BANGBANGSAN

1.氏房 Ujifusa 2.以安來（鋼）造 Use Yasugi steel to make it 3.昭和十四年 Showa 14th Year 1939， looks like there should be more kanji about which month there. 4.桜に昭 = Shō within/inside a cherry blossom inspection mark 5.二十四 24 You need to show the full tang instead of the close-up photo.

It's called surrender tag, the Kanji info matches English.

@hi-revrThe guy on the front row to the right is 土岐亮信 the one who made your sword.

This one dated 昭和二十年六月日 1945 June

+1

Maybe you can download files from Ohmura's sites? http://ohmura-study.net/957.html http://ohmura-study.net/791.html http://ohmura-study.net/792.html http://ohmura-study.net/793.html

The more I look and compare to the other one more I am towards Steve's opinions, it's legit. These 35xxx are tricky.

Steve Besides the Bohi， the shape of scabbard drag and the quality of scabbard throat is also got my concern for fairly early 30K Series, it should be better made? And the Ser# is a little small in size and has too much space between numbers. Those are just my thoughts, I could be wrong. But if it's a repro, then it's a really good one.

The date is :皇紀二千六百三年仲冬 1943 December 仲冬=中冬（Mid-winter), the second month of winter that year. The 冬至 winter started on November 8th in 1943.

I agree with SteveM should be 皮革製品 And the top encircled kanji character dose look to be 奢 Good eye Thomas!

Thomas Do you mean this 1939 cut off waki?

Neil： According to Ohmura, the Mantetsu logo only showed up in 1938 http://ohmura-study.net/222.html

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255382009278?hash=item3b75f435be:g:-qsAAOSwdiVh7HS5 Still have 4 days to end the auction, and already over $700, the people bidding on it need to check this thread.

I think is the same mark,but don't know what is it.I'm thought it could be 悟 or 恒 ，but it maybe Korean character instead of Chinese? Something like 명 Myeo meaning 明。I don't know...

Here is what 成瀬関次 wrote in his book 實戰刀譚 外装の毀損最も多かりしは柄の部位にして、柄の折損、柄糸の摩滅、目釘穴を中心とする諸故障は其の数修理全部の七割に達し、柄の如何に大切なるかを切実に感ぜしめたり。 The most common damage of the fitting is the handle, such as broken handle, wear of handle wrap, and ana has reached 70% of all repairs. 今野昭宗(Left)was in 栗原修理団 Akihide's repair team, he later work under 成瀬関次(Right).

Yes, the photos should be an execution taken around early 1900 in China. The executioner use this kind of Dao。

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？