John C

Michael: My first impression was that it may be a reproduction. But what is going on with that latch? Could that be holding the tsuka on? Could just be the lighting. John C.

I think the sniper version of that rifle used a piece of PVC pipe as a scope. John C.

The concept reminds me of the FP 45 pistol dropped to French resistance fighters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-45_Liberator John C.

Smiths Use of different characters is quite common. Sometimes the use of a particular character was a personal choice to differentiate themselves and sometimes it was traditional. Style is also a clue. The way in which a character is written can point to a smith or particular school or time period. So look at all of it - what form of kanji is being used; does the overall style of writing match a particular school (in this case Mino) or time period; which Kaneyoshi used that type of character in that style? And just to gum up the works even further, smiths often changed their style (i.e., how they wrote a particular character). For example, Nakata Kanehide changed the way he wrote the "kane" character 4 times! Keep this mind as well as smiths that actually changed their artist name. John C.

Rich: Here are the Kaneyoshi listings in Sesko just for Mino tradition. Not all are muromachi, however it should get you started. John C. Kaneyoshi - sesko.docx

Good luck. There were a lot of Kaneyoshi who worked in the Mino tradition during that time period. In fact, there was a Mino tradition Kanefusa who worked under the name Kaneyoshi during the Muromachi period. John C.

Nice find, Jaco. I metal detect at the beach on occasion (Equinox 800) but all I find is coins, gold jewelry, and bottle caps! John C.

4.4 pounds of ivory - I hesitate to ask what kind. In any case, the detail is stunning. In the second pic, you can see the individual fine chisel (?) marks in the design. John C.

Chris: I would guess that it's possible. July/August of 1944, the Japanese were still trying to hold on to Guam, Tinian, and New Guinea, among other fronts, as well as Peleiu in September. In addition, Operation Ichi-go was still going on, with over 400,000 troops fighting in China. John C.

Thank you, Thomas. I briefly thumbed through my 1st edition and could not find a reference (probably just missed it). Let us know the chapter or page number when you get a chance. John C.

Apologies for a quick hijack, however this reminds me of something. I had to make a patch for my martial arts school. The outer ring was the belt colors starting with white and ending in black going back into the white to express the never-ending learning process. John C.

Brett: First of all, great work! Secondly, do you know if an index has ever been created for these? John C.

Jim: It looks like several have menuki (matching?) with them. You could have some nice pieces there. Definately seek out some sword collectors (NOT pawn shops or the like - they aren't likely to know the good stuff from average) or at least post some good quality pics here. John C.

That's interesting. I'm curious if any particular stamp, mark, or design feature was included to differentiate those from ones used in Japan. And are these counted in the 17,000 or so specimens that are commonly associated with the Meiji 25 serial number range? John C.

For future reference, the giveaways from those photos are the misplaced and irregular shinogi and the shape of the kissaki. We would also expect the nakago to be somewhat unfinished. John C.