Conway S

Greetings, I stumbled upon this short, but informative article over on Warrelics written by the late Nick Komiya. I have't found this particular article shared before on NMB. The article on parade swords starts about half way down the 1st page of the thread. Of particular note, is the switch from nickel to chrome plating and the re-using of old parade swords to conserve materials. Dummy Sabers In the Shadow of the Samurai style Gunto

Saw this on a colonial sword guard. The only maker I am familiar with that marked swords "Tokyo" is Suya. The characters below are difficult to make out without a better photo.

What's the length of the nagasa? It reminded me of a recent post of a Naohiro blade in Suya fittings here:

Beautiful sword! Out of curiosity, did you buy that in China? From time to time, people post nice finds from China so I am just wondering about the collector's market there. Conway

Believe so. I saw it too. Conway

Ah ok. Now I found him listed in Sesko's Swordsmiths of Japan - Real name Tanigawa Yoshiharu. Of course when I searched "Isshin" on the forum it gave me a plethora of Mantetsu search results. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Maybe others saw this one on Ebay this week. I thought it was interesting because of the stamped sub-assembly number coupled with the patriotic slogan. Can't tell from the pictures on eBay if it has any stamps, but looks to be non-traditionally made. Just thought I would post for future reference because I could not any similar swords posted on NMB. Conway Antique Japanese WW2 Officer Signed Katana Samurai Sword Gunto Gendai Sword

Hello Simon, It looks like 備前国住長船勝光同忠光 - Bizen kuni ju osafune Katsumitsu dou Tadamitsu. Unsure of the character in red , but I believe it means it was a collaboration between Katsumitsu and Tadamitsu. The date looks like Bungi Year 3? So 1503 2nd Month. Not quite sure of exact date based on the photos. The sword looks to be in WW2 Naval Mounts based on the pictures. Conway

Thanks for posting more photos. I think you are correct this is a very early variation. The Type 8s I have seen all have convex cherry blossoms on the backstop, whereas on this example they are inlaid.

@KiipuI'm surprised you did not get any answers yet. I don't have the book, so I cannot take a look at the picture. I'm interested to learn the application of 之 in this context. Conway

@Michael T Thanks for posting. I am not familiar with this variation of the Type 8. Could you post more photos if you have them? Conway

Second one is Nobumitsu and dated May 1945. Conway

That's a nice looking Taiwan/Formosa colonial official's sword! Here is another also marked Suya - Naohiro: Does the guard on your sword also have the Suya harp logo?

Do you have any other photos? It would be interesting to see the koshirae if it is present.

Hi Nicholas, See the attached link for more details. Conway