Kiipu

Kokura Arsenal 小倉工廠 was established in 1933 and in 1940 was renamed Kokura Army Arsenal 小倉陸軍造兵廠. Ogura is a common mistranslation of Kokura 小倉. This mistranslation dates back to World War 2 and continues to this day via "Google Translate". 小 = ko, o. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-12?do=findComment&comment=263167

Another Japanese army inspection mark used by the Matsuyama Branch Office of Kokura Army Arsenal. 山 = yama http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-9?do=findComment&comment=183735

In regards to the second kanji character 特, this is another one of those obscure Imperial Japanese Army inspection marks. It can be used by any factory. This inspection mark indicates special approval. 特 = TOKU http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-11?do=findComment&comment=243760

Looks like a deeply struck Na inspection mark. Carefully look at the fuchi and see if you can see any arsenal or company logos. Don't fret as it looks like yours is iron and it can be hit or miss in that case. 名 = na

I think I found the Mizuno company logo and inspection stamp but still have no serial number. Does anyone know the complete name for this company? http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-11?do=findComment&comment=219263 Mizuno stopped Type 95 production in 1942 because of some quality control issues. http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/short-development-history-type-95-gunto-676112-post1753234/#post1753234

The above translation was generated by "Translator for Microsoft Edge.' For those using Microsoft Edge as their browser, you can learn more about it below. With one mouse click, the entire web page is translated. I use it all the time and think others will find it useful too. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/translator-for-microsoft-edge/9nblggh4n4n3?activetab=pivot:overviewtab I also use "Google Translate" for cut and paste work when browsing. I even use it sometimes when working with MS Office documents. Sometimes it is easeir to look up the character by "Google Translate" and then cut and paste into MS Office. Using the "Insert" function in MS Office can be a time consuming affair to say the least. https://translate.google.com/ Enough said.

Ohmura's website mentions that the serial numbers are in iroha order. Just giving credit where credit is due. http://ohmura-study.net/222.html

Yes, it is readable and it is as you say. 関 Seki Edit: You need to rotate the picture 90 degrees clockwise to see it clearly.

Before proceeding, open a MS Word document and go to the HOME tab. In the Font box, use the drop down menu and one will see all the fonts installed in alphabetical order. Check and see if you have MS Mincho installed. If so, you are good to go. If not, you may need a Japanese language pack depending upon what version of MS Office/Windows you are using. While you are at it, check and see if you have MS Gothic as it has kana as well. There also other fonts available as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CJK_fonts

The information is coming from the Ohmura website. It matches exactly. With that said, it would be interesting to find out what publication reprinted it. Possibly a club newsletter or such. http://ohmura-study.net/222.html

It would be helpful for me if the database could distinguish between what kana is being used [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana]. Typically KATAKANA is written in UPPERCASE while hiragana is written in lowercase. And yes, spellcheck is going to make your life miserable in MS Word! No sooner than you type "TO" it will change to "To". I wonder why they call it progress? ト = TO と = to My reason for bringing this up is the following Mantetsu. I guess they could not find a katakana TO stamp so decided to confound us with a hiragana one instead! Post #67 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-3?do=findComment&comment=271524

Typo in database. ケ731 and not KU731-S. ケ = katakana KE. https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/7/28/mantetsu-to-in-34-pattern-shin-gunto-mounts-hit-in-the-fuchi-by-bullet Post #217 Is this one missing from the database? http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-8?do=findComment&comment=293774

Post #36. The second sword pictured is different from all the others in that the katakana character イ is in parentheses (イ). This detail is important and needs to be recorded as such in the database. (イ) 1644 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-2?do=findComment&comment=270357 Post #141 And another one! (イ) 556 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-5?do=findComment&comment=279859

Post #14 The katakana character is YA and not SE. ヤ 72. According to your table, this would date to 1942, possibly autumn. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-1?do=findComment&comment=264433

To insert hiragana and katakana characters in Microsoft Word documents. Open a MS Word document and click on the "INSERT" tab in the menu bar. Go to the far right and locate the Symbols box in the toolbar and click “Symbol”. From the drop down menu, click “More Symbols…”. A window should open called "Symbol", it should open in the Symbols tab. On the top left side you should see "Font", type in MS Mincho and press the Enter key [or one can use the drop down menu and scroll down and select it]. On the top right hand side of the Window you will find a box called "Subset". Click on the drop down menu until you find "Hiragana" or "Katakana" and click on the one desired. Hover you mouse over the character you want and click it. The box should turn blue. In the lower right corner of the window, click "Insert". The character should appear in your document. You can also cut and paste this character from your MS Word document into your NMB posts as well. Enjoy as this is the easy part! Wait until one starts inserting kanji.

Is this 1945 Mantetsu number い 622? い = Hiragana i. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-9?do=findComment&comment=302139

Japanese army ordnance usually 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 all the katakana characters in the iroha poem, they would switch over to hiragana characters and start all over again! This back and forth between katakana and hiragana would continue until production ended. iroha = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha gojūon = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gojūon What I find most interesting about your recent Mantetsu 3.0 update is that the 1939 swords appear to be following the iroha order! I would suggest reexamining your data in light of this and see what happens. See below for the iroha order starting with 1939 and going into 1940. The seasons appear to match up so far. 1939 イ 376-S イ 466-S ロ 75-S ニ 190-A ニ 675-W ホ 123-W 1940 ホ 538-S ト 41-S ト 374-S ト 450-S ト 630-S ト 729-S

Guilty as charged! Katakana for Thomas.

Type 95 guntō blades will have a final inspection mark applied either before or after the serial number. This final inspection mark indicates that the blade passed inspection. Below is a list of the known inspection marks encountered on Type 95 blades. 東 = Supervisory Section of Tōkyō Arsenal (1932-1940) & Tōkyō 1st Army Arsenal (1940-1945). 名 = Supervisory Section of Nagoya Army Arsenal. 関 = Seki Supervisory Unit of Nagoya Army Arsenal. ヘ = Heijō Factory of Jinsen Arsenal.

The Heijō Factory of Jinsen Army Arsenal (仁川陸軍造兵廠平城製造所) also made Type 95 Military Swords (九五式軍刀) in 1945. The Heijō Factory was located in Pyongyang, Korea. These swords do not have arsenal symbols but they do have the Heijo inspection mark ヘ stamped in several locations. Production was scheduled to begin in April 1945 with 100 swords, May with 400 swords, June with 1000 swords, and 1500 swords per month thereafter. These swords were initially serialized with just five digits with an unknown marking preceding the serial number. On most of the swords observed, this unknown marking is overstamped with a 3. Apparently production began before the assignment of the 300,000 serial number range by Army Ordnance Administration Headquarters (陸軍兵器行政本部). The serial numbers recorded to date are 00562, 301000, 301304, 301710, 301754, 301911. Serial number 301911 began as 301011 but the second 0 was overstamped with a 9. For additional information, see pages 200-205 of Jim Dawson's book, Swords of Imperial Japan, 1868–1945, cyclopedia edition, 2007.

By Dalian Railway Stamp, do you mean the South Manchuria Railway (SMR) company logo? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Manchurian_Railway

Does anybody own a Mizuno made Type 95? If so, what is the blade serial number and inspection mark?

九五式軍刀仮制式制定の件 Authorizing provisional standard for Model 95 saber Go to https://www.jacar.go.jp/english/index.html. Cut and paste in search box: C01001386400 And enjoy!

Now that is a lot of Suya bits and pieces!

United States. Watertown Arsenal. "The Metallurgical Examination of a Japanese Samurai Sword." By J. I. Bluhm. Memorandum Report No. WAL 739/87. 1946-09-25. This is a direct link to a PDF file. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/b962712.pdf