Kiipu

The link in the quoted post above is broken so use the one below. Iwami Yoshikoyo Gendaito Post #1 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6628-iwami-yoshikoyo-gendaito/ Stamped on the nakago mune twice is 江. This is an Imperial Japanese Army inspection mark used by the Matsue Supervisory Unit of Kokura Army Arsenal 小倉陸軍造兵廠松江監督班. 江 = e

Not likely as the 松 inspection mark was used by the Ōsaka Supervisory Unit 大阪監督班 of Kokura Army Arsenal 小倉陸軍造兵廠.

Sorry, we are not talking about the same thing. The 山 inspection mark is just an "arsenal inspector organization." 山 = Matsuyama Branch Office 松山出張所 of Kokura Army Arsenal 小倉陸軍造兵廠. Possibly, Fuller san is referring to the company mentioned in the thread below? Koshirae Fitters Stamping Blades http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28883-koshirae-fitters-stamping-blades/?do=findComment&comment=292806

Apparently, the old character above and to the left is not displaying on some computer devices. The character can be seen at the link below. It is in the Japanese section listed under kyūjitai. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/社

Looks like this stamp is all sorted out now. As regards the first character, it appears to be another one of those old characters. A real stinker trying to get them to display properly too. If you cut and paste it, the character frequently defaults to the new one! Hopefully everyone can see it below but if not follow the link. 直 = 直 https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/直

A Japanese army inspection mark used by the Kumamoto Supervisory Unit 熊本監督班 of Kokura Army Arsenal 小倉陸軍造兵廠. 熊 = kuma http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-4?do=findComment&comment=85298

The 社 or 社 [sHA] was an Imperial Japanese Army inspection stamp for use by each civilian/private factory 各民間工場. Any private factory working on army contracts could use this inspection stamp. Either the old style or the new style character can be found stamped on parts. 社 = 社

Post #58 Third blade from the left. Could (E) エ367 春 actually be (YU) ユ367 春? http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26165-attention-mantetsu-owners-a-survey/page-2?do=findComment&comment=271158

Inspection mark used by private companies under army supervision. Used during the 1941 to 1945 timeframe. The character 社 translates as firm, company, or office. 社 = SHA http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-9?do=findComment&comment=198986 http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28567-sha-stamp-significance/

関・軍 用 日 本 刀 　Syōwa-tō of Seki http://ohmura-study.net/211.html

The above quote is from http://jtweymo.angelfire.com/KIRAKURYU_MOKUROKU.html. Daimyōjin 大明神 is a title for a Shinto god and not a location. Below are some English language links to get you started. 多賀 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taga-taisha 大明神 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myōjin

夛賀大明神 Taga Daimyōjin 夛 = 多 Use this for Internet searching 多賀大明神. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/多賀大社

Thanks for the comment. Nice collection of F&G books! Those four books starting from the right are uncommon in the United States. The last two were widely distributed over here. Sorry to say the 1985 book, The Oshigata Book, did not make the list as it fell outside the 1868 to 1945 time frame.

Nōshū Nihontō tanrensho 濃州日本刀鍛錬所. Nōshū Seki den: Nihontō ni tsuite 濃州関伝: 日本刀に就て. Kabushiki kaisha nōshū Nihontō tanrensho 株式會社濃州日本刀鍛錬所, 1939. http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1097527

Looking at the stamp with a magnifying glass, it looks like a Tenshozan stamp. Compare it to this stamp.

Two KaiGunto for review #sword 2 - Double ashi http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29929-two-kaigunto-for-review/ The second sword has a Toyokawa Naval Arsenal 豊川海軍工廠 logo. Toyokawa Naval Arsenal was officially opened in December 1939. On 1945-08-07, the arsenal was bombed and a week later all production came to an end with the surrender. The reason for posting is that I have been unable to locate this stamp in this thread. Edit: Looking at the stamp with a magnifying glass, it appears to be a Tenshozan stamp. There is another anchor mark but it has a different meaning and the discussion can be found in the War Relics thread below. http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/showa-dept-interior-stamp-662590-post1693771/#post1693771

#sword 2 - Double ashi The second sword appears to have a Toyokawa Naval Arsenal 豊川海軍工廠 logo. Toyokawa Naval Arsenal was officially opened in December 1939. Not sure if this stamp appears in the Arsenal Stamps thread or not.

Encircled 松 matsu This marking has come up several times in this forum. A hurried search yielded the following. Survey of Gunto contract numbers. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/8546-survey-of-gunto-contract-numbers/ Assistance Needed With Mei. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/24992-assistance-needed-with-mei/ Arsenal Stamps. 松11. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-1?do=findComment&comment=57724 Arsenal Stamps. 松61. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-1?do=findComment&comment=57754 Arsenal Stamps. 松97. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-14?do=findComment&comment=304770 My 1942 Munetoshi. 松443. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/21367-my-1942-munetoshi/

The yamagata 山形 looks like a capital M. The Imperial Japanese Army used this marking for a variety of purposes over the years. One of which was a partial or halfway inspection mark. An illustration of the marking can be found on page 1194 of A Dictionary of Military Terms, by H. T. Creswell, J. Hiraoka, and R. Namba.

I agree the lighting is causing a golden hue in all the photographs. Even the tsuba has a golden color to it. Strange though the fuchi came out normal but not the hilt. However, here is another possible explanation about the brass tone on some Type 95s. Type 95 Brass-colored Tsuka - A Discovery! http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/type-95-brass-colored-tsuka-discovery-698121/ Live and learn!

I read about this website called Spainswords via another thread and decided to have a look myself. Some Type 95's showed up and below are the links. Forgive my satire at times. Maybe one or two real ones along with some educational pieces to think twice about. Is it me, but does the hilt look like it was painted gold? I am not seeing an underlying coat of brown paint. Possibly completely stripped and repainted? Also, is that another alloy fuchi? 一 within a cherry blossom 70006東 http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa28.html Again, a repaint. Do I see a pattern here? http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa73.html The story just gets better and better. http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa75.html You know the drill by now. http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa83.html 名101557. Second opinion anyone? http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa97.html As always, the best one for last. Just check out that arsenal logo! http://www.spainswords.es/japonesa143.html

More than likely the same place, but different names and logos. 岐 = Seki Hamono 関刃物 Highest observed serial number is 名78789. 刀 = Seki Tōken KK 関刀剣株式會社 Lowest observed serial number is 名82009. I have one other serial number in-between but it has an iron fuchi and you know the drill with them. Here is the blade serial though 名81642. And thank you for all your input.

ホ = 1st Factory of Kokura Army Arsenal. All the blades below have a second inspection mark that is the katakana character ホ HO stamped on the top of the blade tang. This HO stamp is an inspection mark used by the 1st Factory of Kokura Army Arsenal. Japanese army ordnance records confirm that the 1st Factory manufactured swords. What I find interesting is that all the blades have different final inspection marks on them. These include stamps from Kokura, Matsuyama, and Nagoya. Could this indicate that the 1st Factory only made blades that were distributed to others for final fitting? 小 ホ = http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-1?do=findComment&comment=57569 小 ホ = http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-11?do=findComment&comment=223259 山 ホ = http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-9?do=findComment&comment=183735 名 ホ = http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-8?do=findComment&comment=143580 名 ホ = http:// www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-9#entry176662

Koizumi Chikaharu 小泉･親治. Guntō 軍刀 [Military Sword]. Tōkyō Suikōsha 東京水交社 [Tōkyō Naval Club], 1938. Tsutsumi Akira 堤･章. Guntō kumiai shimatsu: Rikugun jumei tōshō no shūhen 軍刀組合始末: 陸軍受命刀匠の周辺. Aizu bunkazai chōsa kenkyūkai 会津文化財調査研究会, 1994. Further Information on Jumei Tosho

To me, they are one and the same. The K was dropped and replaced by 一. Just like Seki which went from the 岐 logo to the 刀 logo. Serial Numbers in Sequential Order 38027東 K within a cherry blossom. 38254東 K within a cherry blossom. 39023東 K within a cherry blossom. 68452東 一 within a cherry blossom. 68765東 一 within a cherry blossom. 68920東 一 within a cherry blossom.