Kiipu

The caption above is 無垢(丸鍛え). 無垢 = muku. 丸鍛え = maru-gitae. See Kitae - Blade Construction in Japanese Swords . The title at the bottom of the illustration is Nihontō no kumiawase kōzō 日本刀の組み合わせ構造.

I located the pictures of the 宗利 with the タ2353 marking and will post a link below. It was an interesting website and I located several articles of interest and downloaded them. I am sure others will like browsing the site too. Katana - Munetoshi

Is there by chance a number stamped into the nakago [tang] near the bottom?

Not much to work with; but, here is another one タ1399. Arsenal Stamps., Post #160 That makes three so far; タ1246, タ1399, and タ2353.

George, I sent you a private message and it bounced. The message states: george trotter cannot receive messages. Is your mailbox full by chance?

A Type 100 by Akimitsu that is pictured on pages 74 and 75 of Modern Japanese Swords: The Beginning of the Gendaito Era by Kapp & Monson. Nakago Reverse ☆　鉄収子昭光作之　タ1246 Nakago Obverse 昭和十八年八月日

They could indeed be from the same shop or even from two different shops. I think different sword companies used different methods for keeping parts together. With over 50 sword companies assembling swords, one has over 50 different ways of going about it. Final inspection marks are usually kanji while factory inspection marks are usually katakana. Factory inspection marks will usually be found on parts that have passed inspection while the final inspection mark will appear on the major components, such as the blade and scabbard. You would need to check with Bruce on that one. How often does the marking occur and on what blades. Do the numbers increase by date? If so, it could be a production number like what appears on the encircled 松 blades. This is not my area of expertise so all I can do is suggest possibilities. Remember, you have far more hands on experience with these Type 100s than I do.

The page is question is coming from a 1943 manual. The manual was reprinted in Japan back in 1998. Japan. Rikugunshō 陸軍省 (War Ministry). Rikugun Heiki Gyōsei Honbu 陸軍兵器行政本部 (Army Ordnance Administration Headquarters). Ken’in oyobi hyōshiki kitei 檢印及標識規定 (Regulations for Inspection Marks and Signs). General Order 2389. 19 October 1943. The 板橋製造所 was an ammunition factory, specifically the production of smokeless powder. In this case, no. It is just one of several different methods for matching parts during manufacture. In my opinion, the above marking is a civilian production number. Possibly to keep track of production and orders, either by a smith, a shop, or a guild.

硬 = hard. 中軟 = medium soft. 軟 = soft.

I would think this system would have been used by several workshops. It is just a subassembly number after all. One last comment, these subassembly numbers should be showing up on more than one part, If not, one may be looking at something else. The markings that Morita san illustrates are inspection marks and they are coming from a 1943 manual that was reprinted back in the 1990s. Below is a brief explanation of the inspection procedure. Short Development History of Type 95 Gunto, Post #144 Gotta run as it is late over here.

The Japanese army arsenals used the iroha (いろは) poem ordering system and not the gojūon system for subassembly numbers. They would start with イ1 and go up to イ999. After that, they would start with ロ1 and then go up to ロ999. After using up all the katakana characters in the iroha poem, they would then switch over to hiragana characters and start all over again. This back and forth between katakana and hiragana would continue until production ended. In the 1930s, the army started using the last three digits of the serial number as the subassembly number. Alas, officer swords were not serialized, hence the continued use of the iroha subassembly numbers. This practice should not be confused with the iroha serial number prefixes as used by the army and Mantetsu, commonly called series marks in the States. So one must carefully examine the object in question to determine if it is a serial number prefix or a subassembly number prefix.

Bruce, I have 名10506 down as having a black scabbard. Is the black paint original to the sword? Also, is there any signs of an undercoat? What are your thoughts about this one?

I tracked the sword down to an October 2013 thread over at WRF. I do not think it falls into the same category as the OP. The WRF sword could have been made outside of Japan during the war? Samurai swords

The blue and gold labels both have the same logo and name on them. Both labels have the name spelled from right to left. The labels can show up on either a scabbard or a scabbard cover. Both labels are overwritten or overstamped, either with a person's name or date stamp. 関 = Seki. 刃物 =Hamono = Cutlery. 工業 = Kōgyō = Manufacturers'. 組合 = Kumiai = Society. As far as I know, the association was established in 1931. 岐阜県関市における刃物産業の歴史的な発展過程

Link to another gold label. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w443641699

The concentric circles are the katakana characters セ and キ, one over the other. The セ is at the top and the キ is at the bottom. The kanji character in the middle is 工. This is more than likely the logo of 関刃物工業組合 [The Seki Cutlery Manufacturers' Society]. There is another logo that is similar and one can more clearly see the katakana characters over one another. Arsenal Stamps., Post #100 Edit: Post #4 partially answered the question.

A 16th series commercial Mantetsu, one of 7 known in this series. The series low is タ181 and the high is タ336. Do post an overall picture of the sword with the scabbard placed below the blade. This is just to classify the fittings as either army, navy, or civilian. タ 二八七 = TA 287. 昭和辛巳春 = Spring 1941. 興亜一心　満鐵作之 = Kōa Isshin　Mantetsu saku kore.

No but when I do you will be hearing from me!

Have you found a Yasutsuna stamp yet? See Slough, page 194.

I was able to view and download the webpage in question via the Wayback Machine. It was, as you inferred, a rather interesting read. I for one am glad that you have such a good memory! Wayback Machine ryujinswords-tang-stamps-2017-1218.pdf

Are we having problems spelling Japanese today? 昭和刀 = Shōwa-tō = Showa- toh. Toh is just the old style of rendering ō. It is phonetic based and works out well. Still used by older Japanese, including my translator from long ago. Since Showa is a word used in the English language, the macrons are dropped, just like the spelling of Tokyo. This is because the average English speaker has no idea what a macron is nor how it is pronounced. The spelling of ō as oh solves this problem. Sometimes in life, one must think how things were done on a typewriter versus a word processor.

And the slot would act like a lock washer when tightened down too. The down side would be the protruding screw interfering with the hand grip. Elco68, when gripping the sword, do you notice this protrusion? I take it your handle relates somehow to the Electric Launch Company (Elco), possibly PT boat related? Inquiring minds what to know!

Another update for the bibliography. This time coming from Nick Komiya, who is active over at WRF. Thanks Nick for all your help, much appreciated by all. Any and all mistakes in translation are mine, and mine alone. Mori Yoshio 森･良雄. Gensuitō to guntō (guntō no rekishi) 元帥刀と軍刀 (軍刀の歴史) [Field Marshal Swords and Military Swords (A History of Military Swords)]. 2001. A 78 page monograph divided into four chapters. There are no photographs and only a few drawings. It seems to be a collection of various government documents.

Cross reference to the same sword over at WRF. Help IJA NCO 95?

I see now that I poorly worded my post above. What I meant, was that issued items were painted black. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused you and yours.