John C

Steve: The left column should be the manufacturer (sorry, don't know the name), the middle column is the date (looks like Showa 17 [1943]), and the right column I believe is the size chu meaning medium. John C.

Thanks, Bruce. 16092 is now logged under Leo Munson. BTW, second to the oldest on file. Still seems likely only 17,000 were produced. John C.

4604 is now logged in - thank you, Conway! BTW 4604 helps to narrow down when they stopped stamping the serial number side - somewhere around 4500 would be my guess at this point. Thanks to everyone's input, I'm also getting a handle on which stamps were used and when. I've translated a couple and still working on the rest. Also, other swords from this era (including an artillery sword) have some of the same inspection marks. John C.

@BANGBANGSAN @Conway S Apologies for the late replies. Thank you both very much. Here is the latest serial number tally. I believe this may represent the most published serial numbers for the Meiji 1892 (38 as 5-12-25). 325, 487, 575, 1539, 1996, 2379, 2522, 2930, 3397, 3587, 4077, 4429, 5578, 5988, 6251, 6784, 8170, 8572, 8782, 9090, 9536, 9777, 10123, 10781, 11393, 11448, 11871, 13121, 13197, 14013, 14323, 14408, 15383, 15773, 16019, 16065, 16416, Unk serial number sold on Worthpoint. John C.

You're right. I meant to say chrome but it could be silver coated. John C.

A quick question...were there carved wood kozuka in the Edo period or are they modern tourist pieces? I've seen listings on Christie's for them, but have never been sure. Thank you for reading, John C.

The red and brown tassel is a field grade tassel (Major or Colonel); the brown and blue is a company grade (WO, captain, lieutenant). General tassels would have yellow fringe. Also, I'm not sure about the tsuba and seppa. The tsuba nakago ana does not seem the right shape and the seppa seem too shiny (aluminum perhaps?). I would wait for the opinion of others before making any final conclusions about it. John C.

Tristan: From those pics it seems legit, however the tassels are different in some of the tsuka pics. John C.

Dion: It appears the blade has been coated with cosmoline. You could remove some, possibly under the habaki, with denatured alcohol or acetone (nail polish remover). It may take some rubbing, however if it comes off you might be able to see if there is any hamon. John C.

Ouch...

The first pic is the date Showa 20 (1945), 1st month. John C.

Showa 59 = 1984. He would be a modern smith. Do you know his background at all? John C.

I think that may be the same person I emailed a few weeks ago. They refused to change the listing. John C.

Ron: In Downloads, there is an article by Bruce Pennington called The Mysterious Naval Landing Forces Sword, which goes into great detail about these souvenir swords and their origins. John C.

I thought about other materials, however I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Cutting a piece of PVC and using it as a clamp would have worked as well, however I wanted the materials to be natural. Even the cord is hemp cord. The pole actually tapers the entire length so a rigid metal tube would have required more shimming etc. to fit. At some point, I will do a permanent fix by using double headed screws, glue, a filler piece (to account for the taper), and matching lacquer. But for now, it displays fine. John C.