Frederik M

hello I think I got the date (February 1845) but not sure regarding signature => could it be Munetsugu? thx for your help

thx for your help

here is the other side, it is Ishihara Kanenao from what i found out. thx for your help

hello I managed to decipher the name of Seki gunto smith but cannot understand the date part It is not the usual gunto dating system I guess. Given there is Roku (6), I would bet on 1931? thx for your help

Hello I saw this lovely sword sold for quite bit It was in a gunto mount. Wondering what the gold kinzogan was about It did not have the usual Yamano signature! thx for your help Fred

thx a lot for your help I could not find the 549th Division (maybe it was rather a regiment) but I was able to find a general Katō in the 13th army that was located in Manchuria during the surrender period

it was with a nice old shinto katana in gunto mounts with a kamon any help greatly appreciated, i would be very keen to identify the Japanese owner thx in advance

thx for your replies here are some more pictures it is a decent blade signed and dated what is a *na* stamp?

hello all i have this blade but not sure what this stamp is or mean? is it on both sides and on mune is it a nagoya manufacture inspection stamp? does it mean blade is 100% showato like seki or showa stamp or is it just inspection stamp and sword could potentially be gendaito? thx for your help

Hello all I was wondering if i should be worried or not. Thx for your comments

Hello I searched for this name Seishu ju TenUnZan Fujiwara Motomichi in quite a few places but could not find it. Is there a way to find and confirm shinsakuto names? thx Fred

Thx Klaus. Very useful

With the normal pics

Thx for your replies. It is definitely a normal good quality ^normal^ same under the lacquer, like in the pics. Same seems all there, below the scabbard hangers it does not look there is this lacquer so maybe it was done after or to protect the scabbard (instead of using leather protection) Funnily enough i found / bought another kai gunto with the same type of saya. But it really leaves me perplex!

with pic

hello I have seen quite a lot of different kay gunto saya: high end same (big nodules), normal same (shark or fish), lacquered wood and painted wood but i rarely came across lacquered same like picture attached (you can see same where lacquer disappeared). So wondering why would a same saya covered with lacquer. Looks odd to me has a same saya must cost a lot at that time (vs just having a wooden lacquered saya). I guess all same saya had a leather protection during the war when they used it in the field. Maybe it was done after the war by some GI to protect it? thx for your thoughts Fred

thx Matt

Hello all I have across a shingunto which seems traditionally forged. Blade is much beefer than a blade of that period and has a hada kizu (which would suggest not top quality). I tried to translate part of date / signature so any help to solve the puzzle would be gladly appreciated. Date : Showa Jyu Ku Nen Ni Gatsu Jyu? Hi? XX XX? 10 February 1944? Smith: xx Shu? Ju? Mitsu? xx xx xx Saku xx thx Fred

thx

who is benson?

thx all. very interesting to see there were that kind of flower on other swords

thx steve. very interesting

with a few more pics so what are your thoughts? is it a mon? Fred

hello all i came across this one it looks like end 19th beginning 20th century but never saw this kind of stamp. has anyone seen this before? thx Fred

maybe Tadahiro 2 then? i guess it could be a sign that it belonged to a samourai family?