Meaning of "Toku"?

[Bruce Pennington]

Neil (IJASWORDS) owns an RJT gendaito with "特" TOKU stamped on the mune. Does anyone know the signifigance of the term? Why would an inspector have a stamp that says "Toku"?

[george trotter]

'Special'

[Bruce Pennington]

"Well isn't THAT special!" Ha! What a unique thing to stamp on a blade. It was on a star-stamped RJT blade, after all, but his is the only one I've seen with this stamp.

 

Thanks again!

[Surfson]

So Tokubetsu Hozon is especially worthy of preservation...

[Kiipu]

Maybe this will help refresh everyone's memory.

 

"Arsenal Stamps."

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-13?do=findComment&comment=302704

[Bruce Pennington]

Maybe this will help refresh everyone's memory.

 

"Arsenal Stamps."

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-13?do=findComment&comment=302704

Thanks Kiipu! I understand now. Back then, I simply thought you were saying the blade required a special inspector's approval. I had no idea the kanji litterally meant "special". It reminds me of the early years when I read Ohmura's description of Mantetsu serial numbers using the iroha system. I didn't know what he meant, so it went right by me.

 

I've updated the Stamps Doc to reflect this, thank you!