Kiipu

Yes to both, 1940 March.

Scogg, the early copper Type 95s had an offset ha & mune machi. So never say never!

Calling 1-800- @Kyle68

John & Trystan, those Australian swords were made to a British pattern. See the 2nd edition of F&G way towards the back. Will get a page number later on.

Japanese mass-produced stainless steel naval blades did not have fullers. If Japanese, someone did some serious modifications to get it to fit a different set of fittings. In my opinion, the blade has limited value at this point in time.

Time to call 1-800- @BANGBANGSAN.

The Meiji 25th Year Cavalry Sword was made by Tōkyō Hōhei Kōshō 東京砲兵工廠 [Tōkyō Artillery Arsenal]. I strongly recommend everyone reading this thread to take a look at this book. (Mod Scogg says I can use bold, italics, and underlining at the same time for dramatic effect!) Military Industries of Japan

When I first looked at it, I thought it could be 檢. The reason I hesitated was because the left side of the character had a vertical line with two Vs towards the top and bottom. Normally in Japanese, the lower V would be upside down; however, this character had both upright. I agree and the rōmaji ローマ字 pronunciation of ken is the same. They are one and the same. I also agree it just means inspected. Wiktionary 檢 [See under Chinese alternatives] @Markus

I think this is just a case of using an older character instead of a misstamp. @SteveM

No, it is not the 小 stamp. It kinda looks like 未. Would need more examples to determine exactly what character is being used.

Note the 水 character to the right.

The right side of the character is 僉. It is most likely a Chinese character used in a name. Trystan or Conway S might be able to figure out the left side.

John & Trystan are correct. Take a look at the plum blossoms on the crossguard. It is World War II Chinese collaboration sword. Many thanks for sharing the pictures of a really interesting sword variant.

United States. United States Strategic Bombing Survey. Index to Records of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. June 1947. Microfilm, 317 pages. This is a book that was microfilmed by NARA. The USSBS collected an enormous amount of primary English and Japanese language documents, most of which are held at the United States National Archives and Record Administration’s (NARA) Archives II complex in College Park, Maryland. The above index is a crucial finding aid for accessing these primary source materials detailing the effects of Allied bombing on Germany and Japan. US$30 including shipping to US. Many public libraries and most college libraries will have microfilm machines available.

Christopher, you can read about these file marks in the monograph below. It is free to download and is courtesy of Bruce Pennington, author extraordinaire. Stamps of the Japanese Sword