tbonesullivan

Oh wow thanks! I guess they chose to use a different kanji for the second character. I see them in the Hikosaburo rankings as 貞次 but in the 1939 Seki Tanrensho Booklet they are 貞継. Which book is that information from? I really need to purchase a copy, hopefully digitally so I can easily copy and past the information.

Thanks so much! I should have seen that, but I couldn't find that name anywhere. I wonder if there's any information out there on them.

It's been a while since I haven't been able to find really anything on a blade. I'm having trouble with the second to last character before SAKU, but I'm also questioning the one before that. Basically the name of the smith. The other kanji I think I have gotten correct. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Signature: 関 住 髙 井 貞 ? 作 - SEKI JU TAKAI SADA ???? SAKU I noticed that this uses the 髙 variant of 高 (TAKA), which is supposed to usually be used in names. Dated on tang: 昭 和 十 八 年 八 月 吉 日 - Showa 18 (1943) 8th Month (August) Lucky Day

Finally got back to some swords that have been around for a bit, now that the Christmas rush at work is over. Have a VERY nice Kai-Gunto by TSUKAHARA KANETSUGU. It's a SEKI marked blade, signed 濃 州 住 塚 原 兼 次 謹 作 - NOSHU JU TSUKAHARA KANETSUGU KIN SAKU Haven't gotten any chance to take full pictures, but we found a very interesting marking on one of the seppa, which I have not seen before. It looks like TFC and a cherry blossom with an anchor. Does anyone know what these stand for?

Definitely looks like it was once much longer, broke, and then was used quite a bit, or just got rusty and was cleaned a bunch of times. It has led a hard life, and probably best left as is, as that is part of its history.

Definitely Yoshiaki.

I have seen plenty of very old patinated blades, and plenty of WWII blades that barely have any oxidation. This just didn't look right. I can't see any traces of Yasurime, and the edges are not really straight. The Nakago-Jiri in particular just doesn't look shaped right.

This looks to be an old Naginata blade that was turned into a wakizashi, and the blade does look old and used, and like a lot of out of polish blades I have seen before. The characters on the tang are not ones I recognize at all. The fittings for the blade are also made from laminated wood, definitely not what I am used to seeing. The "duck" ornaments on the handle are definitely interesting.

I've seen two like this. Both were late war Showato dated during late 1944. Same "chippy" style markings on the tang as well. How does the rest of the blade look? Looks like the tang and habaki have some oxidation. 正 則 MASANORI was listed in the Seki Tanrensho Booklet printed in 1939. Real name 野呂 栄吉 - Noro Eikichi?? Kanji for the date are 昭 和 十 九 年 八 月 - Showa Era 19th Year, 8th Month August 1944.

That is what I was leaning towards, though there are the little 'arrow' shapes in the very tips of the groups of three. It's definitely an interesting hamon, that's for sure.

Do you have any better pictures of the MEI on the tang? It's not quite clear and the photo is relatively low resolution.

Yeah, well I also got it wrong. I haven't seen 元 used for "first year" before, and I haven't seen winter referred to in that way before. Of course I've only dealt with maybe a handful of zodiac dated swords, and they were almost always Showa era blades.

The last kanji I think is 中 which means "middle" or "central", so maybe the middle of the year? I assume that the two kanji before that are Zodiac markings, but I don't recognize the first one, unless that is 火, for Fire, though that is not the usual character used in the zodiac dates I have seen. The second looks to be 寅 Tora / Tiger. I could be totally off however. If it does read 慶應火寅, that would be for the zodiac year from 15 February 1866 to 4 February 1867. That would fit in with the era correctly, which only lasted May 1, 1865 to October 23, 1868.

This actually came out of a Type 98, and the blade is not signed, but it does look to have a very nice temper line. However, I can't really decide what shape it is. I thought maybe HAKO (box), but it also has some YAHAZU (notched) aspects. I know how hard these can be to describe, as well as to picture. I hope the pictures will suffice, as I don't have access to a real setup for properly photographing Japanese blades.

One of these days I'll get things right. Thanks so much! It's a shame the blade is in such poor shape.

This is a pretty small tanto, which has a lot of wear to the tang, so I was not able to get any truly clear photographs. As best I can tell, it reads KANE NAO SAKU - 兼 尚 作. However part of me thinks maybe the second character is 周 CHIKA or something else. I checked the photos and there are no lines / markings that are missed in them, but due to the wear some may have worn away. Any help is most appreciated!

Definitely showato, and unfortunately the blade is more oxidized than the tang. Stains all over.

Thanks so much! Never really seen a Seki like that, but these "chippy" signatures always seem to confuse me.

Haven't had a chance to look at many tangs lately, so I must be getting rusty. I've tried even drawing this one out in the Kanji finder, and have not had any luck. Last two Kanji I am pretty sure are 正 作 (MASA SAKU), but the first one is eluding me. I went through the oshigata I have access to, and did not find anything that matches. It's got a nice arsenal stamp on it, though the blade itself is almost completely stained. Looks like an arsenal blade. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately it is long gone, and I didn't check the mune for a number stamp.

Oh nice! Thanks so much. I just realized that the chart I was looking at has the wrong Kanji for Tanshu. Looks like I though the top line of 石 was part of 出, which is why I was confused. Thanks again!

Oh wow! That's definitely a nice one. I also was not aware until this point that Tanegashima muskets had signatures on the bottom of the barrel. Guess I'll have to pull the barrel next time one comes across my desk.

The portion near the Nakago-jiri is relatively easy to read, while higher up it gets harder. I looked up Katanas signed 兼 吉 KANEYOSHI but was not able to find a match. Any help is much appreciated! ? 州 住 ? 住 兼 吉 作 - JU KANEYOSHI SAKU I've considered the province to possibly be Hakushū 伯 州 Hakushū or maybe Shinshū 信 州

Thanks so much! I wonder if this is the same Kaneyuki that usually signed 兼 行.

Most likely the last polish this sword had was without the use of Hadori stones, I think it's called the Sashikomi style, compared to the Keisho style using Hadori stones to highlight the Hamon and other aspects. From what I've read it has mainly been since the 1980s that Keisho style became very popular, so swords last polished during the WWII era and prior will not have that type of highlighting. I'm on the fence on which style I like better. I definitely love the chatoyancy and asterism that you can see in blades in the hamon and along the transition. This is a kind of iridescent quality that is impossible to photograph, as it is a stereoscopic effect / result of having two eyes. Some feel that hadori can obscure that.