Devon Smith Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Greetings. First post, motivated with good reason. At a family Christmas Eve get-together last night I was surprised with a gift, details below. At first glance, it appeared to be a shin gunto 98 with common low-end koshirae, some of the hardware missing. Saya shows some sort of hand written identifying badge attached. Upon examining the blade, to me it looks to have received what seems to be a nice polish at one time or another. The proportions of the blade seem nice, all the lines are crisp. Mune to shinogi still shows more luster than the rest. Nagashi appear under the habaki, about 14 lines on each side. There may be lines on the mune near the kissaki as well, though my poor eyes don’t see detail well in that area. It wasn’t until I removed the tsuka that I started wondering if this really was a mass produced 1930’s-‘40’s blade, which is what I’d assumed upon first look. The nakago shows a lot more dark rust than I would’ve expect from a young sword, deeper pitting as well almost to the point of obscuring what little mei is still showing. I haven't found any production/arsenal stamps. Was rust accelerated by someone hoping to give it an older appearance, perhaps? Regarding other features, without magnification, the hamon is straight and unremarkable, though a little more activity shows in the pictures I’m sharing. I don’t know if it’s naturally showing due to polish or acid etched. I’m unable to see evidence of grain with the naked eye. I’m hoping you in the know can offer your own more experienced comments having seen a lot more of these than I have. There are four photos at the link below, but I’ll warn you that they are actually high resolution scans I did last night, so they may take some time to load depending on your connection speed. When seen full size they do show a lot of detail, though so I'm hoping it was worth the effort. http://home.comcast.net/~shinzan/guntoindex.htm Merry Christmas and thanks in advance for any insight! Devon Quote
cabowen Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 The blade was made by Yoshida Kanekado 吉田兼門, a wwii smith from Seki. You can google and perhaps find more info. Quote
Brian Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Devon, You need to look at it closely in natural light, and see if you can discern any nie particles. Can't make out the hamon too well from the scans. However the decent lines, and nagashi..together with the takanoha yasurime would lead me to think this is at least Gendaito if not older. Can I see a "Kane" kanji in there? Nice one, and welcome. Brian Edit to add: Chris was too fast Nice eyes Chris! Will have to see if he did Showato only, or Gendaito too. Most Seki smiths were doing Showato. Quote
Brian Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Well..maybe there is some hope for Gendaito. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 071&type=3 WWII Japanese NON-TRADITIONAL OFFICERS' SHIN-GUNTO KATANA WITH A IRON FAMILY TSUBA; FINE + CONDITION; SEKI SWORD-SMITH FROM THE GIFU PREFECTURE 'YOSHIDA KANEKADO' 5th SEAT IN THE 1941 Japanese SWORD EXPOSITION. Also: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10259 Brian Quote
Devon Smith Posted December 25, 2013 Author Report Posted December 25, 2013 Thanks very much for the quick replies! Already knee deep in search results. Devon Quote
loiner1965 Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Devon,You need to look at it closely in natural light, and see if you can discern any nie particles. Can't make out the hamon too well from the scans. However the decent lines, and nagashi..together with the takanoha yasurime would lead me to think this is at least Gendaito if not older. Can I see a "Kane" kanji in there? Nice one, and welcome. Brian Edit to add: Chris was too fast Nice eyes Chris! Will have to see if he did Showato only, or Gendaito too. Most Seki smiths were doing Showato. hey brian..... for a minute i thought you were going to say....kane...........toshi lol Quote
Jean Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 I was afraid it could be : "Kane... llonni" Quote
Brian Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 So Jean..... A few bottles of wine with Xmas lunch then? Brian Quote
Surfson Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Could be Kaneloni also, a famous Italian maker that worked with Ricotta. Quote
Jean Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Brian, How did you guess? Just coming back from lunch from my Sister's house. When I have sobered up as usual in the "Izakaya section", I shall post a few pictures of what I cooked and what I opened/drank on Christmas eve Quote
Jean Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Bob, As usual, you are right on the spot, that's the one Quote
loiner1965 Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Could be Kaneloni also, a famous Italian maker that worked with Ricotta. Lol. Joking aside my nick name is loiner but some call me loini ....how bizarre lol Quote
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