Who The Swords Were Made For?

[gpieper]

The tang inscription indicates who made the sword, when and where it was made.

 

Is there anyway to determine the 'name of the individual' - who the swordsmith made the sword for?

Or, the name of the army officer who had posession of the sword during the war.

 

I have been told part of my sword's tang inscription refers to the words 'respectfully made". To me that seems to indicate there may have a personal relationship between the swordsmith and the person he made the sword for.

 

Anyone thoughts or experience on this subject? :?

 

Message Board ID: gpieper

gpieper@htc.net

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Gary,

On your sword, the answer is no. No possible way to know for whom the sword was made. What's more, most likely the sword wasn't made for any specific customer. It was made and sold/given/whatever to whoever happened by. "Kin Saku" (respectfully made), as written on your sword, is something you see from time to time. It doesn't necessarily mean anything is special about the blade.

Sometimes, on older, traditional Samurai swords there is an inscription stating who the customer/patron was. This is fairly uncommon. Can't remember ever seeing a WWII era sword with this kind of inscription.

Grey

[huntershooter]

I've a YasuToku (Kajiyama Yasunori) with the inscription "Made for Mr. Matsuda, 1937".

It was relatively common for the Yasukuni smiths to produce special order blades and make note of it.

I am curious if the Minatogowa jinja operated in a similar fashion.