Help identify this sword?

[charliemanse]

Hello all,

 

I'm a sword noob and was wondering if anyone had any info on this swordsmith/sword. I posted this on reddit recently and a kind gentleman translated the signature as ' 濃州井之口兼正 ' 'Noushu Inokuchi Kanemasa ' Made by Kanemasa in Inokuchi, Mino.

 

i went about trying to get some more info on the smith and ended up on this forum.

 

A buddy of mine was trying to get this, but seems like he's not interested, so I was thinking of pulling the trigger on it.

 

 

[Seth]

Just flipping this for someone with more knowledge than myself.

[Toryu2020]

You'll want to remove that fuchi and look carefully for the presence of a stamp. May not be traditionally made...

-t

[Kiipu]

A Seki swordsmith that I do not see listed in the guild list or in Sesko's book.  I found another Kanemasa though with a 関 stamp.

Takehito

[mecox]

Yes I dont have a listing either for  濃州井之口兼正  "Noshu Inokuchi Kanemasa"    Others are:  # Kurimoto Shoichi Kanemasa (栗本 正一 兼正) born Taisho 7 (1918) a student of Kojima Kanemichi,  usually signed “Noshu Seki ju Kurimoto Kanemasa kin saku”, also became a Rikugun Jumei Tosho.  # Ono Masaki Kanemasa (大野 正己 兼正) also used Shuryushi (桂龍子) born Taisho 12 (1923)  student of Morita Kaneshige 兼重.   #  Toki Kanemasa  (Toki Zenpei) (土岐善平) born 1897 one of 15 students of Kojima Tokijiro Kanemichi 小島 時次郎 兼道 always signed using his family name “Toki”.   All produced both Showato and gendaito.

[charliemanse]

1 hour ago, Toryu2020 said:

You'll want to remove that fuchi and look carefully for the presence of a stamp. May not be traditionally made...

-t

 

hmmk, I'll try to get some more pics this weekend....

 

Edit: so having a stamp means it's traditionally made?

[Mark]

usually a "stamp" means NOT traditionally made. there are some exceptions based on what stamp

 

a lot of info here

 

[charliemanse]

7 minutes ago, Mark said:

usually a "stamp" means NOT traditionally made. there are some exceptions based on what stamp

 

a lot of info here

 

 

Interesting! Thank you for the guide! Learning a bunch today.

[zuiho]

Hello, I know nothing of the smith. The sword, however, appears to be one of the mass-produced showato 

using factory steel that were typical of the era. One tipoff is in the second photo down on the right.  In the center you can

see a high point in the gunome hamon with a bright spot right under the peak. I suspect these bright areas are repeated

along the hamon. They are an identifier for showato. 

    Another indicator would be a Showa or other stamp up near the hablaki. But I notice the saya is civilian with an added loop which

originally would have been protected by a leather cover. The tsuka looks to be army style. It is likely this sword was bought at an independent

 commercial sword shop and modified for military use.  In this case it could bypass the military inspection process and have no stamp but still

be a  "machine" made sword. That is my  opinion of what you have. 

                                                                                                                              William G.