george trotter

Smith's signature says NO-SHU KANE-TOSHI SAKU KORE (Kanetoshi of Noshu made this)...Noshu is the old name of Gifu Ken. I'm sure one of the members will give you some personal info on this smith. Regards.

Maybe email the Christies salesroom listed on your catalogue and ask them to send a copy? You never know...they might reply... Regards.

Yes, hard to say Phil, I have seen two blades by the same man, both with its hole the same size and location, both in Type 98 mounts. But, one has a second, smaller dia. hole drilled close by. The 1 hole is (IMO) still in its original mounts while the 2 hole one has slightly different mounts which (judging from the shop markings/numbers etch ) were done in a different shop . I feel that the 1 hole has survived the war in good shape in its original mounts while the 2 hole has had a rough time and had to be remounted and so the shop, finding that the original hole did not line up exactly to its particular hilt, put in a new hole....just my feeling on this. Regards...

Hi Phil, Having two holes on a WWII showato or gendaito blade is not uncommon. I think many swords were made and the smith put a hole in his 'usual place' and later, the mounting shop finds that the hole doesn't line up with the hilt/binding 'access' points so they put in another hole to line up well. No mystery, and not a sign that the sword has been re-mounted with a new/different set of mounts. Of course, never say never with Japanese swords, so there is always a possibility that it was re-mounted for some reason - battle damage, change to new mounts etc.......I'm just saying that two holes are not uncommon for the reason I give. Just my 2 cents worth..Hope this helps

Thanks Brian and all, very helpful. I will look it up. Regards...

Brian, I haven't heard of a spray sword oil...what is the brand / description? Regards...

Hey, Dave....small world.....my mum's brother was a sapper in the 2nd Field Coy. in the Royal Australian Engineers in the Borneo campaign. He was at the surrender at Labuan and brought back a Type 98 Gunto (gendaito but unsignes and undated). When I was a kid he told me that he had to chase the Japanese soldier 20 miles through the jungle to get that sword....but he told me 20 years later that in fact, the unit held a raffle after the surrender and he was lucky enough to win this sword. My cousins still have it. Regards,

I was 25. I had a quiet interest in Gunto because my uncle had brought one home from WWII (good sword - unsigned gendaito). It was probably due to my uncle's sword that I bought a very ordinary showato I happened to notice in an antique shop in Bournemouth in Dorset, UK (I was living nearby in Lymington, Hampshire). I brought it home when I returned to Australia in Sept. 1973 and as I gained more knowledge of Japanese swords I passed it on to concentrate on better swords...so that was 50 years ago and I am 76 this year...time flies when you are having fun.

Hi Christopher, Just a suggestion, but since you know the details of the surrender, the regiment numbers and the US officer/regiment receiving this sword at the surrender, then maybe if you contacted the museum / appropriate US records library you might be able to find many details of Yamamoto - even film of the surrender and maybe even documents. Just a thought. Regards...

HI Francis, Any chance you can show us a few photos of the blade, tip, mounts etc? I ask as I have a sword by his older brother Tsukamoto Masakazu. Regards...

Yes John, As Mal has said, it is likely every 'way' of buying a gunto was in use....I think this was possibly just a swordsmith 'thing' to make the choice of mountings easier/quicker for the buyer/sword shop who would mount it for him. This is just 'probabilities'...none of us has found research/writings that proves how/why the hole numbers were chosen. Regards...

On a Type 98 mounted blade tang being drilled 2 mekugi but only one used...I have a Sho 16 Sept dated blade by Yamagami Munetoshi of Niigata that has two holes but the Type 98 hilt is only drilled to use one mekugi hole. I think this may just be a smith's decision to produce 2 hole tangs and leave it to the local customer/mounting shop to decide on what mount to have. Regards...

For those interested in my translation, look up 'Star Stamped Swords' which is my post of Nov 25th 2010. I give the details of the article by Ohmura that I translated. I must say Bruce, we are still pretty much in the dark about some aspects of stamped swords aren't we. Have a read folks...it might help this present discussion. I must say that I have only acquired star stamped swords since those times so my collection does seem pretty well "stable" in assessing origin of blade/maker/quality and mark meaning...this 'focus on RJT' by me is what led me to ask my question above about navy KJT smiths - as I have little knowledge about them. Regards...

Thanks guys...interesting. Mal san...many years ago I had a Suetsugu SHIGEMITSU blade (undated) in Kaigunto mounts and it had no navy mark. And looking up the Matsubara KANEYOSHI you mention (I saw it in Slough p.73) it says he was Kaigun Jumei Tosho but the 1942 dated oshigata shown has no navy mark either. So, I think you might be right...there were a number of what are termed 'Kaigun Jumei Tosho' but they do not seem to be a 'Navy Version' of the Army's RJT scheme. Maybe it is simply a term used to describe a smith who worked officially for the Navy in one of their arsenals? maybe this is why no 'list' of Navy smiths has ever been compiled...there was no official KJT scheme set up like the RJT scheme...they were 'just' employees? Thanks...

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have a question...I was just looking at Slough p.113 and noticed a smith classified as a Kaigun Jumei Tosho. The oshigata shown does not have any acceptance mark visible (i.e. a navy equivalent of the army star stamp seen on the works of Rikugun Jumei Tosho), so it made me wonder if there was a mark used by the navy? Anyone have knowledge on this? I have had / seen a number of good quality Kaigunto in hand over the decades, but from memory, none had any type of acceptance mark, so, just wondering...