WW2 army officers signed sword

[phil reid]

Hi chaps , just picked up this officers blade and hopefully the womans posting me photos of her dad with the sword in new guinea ww2?? If I could have assistance with the tang translation to add to the history that  would be superb.

 Thanks in advance 

Phil

[mecox]

I am pretty sure its Morita Isamu Kaneshige of Seki born 1900 was a Rikugun Jumei Tosho.  Quite a good smith.   But I dont follow all this mei.

Mal

[mecox]

This is a rather weird mei.  looks to be:  MI NO KUNI KAJITA JU MORITA KANESHIGA SAKU

The "no" is katakana (a small stroke).... very unusual use.

So Mino is the Province.  Kajita is a town in Mino (I guess he came from there).  So checking, it appears the towns of Tomida and Kajita were combined to form Tomika. 

Be good to see the blade.

Mal

[Bruce Pennington]

Phil,

Is there a star stamp above the mei?  How about small stamps elsewhere, including along the back edge of the nakago (mune)?  What type of fittings is it in?

Love to see the rest of the photos, too.

 

Might want to roll this one over to the Military thread?

[phil reid]

Morning chaps, 

 Quick photo of blade and fittings, lights bad this morning. Standard military fittings, only showa acceptance stamp as extra to the tang, no other markings. Yes, plan to take some time to show blade and ww2 photos of the lady's father who was 2/9 Australian commando late war in the pacific and she tells me theres photos of her dad holding this blade after a fire fight with the Japanese , hopefully shell dig these up in next few days and ill move this over to the military site with a better idea of its WW2 history.

 Cheers 

 Phil

[Bruce Pennington]

Great, thanks!  So a "Showa" stamp.  The smith may have made blades for the RJT program, but like many smiths, they weren't all for the program.  This one would not be traditionally made, evidenced by the stamp.  Most of the dated blades with the Showa stamp were made in 1940, but we have examples from 1935 - 1945 (none in '43 and '44). So, odds are this was a 1940 make.

[phil reid]

Thanks Gents for the translation and the possible RJT / 1940s Showa stamp dating, very interesting.