Conway S

Hi Frank, This smith is Akiyoshi. This sword was posted on NMB previously:

Well I'm glad I stumbled across that eBay listing. I learned something new and It’s cool to uncover details about these more obscure smiths.

I’m quite confident the stamp is on the same sword. I have a Shigenaga in my collection, and the seller mentions the stamp in the description. I saw your Amahide in another thread. It looks quite nice and it’s cool that your father brought it home.

@John C In the article linked above, Mal Cox writes that there were 16 smiths listed as part of the Seki Nihonto Tanren Jo in 1942. Only three of those being well recorded.

Thanks for the second opinion, John. Since this was only the third time I have seen this stamped mei, I was skeptical seeing this one coming from Komonjo. I also found this example of another stamped mei - 金丸（Kanemura) on an Amahide : Maybe these are some of the other smiths working from Amahide’s workshop.

Something about the mei is off. The characters are poorly executed, even for a showato. The chiseling looks smooth as opposed to chippy. But then again, the patination on the nakago appears natural.

Greetings, Found this example over the weekend coming from Komonjo’s workshop. Unfortunately some unscrupulous individual has added an Amahide mei to presumably increase bids for a well-known smith. This is the third example of a Shigenaga stamped mei I have come across. His name does not appear in Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan or other lists I have searched. Has anyone discovered any other details on this smith? From the examples I have seen, there is a nice hada present. I would say it resembles ayasugi hada, but that’s just my novice opinion. Japanese Sword: IJA WW-II Amahide Imperial Army Gunto Con

Paul, I agree that it’s a police sword. Normally these would have a police badge insignia on the backstrap of the handle. This particular one does not. There are many variations of these found, some with mounted traditionally made Japanese blades. More frequently, these have mass-produced Meiji-Showa period non-traditionally made blades. Based on the pictures in your eBay listing, the blade is in rough shape. I think you should look at sold prices online on eBay and elsewhere. In my opinion, your current listing price is too much. Con

Thomas, I think I found the answer I was looking for...Mr. Komiya writes of Army Ordnance 5668: Thanks for sharing. I know Bruce has posted a list of links to Mr. Komiya’s articles, but it sure would be useful if the full posts could be compiled in a single PDF. That would be a worthwhile endeavor for someone to undertake.

I am just curious if officers bought the Type 100s direct from the arsenal. If purchased from the arsenal, I would think more standardization and few options for customization - for example, the lack of family mon, similar lacquered ito, and little variation in scabbard color. I’ve seen the inspection marks on Type 100 fittings too. I have an example of a showato made by Katsuteru in 1945 with a Gifu stamp.

I haven’t seen many maker’s marks on Type 100 koshirae. Found this Suya example today. Were the Type 100 assembled at the arsenal, hence accounting for the lack of variation in the fittings and the lack of commercial retailer markings?

I’ve never seen one of these sold as cheap as $450 by an honest seller. Like any low-quality Japanese navy swords, these can be found online listed for $700- $1,000. One day maybe casual collectors will recognize these as post-war souvenirs, but for now, I think Rebecca should try to get market value. Con

There was usually a piece of leather underneath the haikan, so finding a saya absent of marks would not necessarily be an indicator of Type 98. Con

Why not post in the Military Swords section? That seller’s description is all over the place so I wouldn’t place too much stock in that. It’s a Showa period sword. What do you find so interesting about it?

Thank you for the assistance Moriyama san。

This one really has me stumped. I think it’s “Minamoto ju X kitae kore.” 源住X鍛之。 I thought maybe the missing character is 助 or 功, but cannot find any Showa smiths by that name. Any help is greatly appreciated! Con

The sword is authentic. It is what is referred to as a zohei-to and the mei reads “Zoheisho.” See the below link with good information. http://ohmura-study.net/206.html Per forum guidelines you should also sign posts with a first name. Conway

The stamp is the katakana ス and is sometimes a production sequence prefix. 112 could be part of the sequence, but it could also just be a number used to keep the koshirae and blade together during assembly. I would like to see more pictures of the whole sword, once you have the photo re-sizing figured out.

The mark on the tsuba is the trademark of the company Suya Shoten (listed in figure posted above by Bruce). The second stamp on the tang looks like it could be a “to” stamp 東 for Tokyo First Arsenal. Does this sword by chance have a fullered blade also? A better picture would help in correctly identifying the stamp.

Good idea, Bruce! The Meiji period NCO swords are really quite interesting to me, like the Type 25, Type 32, and other lesser encountered swords (ex. Type 8 riding swords). I am glad enthusiasts here, like @John C, are compiling records on some of them.

I have a few thoughts: - Limit the number of total posts a non-paying member can make per month. - I know logistically it may be hard for the moderators to mail out NMB merchandise to gold members, but maybe club merch could be designed and gold-members receive a link to go to a third-party website where they can purchase/claim NMB-branded merchandise.

@Bruce Pennington it’s the same sword Steve posted here:

@Scogg Here is a pattern 5 with bohi:

Bruce, The mei is Ando Kanemoto. Conway

Hi Amie, Your sword is signed Inaba no Kuni Ju Fujiwara Kanesaki. Here’s a recent thread where some good information was provided on this line of Swordsmiths: Conway