Type 98 I think

[Ebook]

Can anyone could help me out with this sword. Any information would be most welcome, I have not seen a number stamped nakago before but I’m no expert.

 

regards

[raaay]

Hi Dave   ,

 

you have supplied the date , which is dated Showa 1943 , the numbers are generally accepted as factory assembly numbers for matching up the sword fittings .

[vajo]

Dave did you have the other side of the nakago?

[Ebook]

29 minutes ago, vajo said:

Dave did you have the other side of the nakago?

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Is there a star at the top? Or other stamps?

[Ebook]

13 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Is there a star at the top? Or other stamps?

This is the last photo I have and don’t see anything… sorry

[Ebook]

18 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Is there a star at the top? Or other stamps?

Is this a stamp??? 
 

[Kiipu]

Reverse: 昭和十八年一月 = January 1943.

 

I do not recognize the swordsmith's signature so someone else will need to look at it.  If it is a Seki smith, than maybe @mecox will know some history.

@SteveM @BANGBANGSAN

[SteveM]

國廣 - Kunihiro, using my all-time favorite reduction of the kanji 國

[robinalexander]

ahh Kunihiro...thats tricky.  Went right through Slough's and Nihonto Compendium Stoke Count Kanji (Sesko) without success.  Nice one Steve.

[Kolekt-To]

So, it seems this Type 98 is credited to Seki smith "Kunihiro" in 1943. And this would be considered Showato (non-traditional blade, oil-tempered) as is common with guntos, correct?

[Bruce Pennington]

Japaneseswordindex shows 3 Kunihiro mei and one of them is this one:

http://japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihir2.jpg

 

Nihontoclub shows 2 kunihiro, one from Fukuoka, the other from Aomori, both using the scquare kanji for Kunihiro 國廣. 

Kataoka Kunihiro was RJT qualified, which is why I was wondering about a possible star stamp, but his mei looked like this:

http://japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihiro.jpg

 

 

I saw that small mark too, but don't know what to think about it.  It could be a poorly struck Seki or Nagoya mark, but neither would necessarily mean the blade is showato, as they both show up in small form on star-stamped blades.

[Ebook]

Many, many thanks everyone, lots of information to digest. Fascinating. 

[BANGBANGSAN]

17 hours ago, Kiipu said:

Reverse: 昭和十八年一月 = January 1943.

 

I do not recognize the swordsmith's signature so someone else will need to look at it.  If it is a Seki smith, than maybe @mecox will know some history.

@SteveM @BANGBANGSAN

國（国）can also write as 囯  圀 囶

[Kiipu]

Thanks SteveM and BangBangSan for the bailout.  I just do not like this smith's penmanship.  He must have been one of those former blacksmiths!  And congrats to Detective Bruce for tracking him down and verifying such a smith existed.