Bruce Pennington

Matt, In spite of the condition of the fittings, you've likely got a really nice blade there. Sukenobu, from Noshu (Modern day Gifu, If I have that right) and was an RJT rated smith that made blades traditionally. I don't know when he got RJT qualified, maybe @mecox or @vajo might know. Check a litter higher above the smith name to see if there was a star stamped up there. The earliest I have on file from him is Oct '42, so far, with a star.

Late to the conversation, sorry, busy day yesterday. Seems like a moderator for each forum would be ideal. But that's coming from my world where I only study 1 thing - military gunto. Tough topic to discuss openly, I'd hate to hurt anyone's feelings by not naming someone, but hey - we're all big boys (and girls!), right? I'm online everyday, quite often only once per day, but could do it if only the Military section. Life puts too many demands on me to consider more than that. Some names I would consider: Experienced guys I've never seen say a cross word: @george trotter @mecox @Grey Doffin @b.hennick @Bugyotsuji @uwe @Nobody @Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN (and I'm missing somebody that I can't remember their name!!!) Newer guys, but same deal: @John C @Scogg @Conway S Heck, more names are coming to mind, but this would be a good start. It would be an honor to help, yes.

Dan, That would depend upon the market it is being sold in. It also depends upon whether that blade is a zoheito (factory blade) or something old. As a zoheito, with all the corrosion, it would go toward the low end of the market, say $600-900 USD. If the blade is older, it would be worth more.

George, You are right about the brown tassel. It indicates the sword was carried by someone in the civil branch of the military - Gunzoku. The large Seki stamp was a civil inspector stamp with the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. Civil stamped blades, both Showa and Seki, were always katana mei. Blades inspected and stamped by the Army, were tachi mei. So, this one is perfectly correct. I'd appreciate a full nakago shot of that one showing the Seki stamp, and an overall shot of the sword, for my files if possible!

Waiting for John, @PNSSHOGUN, and I'm away from home for a bit, so don't have my tassels to compare. But here is Type 32 diagram that seems to show the upper band. The one you are looking at appears legit to me, so it's a variation, or the upper band simply went missing over time.

Here are the updated photos: I believe the impression of a bend comes from puff in the towel and/or lighting.

Got these in from the owner, but don't think he showed enough to answer your question about a bend. I've asked him for more blade, and he said he's send when able:

Zoheito? And another T98 with that unusual dark fabric for same'.

And that would explain why my brain has been carrying around both numbers, 1940 & 1942! I think I will default back to '42 after reviewing Nick's post and chart page, which I'll post below: "Further on details of interest to collectors, I understood from Stu W's article that there were unknown markings. Production statistics information often help in clarifying such points, so I show you an excerpt of production capacity projections for March and September 1942. You will see a supplier called Mizuno , who is not included in Stu W's thread. They only produced for a few months in 1942 before getting sacked. They had a logo consisting of the character 水 in a hexagon. Also of note is the switching in arsenal jurisdictions that occurred in Sept. 1942, which would have changed markings, too."

Nice observation, Sam! Had not picked up on that before. Here's a Tokyo and a Nagoya, legit, for comparison:

I don't study the old blades and methods, so someone else will have to answer about that. I know it was used in the 20th century, though.

All good, Steve!

Ed, You can read about these a bit on this Yasukuni-to Thread. To add to Brian's post, they all have the same yasurime (file mark style), mei style, and the smiths are listed.

I've emailed the owner, asking for another shot of the blade, with different lighting, different surface background. I'll update if you sends us something.

Might help to see some photos, Mustafa. By your description, it sounds much like the zoheito, factory blades of the early 1930s and also like the Type 95 NCO blades of WWII. But photos, and maybe an explanation as to why you think it is mono-steel, would help.

"Worth it?" That is the eternal question, but it is only answered by you. If you are a buyer/seller, then at today's prices, you'll lose money. But if it's your sword to care for? You bet it's worth it. I really hesitated on the decision to polish mine. Do I keep it in the "life of the blade" condition, with all it's obvious use, wear, scratches, age? Or do I make it beautiful? Both cases have merit. I chose to polish, and quite glad I did. All the rest of my swords are in the condition I got them, though.

I got a head start since mine came to me from my dad, but it was Ohmura's write-up about them that got me hooked. They made a really good weapon, and following Ohmura's logic, improved upon the traditional samurai sword, making it the latest development in the famed Japanese Sword mystique. I'm a military guy, and like military weapons. Yes, I also appreciate a good looking weapon whether it be a sword, or pistol, tank, or airplane. So, for me, I love the Mantetsu blade.

That was fabulous, Trystan, thanks! I saved that to my files. Maybe I can get that date right from now on!

Jeff, I have seen at least one other civil sword, that I can recall, brought home from the Aleutian conflict, and plenty from the rest of the war. Yours likely was fitted with a leather cover which went missing over the years. The private swords brought, bought, or donated for the war had quite a mixture of military fittings from simply a leather cover, like yours, to mixes of civil and military, to full military. I suppose it had to do with the person who owned it and how much money they were able to spend, or simply the shop who obtained it and what they did to outfit them for military sales.

Sesko doesn't list any Masazane with 政真, although that is fairly common to happen. He does show 2 Masazane with 正真 that have 金房 associated with them: MASAZANE (正真), 1st gen., Tenbun (天文, 1532-1555), Yamato – “Nanto Kanabō Hayato no Suke Fujiwara Masazane saku” (南都金房隼人佐藤原正真作), “Nanto-jū Fujiwara Masazane” (南都住藤原正真), “Kanabō Hayato no Suke Masazane” (金房隼人佐正真), Kanabō school, according to tradition the son of the Eishō-era (永正, 1504-1521) Tegai-Masazane, he moved later from Fujiwara (藤原) to Kanabōtsuji (金房辻), the village that was the name giver for the school, he made mostly robust and “functional” blades with a wide mihaba, a shallow sori, a thick kasane and an elongated kissaki, the jigane is an itame mixed with masame and ji-nie, the hamon is a suguha in ko-nie-deki with ko-ashi and yō, chū-saku MASAZANE (正真), 2nd gen., Tenshō (天正, 1573-1592), Yamato – “Washū Nanto-jū Fujiwara Masazane” (和州南都住藤原正真), real name Kanabō Shinjirō (金房新次郎), suguha, notare, ko-midare

Oh, I got mine when my dad passed away, so the cost of polishing was an easy one for me. With that and replacing missing tsuba, seppa, and lower saya parts, I've actually spent under $3,000 total.

Stamps are crappola, tsuka screws are wrong. The blade serial is stamped in the correct orientation (cutting edge up) for a Nagoya blade, but Nagoya stamped the saya throat numbers in the same manner - at the 'bottom' of the throat, with latch loop to the right: Example Nagoya blade number Note: Nagoya bohi normally are more tapered both at beginning and end, but there are some that show up with rounded beginning Example Nagoya saya throat Number at bottom when reading, latch loop to right

With the Kokura stacked cannon balls, the date would be no later than 1942, when they stopped being the overall supervising arsenal. I think Ohmura said 1940, but I recall reading it was '42, not sure on that. @Kiipu or @BANGBANGSAN could narrow that date down closer for you.

Ohmura said the manufacturing process was a trade secret, so we don't know a lot. You can see from these photos of the Mantetsu operation, that machinery was used extensively, but I don't think the shapes were cookie-cutter like the Type 95 NCOs. I have not had multiple blades in hand in order to compare for exactness in size and form, but they seem pretty darn uniform from all the photos. Quenching? I cannot find an official statement about it. I know it has been discussed and there are some who believe water was used. That's all I know. From the first diagram, you can see the length of the initial steel bar was precisely cut, and it appears (I can't read the text) the initial shape was machine rolled/pressed. From there, though, it looks like the working of the block into a blade was really a human thing, assisted by hydraulic hammers.

That's all out of my league, but enjoying the conversation! And I hadn't noticed such stamps on 32s before, so glad you've brought it up. It's interesting to see the broad variation in stamping as Japan adopted western styled swords, initially, and how it narrowed down considerably as the military started standardizing things during WWII.