A Study: Yasukuni-to

[Bruce Pennington]

I collect things.  It started with rocks, then bolts and hinges, then butterflies, then swords.  Mostly though, I collect information.  Fuller states that there were "five smithies employing 30 smiths" who produced 8,000 blades for the shrine.  But that is the extent of my reference material.  If someone knowledgeable on the matter could provide a summary of the operation, smiths, and gunto facts it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Following that, let's start a catalog of all the Yasukuni gunto, photographically, that we can muster.  Like our discussion on the Minatogawa-to, the best way to recognize the real thing is to study the real thing.  Not having the ability to examine these gendaito in person, a pictorial study of them is the next best thing!

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Bruce, the final number was 8,100 swords produced. This page is a good starting point for Tosho, Mei and workmanship:

 

http://www.jp-sword.com/files/yasukuni/yasukunito.html

 

[kyushukairu]

Bruce, I recommend the book Yasukuni-to.  
A member also recently listed it for sale for a fair price: 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Kyle, book on request!  In the meantime, many will never have such a book, and my meager google search didn't turn up much beyond the Wikipedia synopsis:

"In 1933, Minister of War Sadao Araki founded the Nihon-tō Tanrenkai (日本刀鍛錬会, Japanese Sword Forging Association) in the grounds of the shrine to preserve old forging methods and promote Japan's samurai traditions, as well as to meet the huge demand for guntō (military swords) for officers.^{[citation needed]} About 8,100 "Yasukuni swords" were manufactured in the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine between 1933 and 1945."

 

I'd appreciate a summary from someone knowledgeable, please!

[DRDave]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Thanks Kyle, book on request!  <snip>

 

I know you'll enjoy the book, Bruce.  I think it's a must-have for anyone considering the purchase of a Yasukuni blade.

[Volker62]

Hi guys

 

I'm surprised, how many Kudan-to are shown here by a collector named Chris here from Germany.

 

Are these all his??

 

 He's a lucky man!!!

 

attached one of relatively large number of letters from Yasunori to me,I had very good contacts with Yasunori

 

'til his passing away on march 2003 and own some of his swords.

 

Got some nice gifts from him, as shown here a piece of Tamamhagane from Yasukuni jinja from his active time there

 

and a poured cherry blossom, which I appericate very much!!

 

Please read the informativ letter from Yasunori on the subject of Ka Mon....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Volker62]

oh sorry !!

 

My mistake, Chris shows Minatogawa shrine swords, these are a little rarer than

 

Yasunkuni to, so he can be even more happy to have some in his collection!!!!

 

 

Congrat's Chris!

[IJASWORDS]

Volker, here is a KOTANI YASUNORI of mine. Aluminium saya, pierced tsuba etc. The interesting thing about my YASUKUNI SHRINE swords, is that the fittings are marked with the SUYA COMPANY of TOKYO logo. To your knowledge, was SUYA the authorized fittings supplier to Yasukuni swords? 

[Volker62]

Hi Neil

 

very nice sword! congrats!

 

that is really rare, a Yasukuni to with Aluminum saya!

 

there is a Yasushige here with Aluminium saya in germany, but of rarer find!

 

 

[IJASWORDS]

There was another YASUNORI, Kajiyama. An alternate pronunciation of his name was YASUTOKU. YASUTOKU made superior grade gendai-to. He was born in 1881 and died in 1957. This is an early work, 1938, and is in a leather covered gloss green saya. As with many other YASUKUNI outfits, the fittings are also stamped with the SUYA COMPANY logo. 

Looking forward to more YASUKUNI swords being shown on this thread.    

[IJASWORDS]

A photo of the YASUKUNI SHRINE just before Covid. I think the guard was trying to indicate something to me. I think he asked if I had any butter, saying that it would make it easy on both of us when he tried to relocate my camera. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Abe Yasushige
(1911 - )

Born in Meiji 44 (1911) at Yamagata. Trained under Ikeda Yasumitsu. Joined the NTK as a sakite in December of Showa 8 (1933). Became a Yasukuni tosho in Showa 14 (1939). Never made a blade after the war. Produced about 850 blades at Yasukuni.

 

This sword is in original wartime polish with nice copper fittings & Mon. Have forgotten the date on this, think it was 1942.

 

[Volker62]

wonderful Neil!

 

 love these swords, for decades, when the so called "experts" still spilled them as scrap!!

 

 

Is your Yasushige a bid Mach-iokuri Neil?

[Bruce Pennington]

Small sample, but seems the kiri yasurime was preferred?

[DRDave]

11 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Small sample, but seems the kiri yasurime was preferred?

 

Yes.

[Bruce Pennington]

A Yasuyoshi previously owned by a friend (noticed the kiri yasurime!)

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi @Volker62 the sword is mine, the Nakago is original, no idea why it was so long - perhaps at request of the officer. If the Machi was in the "normal" spot the blade would be over 28" Nagasa. 

[Shamsy]

You'll want to try and get a copy of the book The Yasukuni Swords: Rare Weapons of Japan 1933-1945.

 

Very good book with a lot of documentation and the sort of factual information you'd be after, Bruce.

 

Here is a picture of my lovely Yasumitsu, though as you can tell, it has suffered a bit before it came to me. I've attached some before and after photos. The varnish came off pretty easily, but there was a great deal of scrubbing with soft brushes, rags and oil to get the nakago to the current state. Sadly, unless more rust could be safely removed, some of the characters remain obscure. To quote some comments "it's on the short side with a nagasa of 61cm and full length of 78cm, so it's almost like a kodachi with it's dimensions... the hamon... looks nice, bright, even, some ko-ashi in there as well."

 

A very fine sword, thin and light. I have most of the original military koshirae too, though it is very weathered.

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Very nice Steve, especially considering the before and after. Can we see the mounts as well?

[MarcoUdin]

@Bruce Penningtonif you are interested enough I can lend you my Yasukuni-to book that Kyle mentioned. I can ship it to you and whenever you're done you can send it back.

[Bruce Pennington]

5 hours ago, MarcoUdin said:

I can lend you my Yasukuni-to book that Kyle mentioned

That's a great idea, Marc, thanks!  But I had already ordered it a few days ago. 

[b.hennick]

Hi Bruce:

I hope that you are aware of the translation of a book on Yasakuni blades on the JSSUS website. Here isa link

http://www.jssus.org/yasakunito.pdf

 

[Bruce Pennington]

7 minutes ago, b.hennick said:

translation of a book on Yasakuni blades on the JSSUS website.

That’s excellent, Barry.  I will download that, thanks!

[PNSSHOGUN]

The PDF Barry shared is more or less an early version of 'The Yasukuni Swords' book, just without the nice pictures.

[Shamsy]

On 11/4/2021 at 10:55 AM, PNSSHOGUN said:

Very nice Steve, especially considering the before and after. Can we see the mounts as well?

No worries at all, John. 

 

I can't tell if this is the same book being recommended, Bruce. Anyway, here is a picture.

[PNSSHOGUN]

Yes, the PDF Barry linked is an early version of that book.

[Bruce Pennington]

On 11/5/2021 at 12:50 AM, Shamsy said:

I can't tell if this is the same book being recommended

That's it Steve!  I'm reading it now, thanks to @Julian.  The copy he sent me looks new! 

 

I can see why Neil recommended a thread of actual blades.  While the book is full of great swords, the black & white photos just don't match the color photos we are collecting here.

[PNSSHOGUN]

A good point, there is also only a single example with original Shin Gunto mounts. It is a bit of a shame the book does not really cover the Koshirae, they were an important part of the swords.

[Leen]

Yasushige, from my modest collection 

[Bruce Pennington]

Magnificent gunto Leen!

 

So far:

Yasunori

Yasumitsu

Yasushige x 2

Yasuyoshi

 

Let's bring in the rest of the smiths boys!