Kai-Gunto Translation Help

[FletchSan]

Hi,

 

Need help with translating the tang and surrender tag for a Kai-Gunto.

 

I've had a go at the painted Kanji I can see :

 

Taira ?

Ichi

Kyu

?

San

 

Is it a date or assembly order?

 

I can't make out the other side which only has two Kanji.

For the wooden tag I figure maybe the following Kanji 井野冬兼日長 though that sill doesn't help me

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Ben.

[SteveM]

The wooden tag says

井野兵曹長

Sergeant-Major Ino

 

The white paint says 平一九五三  (Hira/Taira 1953). Don't know the significance of that.

The second kanji on the tang seems to be 久 (hisa), but I can't make out the first one.

[FletchSan]

Excellent thanks. I went to pick up another sword that I purchased and this one was also available also which I could potentially swap for.

 

The sword I purchased is also Kai-Gunto though the blade and saya are awesome condition.

 

Both swords are from the daughter of a WW2 vet and they have literally been in storage since the end of the war. I'll upload some pictures of the sword I took home which is non-traditionally made however as it has a Seki stamp (could not see a stamp on this one though) though the blade is beautiful and almost original condition. The 1953 date on this one has me perplexed however...

[SteveM]

It may not be a date. I mean, it seems like one, but it could just be some random identification number. The 平 in front of the 1953 might be a clue, but it means nothing to me.

[FletchSan]

Thanks Steve. Would all Gunto blades with painted markings be considered non traditionally made, even without an arsenal stamp?

 

Also - could the first character be Jo? Looks a bit like a variation of that from Yumoto's book?

 

cheers,

 

Ben

[SteveM]

Hello Ben - I don't know about the painted markings. Gunto is uncharted territory for me. People used to hold up their noses at gunto, but looking at the quality of some of the pieces and at the prices they are starting to fetch, its interesting to see them gain a bigger following.

 

You are on the right track for the first character. I think the radical (left side of that kanji) may indeed be  扌or 礻or 衤or possibly 子, but I don't think the character would be 掾 because that is a part of a title that was used in earlier days, and you wouldn't see it used as part of a two-kanji name.

 

I looked for showa smiths whose names ended in 久, but there are only a few and none of them have names that resemble the kanji on your sword. Of course 久 could be completely wrong too.

 

Sorry, its just a bit too indecipherable for me. Maybe somebody else will have some luck in picking it out.

[FletchSan]

Thanks Steve. I would agree with you there, I have 3 guntos now and all are so very different from each other.

 

This is the sword I picked up mentioned in this post which is a rather nice Kai-gunto imho.

 

​http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/18038-kai-gunto-showato/

[drdata]

  On 11/2/2015 at 7:47 AM, FletchSan said:

Thanks Steve. Would all Gunto blades with painted markings be considered non traditionally made, even without an arsenal stamp?

 

Also - could the first character be Jo? Looks a bit like a variation of that from Yumoto's book?

 

cheers,

 

Ben

 

 

 

Both gendiato and showato can have painted numbers/marks on the nakago. General consensus is these are used during assembly to track the various parts of the koshira.

 

Regards

[k morita]

Hi,

 

The mei says Sukehisa ( 祐久 ).

[FletchSan]

Thanks Morita San!

[Brian]

I have seldom seen a decent gendaito with painted numbers.

No doubt they exist to prove me wrong, but in most cases the sword is a Showato.

I am sure I will now get a flood of pics of Gendai blades with arsenal rack numbers painted on them.

[SwordGuyJoe]

I used to own a nice Kanehide done in the Bizen tradition that had painted numbers so they are out there as you mentioned.

[drdata]

I too have a kanehide with star stamp. Has some numbers painted on tang. It did get a paper at San Fran a few years back.

 

Regards