Blade identification help

[piper]

Great grandfather took this back from Japan after WW2. There is a small symbol on the upper handle. Also a faded symbol on the bottom made with red paint.

[rebcannonshooter]

Hi Nick, your sword appears to be signed HOSHIYA YOSHINAGA, with a SEKI STAMP.  It is a WW2 sword, the small stamp is the Seki inspection mark, indicating a non-traditionally made sword.  Seki City was a major sword producing location during the war.  

 

Hope this helps, Tom

[piper]

Wow. I'm impressed with your research skills. I've been trying to translate that for a while. Although it was made untraditionally, do you think it was handmade? I can post more pictures if you need.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Of the three(?) red numbers, we can see 八〇 (80) but the rest is kind of fuzzy.

[Bruce Pennington]

Nick,

You can read up on these small stamps here - Stamps of the Japanese Sword.  All Japanese war blades were made by hand.  The high demands for huge numbers of swords during the war drove the industry to use hydraulic hammers and other automated tools.  They also used oil quenching, versus water quenching, because it was less likely to create blade flaws.  Additionally, they used various steels, rather than the traditional tamahagane.  Any combination of these expedited variations from tradition put the "non-traditional" label on a Japanese sword.

 

Assuming there is no date on the other side, the stamp puts your blade in the 1935-1942 range, with the massive majority of them falling in the 1940-41 dates.

 

Many of us would enjoy seeing some shots of the rest of the blades fittings.  Looks like a rank tassel there in the background too.

[piper]

Thank you guys. Anything else you can tell me from these pictures? I drew the symbol that is painted on the handle. I'm guessing it is 803 because 803 is written on 3 other pieces.

[ROKUJURO]

Bruce,

if I may add a word:

Many swords (if not most) made in the WWII time in Japan were made of industrial steel, the alloy of which did not allow - as opposed to blades forged from TAMAHAGANE -  quenching in water which is very brusque. Quenching in oil is a somewhat softer process and will reduce the risk of cracks, as you mention correctly.  

[Bruce Pennington]

Well said, Jean, thanks!  See, I learned something today!

 

Nick,

You are right about the painted numbers, they match the stamped numbers on the fittings and were put there during the production process to keep the fitted parts together.

 

The tassel is the blue/brown of a Company grade officer - Lt's and Capt's.  And the fittings are the Type 98 Japanese officer sword model.  You can read all about them on Ohmura's free site:

http://ohmura-study.net/900.html