cabowen

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....

Knowing how far from the "normal" Japanese aesthetics of the period these deviate makes them charming in their own right. I think of them almost as "modern" art-what Picasso might have made had he been a tsubako....They have a certain funky appeal.

At first I thought the same thing-must have been made for a wedding...the kanji cut at the top of the nakago (bravery) seems a bit out of place on something made for a wedding. That kanji does look a bit awkward, perhaps it was cut later and the tanto retasked for the war???? In any case, it is a decent blade made with sincerity....

Looks like the number 92. Not of any real importance, just assembly info most likely....

I believe at least part of the writing is a woman's name....Blade has a decent shape unlike a lot of these tanto....it would probably be quite nice in polish.

Yeah, blade looks to be contemporary with the saya. Kissaki is borderline repairable. The shape of the blade is awful. Not much of a prize, though giving it away is probably the only way to get rid of it!

What kind of blade?

I can't make out the top half clearly but the bottom reads: ...支所剣道大会優勝 ... shisho kendo taikai yusho So this sword was a prize for winning a X branch kendo tournament ....

The blade has a typical, service polish one would expect on a WWII sword meant for military use. Properly done, a good cleaning may be all the blade needs. To have this blade repolished correctly would indeed cost more than it is worth, at least at the present time, still, it would be a crime to let an amateur repolish it, i.e. anyone in the US other than Hayashi or Benson. It doesn't look to be in that bad of shape. I would give it a good cleaning and let it be.....

Appears to be Meiji or later and signed Kanekuni. Definitely Seki. The small kanji reads "Yu" and means courage/bravery....

They are well documented. They are all listed in Kishida Tom's Yasukuni Tosho book. If he isn't in there, he wasn't a Yasukuni smith. The name doesn't ring any bells so my guess is that there is an error in whatever source you have found...

Do you have an oshigata or photo?

The burrs wear off with time. Yours looks to be a silver wash though it is hard to tell from the photos...

Looks like there is some masame in the shinogi-ji....maybe Shinto Fukuoka Ishido group would be a place to start.....

Why???

Looks nice. It also appears mumei so there is no way to say definitively that it is a work by Yoshichika. I have seen at least 15-20 Yoshichika blades and there has only been one that looked different than the standard military type I mentioned earlier. That was a special order that was nice but nothing like this mumei blade...Gendai-to, by their own admission, is not the NBTHK's strong suit; it is possible but I would not bet the farm on this being a Yoshichika blade. Again, they were for the most part practically mass producing blades for the military. I know the shodai was a competent smith as I have seen one nice, traditionally made blade by him. The nidai is almost unknown and having seen nothing but the cookie cutter military blade from the nidai, one must judge his skill on that basis.

It depends on the polisher as far as how they use acid in the polishing process. When used by an amateur, the usual result is a frosty look to the ha-buchi. The jihada will look hard and shiny, like a mirror. It is hard to describe but rather easy to recognize.

His father's blades were tested by a famous swordsman in the early showa period and cut well. The father began to stamp this on his swords as a marketing ploy. The son followed suit. As I said, they were practical swords, not art. There are the rare custom ordered examples that are much better than the contract blades made for the army. Perhaps you can post some pictures so I do not have to speak in generalities....

All the blade I have seen by this smith have been identical- muji, even gunome hamon, most with bo-hi, rather slender. They seem to have been made with a cookie cutter. Not highly rated, rather mediocre as far as the craftsmanship goes. Practical swords without much art to them....

hamon has a "kani no tsume" (crab's claws) look...Mei is quite rustic....

Dallas, 1980?

Not aware that the NBTHK did shinsa in the US in the '80's. The NTHK did though....1984 and 1987 I think....someone will correct me if I am wrong...Grey?

The four oshigata shown are all blades submitted for contests/exhibitions. My guess is that the mei on these were cut for him-surely the far left example. The sword the op posted was probably cut by the smith himself. Very very little chance this is a gimei. As can be seen in the oshigata Morita san posted from Nihon to oyobi Nihon Shumi, the smith was a teacher (kyoyu (教諭)) at Kanagawa Ken Ritsu Kogyo Gako (神奈川県立工業学校)(Kanagawa Prefectural Industrial School), which is a kind of trade school.....

He was a teacher at a school in Kanagawa Prefecture....Morita san is right, rare sword as he didn't make many. That is why the signature is a bit clumsy. I have seen one of his swords and it wasn't bad. If I remember correctly he studied a bit under Miyaguchi Yasuhiro (Toshihiro). edited: teacher, not professor...

Here's a comparison: 宇 守 The kanji in the mei has two cross strokes and no "dot" to the left of the vertical....I don't think mori works...