Kiipu

Thanks SteveM. I did not find him in the guild list over at touken-kasugado. This is my go to page for finding Seki smiths in a hurry. 軍刀(昭和刀）の関鍛治刀匠名簿232名

It is starting with the old form of 直. However, I do not recognize the smith as either Naosuke or Naotane. Edit: Who is Naoharu?

７６３ 昭和十七年一月吉日　A lucky day in January 1942. 馬場継清作之　Baba Tsugukiyo saku kore. 馬場継清作之　昭和十七年一月吉日 １４７６ 昭和十七年八月　August 1942. 群馬今井兼継　Gunma Imai Kanetsugu. 群馬今井兼継 昭和十七年 NO1476 １７８６ 祐弘作　Sukehiro saku. 皇紀二千六百二年仲冬　Midwinter 1942. 皇紀二千六百二年仲冬1786祐弘作銘陸軍士官三式軍刀拵え入り刀

五、中心ノ形状、鈩仕及刻ハ特ニ人念ニ行ヒ銘ハ外装ノ一般型式ト一致セシメ佩裏ニ製作年月日(干支ニテモ可ナリ）彫刻スルモノトス WW2 Rikgun Jumei Tosho Documents

A caplock over at GBF. Vintage Japanese muzzle loader

Ray, I think they mean that the characters are written in kanji?

Over time, I have observed only a few markings on Type 100 hilt fittings. None seem to fit your inquiry though. Small Seki 関 Japanese Sword 岐 within a sakura Type 44 Katana + Information request

Ran across a reference that stated the Type 100 was designed by Kokura Army Arsenal. The information is coming from a 1941 dated Japanese magazine. The rest more or less restates comments already made by Nick. 工學と工業 1941. 小倉陸軍造兵廠で試作研究の結果,新軍刀の誕生となつたもので,今後毎年約 3,000 口を製作,偕行社と軍人會館から戦地用として

Does the scabbard have a serial number; if so, what is the number?

☆　昭和十八年三月吉日　A lucky day in March 1943. ☆　継弘作之 １９９０　Tsuguhiro saku kore 1990.

As already stated above, both the blade and tang have Nagoya Arsenal final inspection marks. 名 Usually the tang is longer on Type 95s and have an additional hole located towards the bottom for a hatome neji 鳩目ねじ [grommet screw]. For some unknown reason, the tang was apparently shortened.

As stated above, a Chinese reproduction that was not made in 1841. 天保十二年二月日 A lucky day in February 1841. 天保 Tenpō.

Sorry, I am unable to translate it. The first two characters could be a Japanese last name. However, the last three make no sense. 小浦 Kora/Ora. 亰？郎.

And another over at GBF. Tanegashima

I may have a lead for you on this smith. He may have added his last name on this tang. Need info on Japanese’s type 98 officers sword tang markings Edit: It is Kataoka Kunihiro.片岡國廣. Besides the link above, there is another one below. Grandfathers Type 98 Tang Translation Case closed.

八雲横田正留作 Yakumo Yokota Masatome saku. 昭和二十年五月 May 1945. 江 Kokura Arsenal final inspection mark.

I would ask Guy over at WRF. Takayama Masakichi, the Man Who Was Responsible for the "Takayama-Tō"

David, if still at hand, is there a serial number located on the nakago mune?

The picture is out of focus and I do not recognize the marking as being a Japanese character, kana or kanji. Could be a English letter C or G or a partial Arabic number such as 0? Just have to wait for another example to show up to figure out what the pattern is. Keep digging Bruce, there is gold in them there hills.

Attention @PNSSHOGUN.

TAN/KITAU STAMP This stamp means forged or folded. Seems to be used mainly (?only) in Seki. Possibly it means a hand-made forged blade that is not of fully traditional manufacture (e.g possibly mill steel, or a variation of oil quenching). Omote-mei Two example only, neither are dated. This may mean they are pre-1942. Cox, Malcolm E. “A Survey of Wartime Blade Stamps.” JSSUS Newsletter Vol. 26 No. 3 (May-June 1994): pages 2–10.

Fittings オ39 = katakana O, not zero. Base of Hilt 山オ？. 三九 = 39. Phil, the other example of a stainless, mumei Type 97 was over at GBF. However, at the time, I was only saving the encircled anchor stamps. I think I have also seen some stainless blades that had only stamped numbers on them. If these numbers were via the sword shop, then they would be related your blade.

I found the following via a quick Internet search engine. Did not look to carefully though. Kaneaki KANEAKI—2ND SEAT -WW2 Japanese Army Officer Samurai Sword/Old Gendaito Kaneshige via text only? Lot 2437: Two Signed Japanese Swords Kiyonobu Kiyonobu Gendaito in Shin-gunto Mounts

I found it interesting that, as the Honorable Bruce stated above, it has only been found on blades forged in Gifu Prefecture. All that can be done is to locate more examples and see how many swordsmiths used this particular stamp and when. The when part is rather silent though. In my opinion, I see one of two possibilities. The 1st is that it was used by a training forge or a regular forge. The 2nd is that it was an association stamp just like the Shō 昭 and large Seki 関. However, I searched through all of Mal's monographs on Gifu Prefecture and did not find one example of the 鍛 stamp. I would think that he would have at least included one if it was found. On my end, I will keep my eyes open for more examples and post links to them.

Phil, I have run into these unmarked Type 97s before. Not too common, but they do surface from time to time. I have not recorded them as they have no markings.