Bruce Pennington

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.

How did you come across this sword, Sam, if you don't mind sharing?

For simpletons like me, and BTW thanks for all the links above, guys!!!, I go to Japaneseswordindex.com Seki Smith List and scan down the page looking for kanji that match the mei. There is also the list of kanji used in names Brian posted on the Home page of NMB:

These are the only photos I have, so hard to say. Looking at the enlarged one below, I'd say it was just illusion from the photo angle.

Thanks John & Mal!

Hard to say. Yours is quite unique, and a bit unknown, but these sort of things generally run in the mid $500's to $800'ish.

Mal has a write-up on him in his article he posted above. Working from memory, there was an Inaba Forge in Seki city, so we don't know for sure if the mei is a smith going by Inaba or if it's a forge mei, or both.

Wow, Sam, that is unique! What a steal. I don't have my books with me, is that Field grade or General officer backstrap?

Enhanced the photos a bit: Here's one from Sesko: I checked my other files on him, and I agree, his mei changed a bit over time. Not as much variation in his kakaihan, but I did find one that dipped below the line, not quite as dramatic as this, but below all the same. Hard to say, but I don't see a definitive reason to suspect this as gimei. However I'm no expert in mei.

Yeah, good question.

Posting more photos for later when the link goes dead. Seller got the date wrong, it's July 1944. I have another of his, same date, same fittings, but different painted numbers. Both have the light tan, steel saya, but double chuso release buttons.

Steve, Are you sure this is on a Japanese blade?