IJASWORDS

When it comes to collecting and studying WW2 Gendai swords, in my humble opinion, a Gunto with Horimono is one of the "Holy Grails" of the era. Here is a 1935 KANETOKI (later to become KANEMICHI). In early gloss lacquered mounts, with some red/brown paint of the time, still evident on the fittings. With a 67cm Nagasa, it is both beautiful and powerful. A special order sword for Lord Tsukaharu, must have cost the Lord a pretty penny in its day.

A (Kawashima) TADAYOSHI, shodai, 1st generation. No date, with a long 67cm Nagasa blade. What is there not to like about a fairly mint blade/koshirae outfit. Blade is ubu ba, with a lot of life left in it. I bet the officer in WW2 got a lot of pleasure every time he pulled it out.

I can remember not so long ago, general Tassels were USD3000 plus! I think I paid something like that for mine. All I can think is that with reproductions coming onto the market, collectors, especially new collectors are a bit "gun shy" when it comes to putting down the cash. These ones of David are certainly genuine, and I recon that a Gunto collector would do well to have a sword with a tassel like these for display.

Bruce, most people miss seeing the stamps, being small. Fairly common, see one of mine.

Bruce, here is another undocumented Star Stamped RJT smith, MASAHARU. The only Mune stamp is a 9.

Bruce, do all the 1938 examples have the Manchurian Railway logo? My 1938 N156 does. Does this stamp show up on any other years?

Bruce, I got no idea about this yellow/gold tassel but seen a few on RS late war.

Hi Adam, well spotted. Here are 2 of mine with Mantetsu blades. They are not Japanese made, but both the blade and Koshirae were made in China by the then Japanese controlled Manchurian Railway Company. Collectors now call them MRS swords. They are extremely rare with around a dozen documented. Both blades and Koshirae were made there from 1938. It is likely these swords were issued to the occupying Japanese troops in the freezing Manchurua province. The blades all have a nice MEI. and MUNE stamps. These swords never made it to the Pacific War, hence none surrendered or captured. Nor are there surrender photos. For a long time, they wrongly referred to as Type 3 prototypes, or home defense swords.

Vittorio, depends on your collecting objectives and the price. It is a good swordsmith, it is a traditionally made sword, but as outlined by others has some issues with polish, and probable acid treatment. In my opinion, buying it because it is a star stamp, is akin to buying a sword for the signature and not the blade, that is if you are buying it for a quality blade. BUT, if you are interested in it as a piece MILITARIA, the mounts are nice, and putting aside the issues with the polish, and if the price is right, it is a reasonable starting point for collecting Gendai-to, provided you are not looking for perfection. Your tastes will change with knowledge and experience.

Could you please update me on the current regulations regarding the importation of a sword into the UK. If it is possible, what documents or description is preferred. Thanks in advance.

The fittings and tsuba are brass. My understanding is that they are plated with silver, and the silver is chemically blackened.

Found this one lurking in a cupboard, even has a real gendai blade. All matching numbers.

George, that is actually a 1944 Mantetsu blade, with Dairen Railway stamp.

Here is a selection of WW2 '94, '98, '97, RS, and MRS types. All have traditionally made Gendai blades, some papered.

Volker, looked at my. 94's and nothing like your fuchi.

The Army and Navy both have the same patent number.

A photo of the YASUKUNI SHRINE just before Covid. I think the guard was trying to indicate something to me. I think he asked if I had any butter, saying that it would make it easy on both of us when he tried to relocate my camera.

There was another YASUNORI, Kajiyama. An alternate pronunciation of his name was YASUTOKU. YASUTOKU made superior grade gendai-to. He was born in 1881 and died in 1957. This is an early work, 1938, and is in a leather covered gloss green saya. As with many other YASUKUNI outfits, the fittings are also stamped with the SUYA COMPANY logo. Looking forward to more YASUKUNI swords being shown on this thread.

Volker, here is a KOTANI YASUNORI of mine. Aluminium saya, pierced tsuba etc. The interesting thing about my YASUKUNI SHRINE swords, is that the fittings are marked with the SUYA COMPANY of TOKYO logo. To your knowledge, was SUYA the authorized fittings supplier to Yasukuni swords?

Bruce, nice idea. The Nihonto Message Board, Military section is turning into a pretty good reference site for WW2 swords. The work you guys have done on Mantetsu and Stamps for example, have added additional knowledge on the subjects. With your permission I will kick off the discussion with what I know, and what I have in my collection. Starting off with a 1944 MASANAO. But first a bit of background. In 1940, discussions were conducted between Senior Naval personal and Chief Priest Goto of the MINATOGAWA JINJA (shrine) with the objective of establishing the KIKUSUI TANTO KAI, (The Kikusui Sword Forging Association). The swords forged here would be presented to select Naval Officers. So in late 1940 a temporary forge was set up, then in late 1941 the forge was moved to the grounds of the Minatogawa Shrine in Kobe. These swords would be distributed by the Japanese Naval Academy. The art names of the swordsmiths were given the prefix MASA, this was bestowed on them in honor of MASAshige, a defeated commanding officer of Emperor Go-Daigo, who in 1336 committed seppuku. A shrine honoring Masashige was built in 1872, this is the Minatogawa Shrine. The Shrine was bombed and destroyed on March 17 1945. The sword smiths who produced swords at the shrine were .... MASATADA MASATAKA MASAAKI MASANAO MASAYOSHI MASAKIYO. The swords made here are true Nihonto. In general the swords are signed, MINATOGAWA JINJA MASA.... The Navy requested that the swords be made in the Ko-Bizen style, with suguha or ko-choji hamon. It is estimated that only about 3900 swords were ever made at Minatogawa, and many of these are at the bottom of the sea! Hence their rarity and collectability. So this is a MASANAO sword. Masanao's name was Okada Yoshiaki (1917-1972), the features of this sword are Nagasa 66.5 cm, sori 2.3 cm, in Itame hada and Gunome Choji Hamon. The KIKUSUI Mon (chrysanthemum on water) is on the nakago and habaki. This is the symbol of the Japanese Navy of the time. I welcome any additional information, corrections and other examples.

I put this up for no other reason than personal indulgence. When I feel a little weary of swords, I pull this out and re-charge my "collecting batteries". You can get lost in the hada and hamon on this February 1944 Amatsu MASAKIYO. And his "squiggly wiggly" (I think that is a technical term), signature and mei cutting. A page from that great book by SLOUGH goes into a little detail about this RJT, High-Grade smith. To be honest, I am amazed Masakiyo doesn't have a high Yen rating.

Dunno Bruce, but a similar one of mine has a similar dedication to the TAGA SHRINE in Japan, and the God of protection, DAIMYOJIN lives there.

Geoff, yes black dyed shark skin same.

As I indicated in a post on this subject, I believe the sarute cord color closely matches the handle wrap ITO. For me a missing piece of the puzzle, was how was a Navy cord sarute tied? Remembering that an important part of sea faring was rope skills, and tying knots, you would imagine that a simple granny knot would not go down well with a Navy officer. I have come across some tied like the attached photos. I have no idea how to reproduce the knot, and I will not un-tie this one to find out! But it certainly looks Nautical to me.