some help for a neophyte please

[ChuckC]

Thank you for indulging me. I've had this sword for quite a few years and am just now researching it and am stuck. As the story goes my dad's uncle brought this and an Arisaka 7.7 back from Iwo duruing ww2. I'm hoping for some help on the id of the sword type and the mei.

 

What I think I know is that it is an imperial army katana with seki arsenal stamp. I ca't match up the characters in the mei to know who made it or what it says.

8

Attached are some poor photos for now.

 

Thanks-Chuck

 

Ps who would have thought i had to learn a new language to speak sword? Very fun tbough i dont expect the swords worth much.

[mdiddy]

Chuck,

 

You are correct that your sword is an IJA sword with a Seki stamp. It would likely have been carried by an officer of company rank or higher. The mei says "Noshu Seki ju Kojima Yoshimasa Saku". Loosely translated that means Kojima Yoshimasa of Seki made this.

 

Here is a link that explains a lot about IJA swords: http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_002.htm

 

Best,

 

Matt

[ChuckC]

Matt,

 

Wow, in a minute you have done what I couldn't do in 3 days of research, being new to this so you can imagine my appreciation.

 

Then, the blade would be oil quenched and machine made? Not that I WANT to come to that conclusion... But it is really neat to assign the character to the blade as you have. Kind of livens the piece..

 

Not trying to nail it's value, just the range since its (showato? Gunto?). Sorry, still trying to learn this sword language.

 

Thanks again.

[mdiddy]

Yes - the blade is Showato and oil-quenched, but not machine made. A swordsmith constructed it but with mill steel and oil-quenching instead of tamahagane and water-quenching. If you search the forum for Showato vs. Gendaito you can find a lot more information on the difference between the two.

 

Most blades made in Seki were Showato. The Seki stamp is an indicator. Also, oil-quenched blades with gunome hamon show hard dark spots at the top of the gunome peaks. In the photo of the blade you shared, I circled what look like some of these hard dark spots.

[Stu W]

Hello Chuck,

 

Have a look here ...

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/showato.htm

 

As to value, without seeing the entire piece it's really not possible to give an accurate valuation. Having said that, IJA Officer swords of the Type 98 seem to sell for 1200-1500 USD depending upon several factors, primarily condition of the blade.

 

Regards,

Stu

[ChuckC]

Thanks - I really enjoyed that link and read it end-to-end the other day. Good info.

 

Here are some more pics for grins:

[reeder]

Katsumasa vs Yoshimasa?

 

-Brandon

[SwordGuyJoe]

It's Katsumasa. He can be found here: http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/seki.htm