BANGBANGSAN

Yes， Nick helped Gunto collectors find out many answers that we might never can . I'm grateful for that as all the others. I need to buy that 軍刀組合始末: 陸軍受命刀匠の周辺 book.

This sword is not made by 小銃兼正

Another Polish repro in 30K range on the Fleabay https://www.ebay.com/itm/255380506381?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201018205123%26meid%3Dca6ed9c2fff74507bffc237599a9b64e%26pid%3D101286%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26itm%3D255380506381%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26algv%3DWatchlistVariantWithMLR&_trksid=p2380057.c101286.m47999&_trkparms=pageci%3A584cb1a0-8b48-11ec-8647-96526d6cc5af|parentrq%3Ae9390e5817e0a9f73695d718ffff4620|iid%3A1

Thomas Thanks for posting the article by Nick. The article in Chinese that you posted earlier https://www.ahszyd.com/home/periodical/articleDetail?articleId=1446922 has pretty much the same story of 若林 Clan Nick wrote, except the black market sword selling part. I think maybe it was the translation from the book 軍刀組合始末, I might need to buy one copy to check it out. Nick says "In around 1937, Shigetsugu(重次） and his family of 5 moved to Manchuria to work for the South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR), where he launched the Kōa Isshin 興亞一心 swords." Do you think he bring his nephew 若林升 with him,so he can train him there?

Yes, it looks like he uses his name 重次 after he left Mantetsu and let his nephew 若林升 the 7th Generation use 重房 mei.

Steve I posted that sword in this tread about a week ago. Here is root of 重房 1st Generation 重房 若林安右衛門 2nd Generation 重房 若林猪之吉，安右衛門‘s second son.He and his older brother 若林安左衛門 both are using 重房 name. 3rd Generation 重房 若林大助，若林猪之吉‘s son。 4th Generation 重房 守藏 ，若林大助’s student and son in-law. 5th Generation 重房 若林大八，若林大助‘s son. 6th Generation 重房 若林重次，守藏’s son。 7th Generation 重房 若林升，若林大八‘s son，重次’s nephew. 若林重次 is 6th Generation 重房

That is 中 mark, maybe middle grade？

Anyone knows about this 甲 mark?

@Kiipu I don't mind to deal with this 女憲兵

In the movie Letters from Iwo Jima,清水洋一 was a former kenpei (憲兵) he got exiled to Iwo Jima because he is not tough enough to kill a civilian barking dog.

Tokyo, Japan. 15th Aug, 2020. A man dressed as a Japanese imperial army soldier poses for a photograph outside the Yasukuni Shrine during the 75th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Maybe this is one of the guys who spend big bucks for a real NCO sword.

It is him, 重次 using 重房 Mei.

備州住井上正國 文久四年正月日 於赤（石？）造之

The blade it very rough,鸠目钉 is replace by something not for any gunto. Scabbard is correct version.But not the right one for collectors.

Steve I'm with you ,this is a Polish repro.

That is a 名 stamp

Bruce Here we go again,義永 and 吉永 both pronounced Yoshinaga

The smith name looks like 義永 Yoshinaga instead of 義宗 Yoshimune. YOSHINAGA (義永), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshinaga” (義永), real name Nagase Kunikazu (長瀬国一)

My bad,I was wrong ,笠间一貫斎繁継 Shigetsugu is NOT Yasukuni smith 靖繁Ysaushige(阿部繁雄).繁継 is 宫口靖廣 Miyaguchi Yasuhiro’s uncle. Mark，Thanks for correcting me, and stop the wrong information right here.

若林重次(Real name) Wakabayashi Shigetsugu is 若林重房(Smith name) Wakabayashi Shigetsugu，the guy worked for SMR, and he's the guy on the 聖代刀匠位列。 https://www.tsuruginoya.com/infomation/data/iretsu-seidai Not the wrong translation,just didn't know 重次 and 重房 is the same guy. Also, could be confused 重次 and 繁继 by only using English instead of Kanji, because they are the same pronunciation. PS:the registration paper from Japan was wrong about the signature on that Mantestu sword, it should be 若林重次 instead of若林重高。 Whoever work for the education department and register that sword could have not many knowledge about swordsmith，and the cursive script is kind of hard to get it right.

@Bruce There are 3 Smith associates to Mantetsu mentioned by Ohmura 1.栗原昭秀 kurihara Akihide 表1から、軍刀製作を思い立った昭和12年9月からほどなくして、大連鉄道工場での栗原彦三郎昭秀による焼入れをした時点（昭和12年10月）での記述にもある様に、大連鉄道工場内の刀剣製作所は準備で大わらわだったとあるから、まだ刀剣製作はごく少数が試験的に造られていたのであろう。 http://ohmura-study.net/222.html 2.竹島久勝 Akeshima Hisakatsu 大野正編『現代刀工・金工・職方総覧』（昭和52発行）の116Ｐに山口県の刀工・竹島久勝氏の経歴として興味深い記述がある ので一部引用する。 「十三年南満州鉄道株式会社刀剣製作所に赴任、終戦まで興亜一心刀の鍛造指導に当たる」とある。十三年とはもちろん昭和十 三年のことである。同書では久勝は本名とあるが、大野正著『現代刀工名鑑』（昭和46年発行）の149Ｐでは本名は竹島政雄氏 とあった。堀井俊秀門下であり、昭和九年に自らの鍛刀場を山口県田布施町内に開設した。 氏は昭和33年から郷里で作刀を再開した。水竜斎とも号した。 http://ohmura-study.net/221.html 3.若林重次 Wakabayashi Shigetsugu 堤 章 著『軍刀組合始末』（副題、陸軍受命刀匠の周辺／平成6年刊 会津文化調査研究会発行）の106-107Ｐによれば、福島県 会津の刀工だった若林重次こと本名:若林猪之吉氏は、満鉄刀の初期頃から、製作に係わっていたらしく、昭和16年の春に会津 に戻りその後は陸軍受命刀匠として刀剣を製作した。 http://ohmura-study.net/221.html NOTE：若林重次 Wakabayashi Shigetsugu was student of 笠間繁繼 Kasama Shigetsugu,the Yasukuni smith known as 靖繁 Yasushige。 The pronunciation for both 重次 and 繁继 are the same Shigetsugu, so better write Kanji instead of only English pronunciation to avoid the confusion. Here is the story of 若林重次 that I replied to on this thread.

NO, not the same person,Shigetsugu 繁继 not Shigefusa 重房 。I’m saying 若林重次（the smithe work for Mantetsu) is 6th Generation 重房.

It's a legit mid war Type 95 NCO sword，made by Nagoya arsenal.

@Kiipu @Bruce Pennington 若林重次 is the Mantestu swordsmith,he used 重房 name since his 6th Generation 重房。若林升 ，the 5th Generation 重房 若林大八‘s son,is 7th Generation 重房。 Here is root of 重房，and 7th Generation 重房 若林生’s Signature when he was 21 years old. 1st Generation 重房 若林安右衛門 2nd Generation 重房 若林猪之吉，安右衛門‘s second son.He and his older brother 若林安左衛門 both are using 重房 name. 3rd Generation 重房 若林大助，若林猪之吉‘s son。 4th Generation 重房 守藏 ，若林大助’s student and son in-law. 5th Generation 重房 若林大八，若林大助‘s son. 6th Generation 重房 重次，守藏’s son。 7th Generation 重房 若林升，若林大八‘s son，重次’s nephew.

@Kiipu Thomas After more digging ,it should be 若林重房 Shigefusa