cabowen

Thank you Grey....

That someone else made a gimei Yukimitsu wakizashi? I still don't quite understand how another gimei blade tells you anything about your sword...???

What will a gimei of Sagami no Kuni Yukimitsu tell you??? Dimensions aren't the whole story- I would be concerned with the hada and hamon.....

tested by Hakudo

Only 30% markup? After I obtained an antique dealer's license (required to attend the dealer only auctions) and started going to some of these dealer auctions I realized that the markup was around 50%-60% in most cases. Maybe the recession has finally had an effect... On a related note, I remember going to one of the sword shops in Shizuoka run by a family. Everytime I would go there (maybe once a month) the son would whine and complain the whole time about how bad business was, how he was broke, how the sword business was going down the toilet, etc....One time, after his usual rant, he says to his sister, "Give me the keys to the car, I am so depressed over the situation I am just going to go home...." She turns to him and says, "Which car, the Porsche or the Benz?"......... Sorry for the off topic post....perhaps there is something of potential benefit to the new collector to be found in it....

The mon shown is actually imperial mon (pawlonia). The tokugawa mon (shogunate) was the aoe leaf...

watanabe masanobu.....seki.....WWII

Either I am misunderstanding you or you have missed the entire point- that being that star stamped blades are traditionally made and accepted into Japan, showa and seki stamped blades are neither traditionally made nor able to be imported into Japan.

O-gassaki is FIRST seen in nanbokucho but afterwards it is seen somtimes in later Koto, Shinto, Shinshinto, and gendaito! Also, polishers can without too much trouble turn a chu-gasski into an o-gissaki.

Smiths could make anything they wanted but when a RJT (contract smith for the army) submitted a blade to the military it had to be made a certain way in accordance with the requirements and specs in the contract. Of course a RJT could make blades for private parties or for sale through other outlets and these could be made in any fashion agreed on between those parties. Please remember as well that the RJT program did not get into full swing until around 1942-43 so there are sure to be blades made by these same smiths before this program commenced and those blade could have been made in a variety of ways using a variety of materials.

Kimi banzai　君万歳 Oshu　尾州住 ???　(can't see the date) Fujiwara Nagayoshi saku 藤原永義作

I'm with Mark-Nanbokucho seems a bit of a stretch..... And while I know several togi-shi and have talked with dozens of them over the years, I have never heard that they take more steel off of one side of a blade than the other due to their posture, or any other reason, for that matter....I have my doubts about that as well.....Not that that has anything to do with the blade...

I have seen a few swords with this mei. I am unsure as to how it is correctly pronounced, so I will just go with one possible reading, Shoshin. This was the mei of Yanagawa Yukitaro. He owned and ran a shop and factory that made gunto and gunto koshirae, etc. He was also a smith according to my info. His shop and factory were located in Suginami Ku, Tokyo, with a branch store in another part of Tokyo. These were not likely traditionally made blades but blades made after experimentation and his own research.

Daikokuten is one of the shichi fukunin (7 gods of good fortune) and he represents abundance/plenty for farmers, agriculture, etc. The rat is also a symbol of abundance/plenty. The daikon, well, there's your ag product....

Well I have submitted and received Hozon papers for a star stamped blade and personally seen at least two others (Miyairi Akihira was one, the other I don't recall)....that satisfies me.... I also have a star stamped blade by Yoshihara Nobutake (Kuniie) which I have no doubt would receive Hozon kanteisho. We can make a wager if you wish-I can have it submitted and if it passes, you pay for the kantei sho and related expenses....

I have had this conversion with many polishers over the years. In this case, the chip is simply too deep in comparison to the width of the hamon to have much left of the sword once it is removed.... The important point is the depth of the chip in comparison to the width of the hamon.....

A few counter points: First, tamahagane was not in short supply. The Yasukuni smiths had all they needed and when the RJT program was launched, the army did not contract with more smiths than they could supply. Well known that RJT smiths used mill steel? Well known by whom? Anyone that has actually talked with RJT about their sword production? Second, the NBTHK has passed more than one star stamped blade at shinsa. At one point in time they would not pass Horii Toshihide's Mikasa steel tanto because they were not made with tamahagane. They now will and have passed these tanto because they now understand that these were made using the oroshigane process, much the same as nanban tetsu blades made in the Shinto period. As I have said before, WWII swords are not the NBTHK's specialty-they admitted as much to me when I first started asking them questions about WWII era smiths and practices. As research progressed, they have come to accept the fact that traditional blades were produced during the war and are now passing them at shinsa. The NTHK-Yoshikawa is likewise not an authority on WWII era blades by any stretch of the imagination. Enough said about them. The NTHK-NPO will pass star stamped blades. Did RJT smiths substitute mill steel for tamahagane and sneak it pass the shinsa'in ? No doubt it happened on occasion, but it was a rare practice for several reasons: it was against the rules-most Japanese I have met follow rules and respect authority; a smith did the shinsa (at least in Tokyo) and knew steel well. It would have been very unpatriotic-smiths were by and large a very patriotic group. It would have still been put through oroshigane and for all intents and purposes, a traditional blade along the lines of the nanban steel blades. I prefer to do the basic research rather than get my information second and third hand from sources without first hand experience. I have personally talked with several former RJT about their experiences and practices and none of them used mill steel to make blades under contract as it was forbidden. Granted, a small sample but having lived in Japan for 13 years I think I can make some basic assumptions...

長谷部国重 hasebe kunishige

Just because I have never seen them doesn't mean they don't exist, as custom made or production....I would think a look at one of Dawson's books on the subject would answer the question fairly quickly. Perhaps someone with his books would take a look to see if there was a standard Navy or Army tanto mounting produced during the Sino or Russo-Japanese wars.....I know they made the kyu-gunto but that was for longer blades....

The Rikugun Jumei Tosho were required to make gendaito. That was the whole point of the RJT system. The star stamp indicates the blade was inspected by a RJT shinsa'in and met the requirements imposed on the RJT, i.e., it was made traditionally.

You are correct. Ki Masatsugu. He was from Kyushu and from a line of smiths who used Ki in their mei. They are well regarded. I once owned a Ki Masahiro blade made in early Showa. It was quite nice..... Too bad about the condition....

In this case, with the star there, I would say the small seki stamp is simply something that notes the origin, like the na stamp, etc. I would bet it is a traditionally made blade though without seeing it that is simply a hunch....

You guys are way too uptight about these....these are really super funky in a modern art sort of way....these are the beat tsuba- jazzy, '60's trippy, Kind of Blue. Just think about how hard it must have been for these guys to express a little individuality in a craft steeped in tradition. While they certainly are not the peak of craftsmanship, the designs are quite original, unique, and certainly bold. I definitely wouldn't expect them to appeal to everyone but I feel they have a playful charm and individuality that I find refreshing....

it seems to me that the bravery kanji was done later by a different hand. It has an air of amateurism about it while the rest looks professional.

Don't believe there was a military mounting for tanto for that war. That didn't come until later. They were about westernizing at that point and the tanto was old school.... Hello Chris, why do you think military mounts were not possible for that period? Tanto in mounts of naval dirk seems very much possible.... Also, you still can find plenty of nihon-to in kyu-gunto mounts.. Guess because I have never seen a military mounted tanto from that period....I have seen naval mounted tanto but they were of a later vintage....