Mantetsu with attribution

[Joe Choi]

Hello... Gunto lovers....

Just purchased this sword, havn't received it yet, did anyone seen one like this before?

This was first for me....

Koa Isshin Mantetsu but with a attribution on the other side, thanks to Nobody San, it was translated as 昭和壬午冬日 (Showa Mizunoe-Uma Tojitsu) – A winter day in 1942

鷹信焠之 (Takanobu kore o niragu) – Takanobu quenched this.

 

And his thought on it,

"Though I know little about WWII swords, I found some information about the writing.

Takanobu may be Suzuki Takanobu (鈴木鷹信) who appears in the linked article. He was a manager of Mantetsu in 1938.

Ref. http://www.k3.dion.ne.jp/~j-gunto/gunto_059.htm"

 

Thanks again for your help Koichi Moriyama san.

I think this is pretty rare sword, what do you guys think???

[Ted Tenold]

Joe,

 

Very interesting. You do come across the oddest stuff in guntos. :D I've seen whole lot of these and never seen one with this mei. I would call it a rare example. Is the sword bent at the nakago?? The shot of the nakago mune appears to show it. Perhaps a twist of light or angle, but it looks oddly canted.

[Joe Choi]

Hi... Ted

Yeah, I do get the weird ones, it all started with Tsuka Hei, thanks to you and Carlos back in 2006. So anything weird / odd in Gunto's I'll try to get. So much mystery behind them.

I've been studying a lot but so far staying mostly in Gunto field, since I'm still not quite sure what to look for in Antique nihonto's, I think I have a Rai KuniMitsu Wakizashi in Shirasaya.

 

When I do receive the sword I'll have a closer look, it does look bit bent from the photo.

 

Thanks... Joe