Kiipu

Looks like a Gifu stamp to me. "Kiyotsugu Reference / Info" http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18858-kiyotsugu-reference-info/

A cursory search yields that this is common knowledge among officer gunto collectors that they are marked like this. "Nagamitsu Type44 Mounting. New Today !" http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18659-nagamitsu-type44-mounting-new-today/

Thank you very much for sharing this information! All that I knew came from one Chinese webpage. As this is getting off topic, I will sign off on the matter. 65type-cavalry-sword-baidu.pdf

If these are serial numbers, then they start at 1 and will go to three, four, or five digits. It looks like four digits in this case. After finishing the initial range of numbers starting with 1, they would start using a katakana prefix that follows the iroha poem order. In the West, we call these prefixes series marks. 1 to XXXX イ1 to イXXXX ロ1 to ロXXXX Something similar happened with Mantetsu swords except they did not use the no prefix series that started at 1.

We have been looking for you BangBangSan! Do you happen to have the history on these? https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/short-development-history-type-95-gunto-676112-post2097693/#post2097693

Has anyone seen an example of this sword before? Japanese records indicate at least 7,000 were in use. It is not discussed or depicted in any of the guntō books to date.

Actually, yours is lower. 阪 3490 vajo 阪 イ313 Ooitame

No worries as I shamelessly stole one of your pictures without permission and posted it over at WRF! https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/f216/why-did-army-revive-samurai-sword-design-1934-officers-770851-post2097543/#post2097543 1945-no54-late-naval-sword.pdf

Here is a 昭 marked Kanetada for the database. https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/samurai-sword-markings-652734/

See post #8.

I think this table would look better if collectors could actually see what the symbols and kanji characters actually look like. Visuals aids can go a long way in my opinion.

I double-checked the translation and it does translate as "softwood." This appears to be as you said a rather generic term and not a specific type of wood that could be used as a scabbard liner. The hilt liner on the other hand, was a different story. Below are the characters in case you want to pursue the matter further. 軟木 = softwood

I would like to clarify exactly what the document is saying. The use of "Katsura" and "Linden" was for hilt liners. "Soft wood" was used for scabbard liners.

But does your Nagamitsu have a Star stamp?

The army created the Officer Military Sword Inspection Committee 将校軍刀鑑査委員会 in February 1942. They bought old swords from civilians, setup the RJT, and put the arsenals to work on making machine made officer's swords. Trotter-sensei translated or arranged to have translated, the specifications for the RJT swords and it clearly states the blades were to be dated. See "WW2 Rikugun Jumei Tosho Documents" in the Articles and Documents forum.

Morita-sensei has already discussed the origin of the 昭 within a cherry blossom back in 2012. "The Seki Tanrensho book and others related infos" http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9405-the-seki-tanrensho-book-and-others-related-infos/?do=findComment&comment=95504

I thought you had already covered this topic before? "Informations About The Rjt" http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23887-informations-about-the-rjt/?do=findComment&comment=314306

Maybe this will help refresh everyone's memory. "Arsenal Stamps." http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-13?do=findComment&comment=302704

I have one question for you. Is there a 東 inspection mark to the right of the blade serial number? Some will have it while others do not. It does not effect the value of the sword either way.

It is an early Type 95 [NCO] Military Sword. The first six thousand had copper hilts and were made by Suya. Others will be along shortly to give you more details.

I ran across a 1930 advertisement for a school use parade sword. This one looks like it has two scabbard hangers while the first one posted has one hanger.

This is what I think some of them could look like. https://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?168681-Is-this-a-Japanese-sword

I do not think there is any one pattern for these swords. Each company selling them would have their own pattern. Since they were intended for school use, I imagine they were simple and probably lacking in decorations. I am guessing the blades would be dull and in some cases could be made of aluminium or some other material. The price would also need to be kept low with the exception of certain elite schools which could afford better quality parade swords. I do think collectors in the future will need to take this into consideration before making a decision as to what some of the unknown swords are. Below is another example of a parade sword 教練用指揮刀 coming from the Kanayama 金山 catalog. https://smallarmsreview.com/archive/detail.arc.entry.cfm?arcid=8284

Over the last few weeks, I have run into a couple of catalogs and advertisements that mention 指揮刀 or 教練用指揮刀 [parade swords]. These swords were intended for military training in schools. Starting in around 1925, military training became a part of life for students entering middle schools 中学校 and higher. If they did not pursue higher education and most did not, they got caught up in youth schools 青年学校 after working hours. I wonder how many of these swords still exist in collections and also just how much confusion they have caused over the years. 教練用指揮刀 = Kyōren-yō shikitō = Parade (or command) sword for military drill. The 1937 price for a parade sword was 5.5 Yen. 指揮刀　一振　五圓五拾銭　=　Parade Sword　1 Sword　5 Yen 50 Sen. 圓 = 円. 100 銭 Sen = 1 円 Yen.

It is a variant of 石 with an additional stroke. It can be found under radical 112 石, character number 3986, on page 787 of The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary.