Went gold! Mantetsu or star stamp(?) With strong nakago and mune mei

[Shuriken]

Went gold and happy supporting this amazing forum and appreciative of the admins and members here. I'm Dave, new, but like all, kaizen--a little more learning every day!

 

Here's a new one for me. Mune kanji, and perhaps a star stamp or "M" as seen in @Bruce Pennington file on Mantetsu blades. But the nakago mei do not seem to match Mantetsu date kanji. Pics to peruse and enjoy. Sword first:

[Shuriken]

Mune:

 

[Shuriken]

Nakago 1 full length

[Shuriken]

Nakago 1, closeups

[Shuriken]

Obverse nakago, full length. 

[Shuriken]

Obverse close. Note star or M just under habaki

[Sunny]

57 minutes ago, Shuriken said:

Obverse close. Note star or M just under habaki

Looks very nice ....great score.

From what I know the star stamp indicates it is a traditionally made blade.

Hizen Kuni Masa ....... not sure about the last character ....Yuki ?

When Bruce see's this he will have a way better idea.

[Ray Singer]

Hizen no kuni Masatsugu 

[Ray Singer]

Dated a lucky day in the sixth month of 1942

[Anfoz]

Looks like a star under the Habaki to me. Do you have the sword in hand? If so removing the Habaki will give you an answer. 

[Bruce Pennington]

You were right that the mei didn't match the Mantetsu, good call!  You've got, what is likely to be, a really nice traditionally made blade by an RJT smith.  I only have 3 star-stamped blades on file dated earlier than this, so it's cool to own one made so early in the RJT program.  The stamps are the "Na" of Nagoya Army Aresenal and the "Ho" of Kokura Army Arsenal's 1st Factory inspector.  Here's the page on him from Slough:

 

[Brian]

Thanks for the Gold membership, it really does help the forum a lot.
Yip, clearly a star stamped RJT sword. I regard these as solid collectors swords, as the star is one of the few definitive signs that a sword is handmade traditionally and therefore able to be papered or owned in Japan. I expect these willincrease in value as the Japanese themselves become more interested in them.

[vajo]

Star Stamped Gendaito. Good catch David.

[Beater]

Can’t make out from your photo but my Masatsugu had small, tightly packed choji hamon. A really nice sword. (My oshigata attached). 

Mal Cox, forum member here, wrote a great article about this smith which you can access from the archives here.

 

https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/files/file/51-taguchi-kiichi-masatsugu-hakuryushi-tadataka/?do=download&csrfKey=ebdaa3536536cc1f901337c962aae165