Is this Seki Sword factory building still standing?

[george trotter]

Hi all,

just wondering if this building in Seki City is still standing? and where exactly is it?

 

This is the Seki Token Kabushiki Kaisha building (Seki Sword Company) in 1941.

I ask because this is where the great (2Mil) RJT smith Nakata Kanehide worked from Feb. 1941, and where he made my 1944 star stamped Rinji Seshiki Gunto mounted sword.

I know it is a long shot, but just interested to know if anyone knows if it still stands, and what it looks like today....and exactly where it is.

 

Pic (with address) is from 1942 book on Japanese swords/smiths/dealers etc."Dai Nihon Token Shoko Meikan" p.16.

 

Be interested to hear from members....

[vajo]

Did you have anything important near that building?

[Bruce Pennington]

You could try putting the address in Google Earth or a map app.  Either one may have a "street view" at the location.

[vajo]

I search nearly 40 minutes 😄 and drive around seki. Funny you can drive into the sword museum and watch the exhibition.

 

 

The MGM Group was build up 1949 on the ground i read so far. But they didn't have any old buildings in Seki.

[Kiipu]

7 hours ago, george trotter said:

Just wondering if this building in Seki City is still standing? and where exactly is it?

 

Can not help with the first part but the second part is not so hard.  As of August 1945, Japanese army records give the address as 岐阜縣武儀郡関町甲一三〇.

 

 

Thank you for your help with Mizuno.  Much appreciated.

[BANGBANGSAN]

Thomas

Can you post the whole page?Thanks.

[Kiipu]

5 minutes ago, BANGBANGSAN said:

Can you post the whole page?Thanks.

 

The 関刀剣株式會社 is the only sword company listed on the page.  This page merely lists the civilian factories making items for Nagoya Army Arsenal.  The reason Seki Tōken KK is listed is because they made Type 95 Military Swords 九五式軍刀 for Nagoya.  Hope this helps in your studies.

bangbangsan-page.pdf

[Kiipu]

The Seki Tōken KK trademark as seen in the OP, which is between the light fixture and 社會式株剣刀関 on the front of the building, can be more clearly seen at the link below.

"Arsenal Stamps."

https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/?do=findComment&comment=76461 

 

 

[BANGBANGSAN]

Thanks ,Thomas!

[george trotter]

Wow, thanks guys. I am impressed with the responses. I will try to find that address Thomas...maybe Morita san can find it more easily?

I will let you know if I find something...be great if it still stands.

Regards,

[vajo]

Ko 130, Seki-cho, Takegi-gun, Gifu

 

After all that time i didnt think the street longer exists with that adress.

 

Around Ko 130, seki-cho i found nothing that looks like the building.

[george trotter]

Thanks Chris...I also looked there on-line and cannot see anything like it...maybe bombed out at thet end of the war, or maybe "re0developed' by now.

Thanks guys,

 

[vajo]

Maybe the street names where changed. It would be helpfull to find a structure near of the building. Thats a huge area. Maybe it is there but where to search?

[vajo]

I don't know but after hours spending in street view it is hard to see the beauty of Japan. 😂

I saw so much things now, that i better not saw. Japan in mind is much nicer than Japan in street view.

 

Edit:

Beside the routes around seki i found now some very beautifull places! 

 

Screenshots from my streetview trip around seki.

 

 

 

 

 

Oyada Shrine (In the entrance are a bow and arrows).

 

 

 

If you wonder why these pictures looks much better than in street view - i played with some filters in photoshop. Try it - maybe we found the house which is George searching for. Beside the big roads and industrial places of the city you will find some nice places too. Enjoy your trip!

[Dave R]

52 minutes ago, vajo said:

I don't know but after hours spending in street view it is hard to see the beauty of Japan. 😂

I saw so much things now, that i better not saw. Japan in mind is much nicer than Japan in street view.

 

 Sadly a lot of towns, not just in Japan were ^redeveloped^ courtesy of enemy air-forces in the mid 1940's, and the following Industrial rebuilding makes one place look much like another. You ought to see Sheffield,... or perhaps not!

[george trotter]

Thanks for all your efforts and comments guys. I think we gave it a try, but no luck.

Speaking of admiring scenes in Japan Chris....here are two scenes I remember from a visit to my daughter (teaching for 3 years in Hyogo Prefecture (Harima) in Japan). The first is a "strange" pillar of heads with empty eyes in an Edo period country village there called Izushi . These heads were just stacked in a square column in a street...very strange - no explanation of what/why they are. The second is a small snowman my son built while we visited an old 1400s castle called Takedajo. The castle is now destroyed c. 1600, only the stone base remains. My son thought he would leave a little snowman there...he is called "Takeda-Joe" (get it?).

[vajo]

😂 cool George.

These heads looks very frightening.

[george trotter]

Yes Chris, very wierd. WE were walking around that old village and stopped at a shop for an ice-cream and that column of heads was just around the corner, on a walkway.

We did ask local people what they meant, or who put them there, but they all said they did not know what/why they were there. Very scary.

 

[SteveM]

I spent a while looking for this also. I can't find any 甲 for an old address in Seki. Another possibility was 印, but there is no such address as that either. Ohmura mentions the factory was in Suehiro in Seki, and there is indeed a Suehiro street/block in Seki. If anybody has any further clues I would be keen to take a look. (But, I think there is no treasure at the end of this hunt: I would be very surprised if the building was still standing).   

[george trotter]

Thanks for that Steve...The pic is the only address I have, which does not seem like a complete address to me (maybe Seki was much smaller then and that address would be easy to find then?)...but a lot harder today.

Anyway, I will have another google search today Steve using your added details and see what I can find.

Regards,

[george trotter]

On 10/2/2020 at 4:56 AM, Kiipu said:

 

岐阜縣武儀郡関町甲一三〇.

 

BTW, I thought I should give you the address in English as given here by Thomas. (If I am wrong please correct me (Morita san?).

It is Gifu ken Mugi gun Seki cho ko 130

[Dave R]

From Wikipedia...."Mugi (武儀郡, Mugi-gun) was a district located in Gifu, Japan. The district was dissolved after it was merged into the nearby city of Seki on February 7, 2005.[1]" which might explain one problem anyway.

 

[george trotter]

Yes...doesn't exist under its original location name might explain why we can't get the google search to work. But, maybe the building still stands in its area, and now ALL we need to find is a 1940s-2004 period map that shows where Mugi-gun used to cover...I guess unless we find such a map and compare it to the present area we'll never know if it still stands.

Thanks for your efforts everyone...I will try to find a pre-2005 map of the area and if I find it I'll let you know.

Regards,

[Kiipu]

The table of contents for 関市史, published 1967, can be seen at the link below.  The 関刀剣株式會社 is listed in the section starting at page 591.  This is the very same book that started the 昭 within a sakura and 関 inspection marks debacle.

https://www.library.pref.gifu.lg.jp/gifuken-mokuji/seki/seki.htm

 

The 甲 that appears in the address is correct.  Other sword companies in Seki also have this character as part of the address.

 

A 1938 drawing of Seki-chō that appears in 関町郷土誌 can be seen below.

Edit: Deleted the drawing.

Edited October 4, 2020 by Kiipu

[vajo]

Thomas where is the forge on the map? Should be easy to find the place now.

[Dave R]

 The Buddhist temple should still be there, so you have one marker in place. 

[SteveM]

7 hours ago, Kiipu said:

A 1938 drawing of Seki-chō that appears in 関町郷土誌 can be seen below.

 

That's the wrong Seki. That one is in Mie prefecture. 

[Kiipu]

On 10/3/2020 at 6:58 PM, SteveM said:

That's the wrong Seki. That one is in Mie prefecture. 

 

Thank you for the correction.  Same characters 関町,  but different prefecture 三重県! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seki,_Mie

 

[george trotter]

Just get back to members...I emailed a week ago to a Seki contact about the building...so far no response.

I will let you know if I hear anything...or not.

Thanks all for your assistance here.

Regards,