Hoping to learn more about showa stamped gunto style Katana

[JohnC]

Firstly, I am new here and would like to ask for your tolerance of any misuse of Japanese terms that I may use in my early attempts to learn. I was recently gifted a WWII era katana that I am enjoying getting to know. I am attaching a link to a few pictures of the blade, saya, and the nakago. In another section of this site, a couple of members were kind enough to translate the mei, which only has me more curious. Just as a matter of disclosure, I received a translation of the mei from the seller after I had posted my request on this site. I am now sure that the translation from the seller is inaccurate, but for disclosure it was: "Seki Kaneyasu Saku". The translation from the experts on this site seemed to fit the kanji much better to my uneducated eye: "Seki ju Kawasaki Kanezumi saku".

I have searched a number of sources listing hundreds of smiths from the Seki area during WWII, and I cannot find this name listed anywhere. I am sure that I am influenced by my prejudice, but it does seem to be a fairly high quality blade for a showa stamp. It has a distinct hamon with what I believe to be nie indicating that it was clay tempered. The blade is very smooth and shiny above the shinogi, but there does appear to be subtle and uniform hada between the shinogi and the ha. My best guess at this point is that it is made out of western steel, but still hand forged and clay tempered.

I would be grateful if anyone could give their opinion of the blade, and possibly any help in tracking down information on the smith.

Thank you to the experts on this site that take the time to help us in the learning process.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11703553@N03/sets/72157632334667448/

 

John C

[jason_mazzy]

Howdy John. Please post pictures and per the board rules please sign your posts with your name. Thank you and welcome aboard...

 

 

 

p.s. some of the most knowledgable sword collectors in the world frequent here. Look for pearls of wisdom everywhere you look.

[JohnC]

Very sorry, it was late. Here is the link to the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11703553@N03/sets/72157632334667448/

 

John C.

[David Flynn]

G'day John, I couldn't find any reference in my books, to Kanezumi. However, there were so many people making Gunto in Seki, some names are surely overlooked. Now, going by the photo's you have provided, this sword appears to be a standard, oil quenched Showato. The hamon is not the regular Togare/gunome found on a lot of seki blades, though, it is also not uncommon.

[Thierry BERNARD]

from Markus's index

[JohnC]

Thank you Thierry. I am wondering if this is the same smith, since the kanji is different from that of the mei on my blade which was translated as Kanezumi from 兼泉. Assuming that I am starting to grasp some of this, the character for Kane is the same, but the character for zumi is totally different. I am too new at this to know if it is common for the same name to have different kanji, and if so, could both kanji variations refer to the same person?

As always, I appreciate any help in increasing my understanding.

 

John C.

[John A Stuart]

兼泉 can be read Kanemoto, but, Kanezumi is more common. John