” was “unhappy with the general decline in the quality of blades at his time … his project that peaked in the 1721” was a “sword forging contest.” “There were four winners selected, namely … Masakiyo … Yasuyo … the 4th generation Nanki Shigekuni (南紀重国) and the Chikuzen smith Nobukuni Shigekane (信国重包).” … “The tang bears the single leaf of the Tokugawa aoi crest granted to the winners of the contest.”

Great topic for a thread, thanks Volker! I'll do some digging, but I think all the ones I have on file are from you!

I like the look, too. There is a name for the shape, but I don't know it. Thomas, @Kiipu, can give you a fuller picture of the year range, but It's my gut feeling they were mostly produced in the mid-late 1930s when the demand for the traditional style became a reality, turning away from the Western styled sabers (kyugunto). @mecox another one for your Kokura list!

Thanks Conway. I have seen the Star A combo, but haven't saved them to file. I'll start with this one.

It's an old family blade, for guys looking for gunto with old blades.

I'm sure there must be someone that can restore your saya (scabbard), I've never heard it discussed. There are a number of top polishers, but I don't think they are located in California.

They have a long history of making quality swords.