Gunto For Your Opinions.

[ronin223]

I picked this gunto up recently at an auction. I assumed it was a quality gunto from the fact that it had a mon. The nakago is signed with no Seki stamp yet has the same number stamped on it as the fittings. Opinions would be very helpful. Thanks.

[ronin223]

Fingerprints didn’t help it

[PNSSHOGUN]

A nice and unusual Mon with the Officers name underneath, haven't seen that before. The blade looks like a decent grade oil quenched sword from the Hamon.

[ROKUJURO]

Signature looks unusual to me as there is a date and a MEI on one side: NOSHU SEKI no JU 23 (which would make no sense as this would have been 1948) and then a full signature with FUJIWARA KANE.....(can't read the second KANJI of the name, sorry). But maybe I'm completely off?

[vajo]

I read Kaneharu saku kore 

Blade is with mino styled hamon?

 

Nice sword. I would say it looks like nearly gendaito (old polish).

[george trotter]

Yes, Kanefusa...I suggest you look up Slough p..39.

Name was Kato Koichi (Kanefusa) of Seki. Born Meiji 23. Trained under Kato Jumyo....lots of info on him in various books so I'll let you guys have the fun of digging it out.

BTW it's not a date on the mei side, it says he is 23rd  generation (of the Kanefusa line descending from Muromachi time).

He made both showato and gendaito.

Regards,

[Stephen]

 

 

He made both showato and gendaito.

Medium to high grade, 

 

no stamp may make it a higher grade

[Bruce Pennington]

For the "what it's worth" category, the mon is similar to the "Asano" Samurai family crest here: http://www.samurai-archives.com/crest1.html

 

Though, Nick Komiya, at Warrelics, points out that by WWII any family could have a crest. Families without a crest could modify an original one very slightly to make it their own. I have also read somewhere, that gunto shops sometimes had a book of mons and an officer could simply choose one!

 

But it's fun to imagine the possibility that a gunto, in hand, COULD have been owned by someone with actual Samurai heritage!

[Bruce Pennington]

Rusty, also, the stamp on the throat of the saya is faint, but appears to be that of the:

 

 

Shoheikan Gunso Kabushiki Gaisha

This company made army and navy koshirae. They also advertise a wood saya gunto koshirae. The company was located in Tokyo and owned by Mr. Saito.

You can see the logo here: http://japaneseswordindex.com/logo/logo.htm

[ronin223]

Interesting sword. I wonder if the name on the mon could be traced back to a particular officer. Can anybody read the name of the officer?

[Baka Gaijin]

The Kamon looks like Maru ni Chigai Take no Ha.

 

There are many variations to this form.

[ronin223]

More pics. Hopefully it helps

[David Flynn]

Distinct possibility,  the stamp has been removed.