sword blades with special signatures and dates

[Volker62]

 

Hi friends

 

I'm looking foreward to numerous additions and pics of your swordbaldes with an unusual signatures..........

 

 

 

First

 

a special made sword by 

 

Minamoto Kikuhira

 

please enjoy

[Volker62]

Meibun

 

Atago yama Taro-bo Buzen -bo gohozen

 

Dai hokkyo Iga no kami NyudoMinamoto Kikuhira

 

(At Mt. Atago where  Tengu God's Tara-bo and buzen-bo are enshrined

 

Dai hookyo Iga no kami Nyudo Minamoto Kikuhira

 

The swords old shirasaya has an old sayagaki by Sato Kanzan

[Volker62]

[DTM72]

My humble submission

[Matsunoki]

Ryuminsai Kanetomo made with iron sand from Kujukuri beach. Bought in auction last year. The Mei fascinated me. Never before seen similar except for nanban tetsu. I think he is a well thought of smith.

 

[Volker62]

translation sayagaki by Sato Kanzan san:

 

Dai Hokkyo Iga no Kami Nyudo Minamoto Kikuhira

 

Tadashi Atago san un'nun kisei-mei kore ari (in addition,the blade asks for divine assistance)

 

Hacho ni shaku ni sun go-bu kore ari

 

showa 

 

Kanzan shirusu+Kao

[Volker62]

 

Reward sword

 

rare Homei-to

 

by Kotani Takenori/ Yasunori

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

@francois2605 just posted this one on the Gendaito thread:

"Here's a special order blade by Minamoto Moritaka (rated 2 million yen, high to superior gendaito according to Slough).

 

Signed in tachi mei: "Koteki Mu Kotsu Minamoto Moritaka + Kao" / "Oujyu Mitsuda Jirou Shi Saku" / "Kigen Ni Sen Roppyaku Ni Nen Ju Ichi Gatsu"

 

"Our enemy has no backbone" / "Made at the request of Mr. Mitsuda Jirou" / November 1942"

 

[Bruce Pennington]

And this one posted by @DaBears HERE

金剛兵衛盛高靖博

Kongo Byoe Moritaka Yasuhiro

"於興亜聖戦陣頭
Oite Kōa seisen jintō
From the front line of the Asian holy war of unification.

 

高原登喜夫佩之
Takahara Tokio kore wo haisuru
This sword worn by Tokio Takahara." translation by @SteveM

 

[Alex A]

Great idea for a thread, these inscriptions make a sword a lot more desirable!.

[francois2605]

Interestingly the 2 previous swords are from the same school and this shows in the file marks and the shape of the nakago

[Mark S.]

Not sure if this one will be ‘special’ enough, but the nakago/mei is from a yari made by 11th Generation Izumi no Kami Kanesada in 1867 and opinion of NTHK-NPO is authentic.  I haven’t seen many yari signed on all four sides of nakago with “who”, “when”, “where”, and “for who”. 
 

[John C]

3 hours ago, francois2605 said:

previous swords

Francois:

Do you know if the blue painted 5 at the base of the nakago is original to the sword?

John C.

[francois2605]

12 hours ago, John C said:

Francois:

Do you know if the blue painted 5 at the base of the nakago is original to the sword?

John C.

 

I don't know, John. The sword was sold in a shirasaya (no associated gunto koshirae with matching seppa). The 5 looks almost too perfect for being hand painted. Curious to hear what others think.

[Volker62]

Unique Tanto

 

This Tanto was showed to Ogasawara san on the oncassion at an exhibition of important Japanese swords in the

 

Klingenmuseum in Solingen and clearly confirmed as a work by Hori Toshihide, short before his passing

 

 

 

 

 unusual long (28,8 nagasa)Tanto in a wooden box blade used as a mobile shrine.

 

The inscription on the omote indicates that the blade is to keep alive the memorey to Captain Paymaster Kubota Yukio

 

He died in action  in showa 18 nen 9 gatsu 21 hi

 

The mon presumably represents the

  dead mans familiy

 

The inscription reads. Chusein (Name of the Monks temple) KOYO JUNDO (spiritual name implying the deceased was a martyr

 

TESTSUSHIN ( posthumous Buddhist name)  KOJI (BUDDHIST layman) SENSHI (Death in action

[Volker62]

this Tanto has two different hamon

 

one side is in gunome choji in Bizen style

 

other is worked in soshu..

 

 

 

Hori Toshihide was known for his works like that

 

 

[Bazza]

> this Tanto has two different hamon

> one side is in gunome choji in Bizen style

> other is worked in soshu..

 

I believe this is called konotegashiwa??

 

BaZZa.

[Volker62]

thanks Barry!

 

very special work, with very special meanings....

[Matsunoki]

Endo Mitsuoki signed also by the horimono carver Abe Akitada “in the same province”

 

”Echigo Kuni Mitsuoki Zo kore”

 

”August in 1940 Koki 2600 A resident of Sanjo  in the same province Abe Akitada carved this”

 

Currently in my custody but been on this forum twice before I think.

 

All the best. Colin.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Matsunoki
Typo

[Volker62]

thank you for sharing Colin

[Bryce]

G'day Volker,

Here is one by Kojima Kanemichi dated December 8 1942. It was made for Mr Minoru Nokura to commemorate the first anniversary of the start of the Pacific war (bombing of Pearl Harbour).

Cheers,

Bryce

 

[Volker62]

thanks for sharing Bryce!

 

what a historic sword!!!

 

congrat's!

[DMNK]

Don't know if this fits in here : Musashi Koku Jyu Kaneko Sandai Taro Minamoto Sukehide special order katana in bizen sanmai construction. 

[Volker62]

it fit's very well !

 

 

t'ks a lot Dominik for sharing, a rare  swords signature here.

 

 

[Itomagoi]

Chichibu Jū Fujino Masatsugu Saku (知知夫住藤野政丞作)

Sakurai Saburō (応桜井三郎造之)

Tame Kyū Konoe Rentai Rikugun Chūsa (為旧近衛連隊陸軍中佐)

Sakurai Tomiharu Jū San Kaiki Kuyō Zō Kore (桜井冨治十三回忌供養造之)

Meiji Jū Kyū Nen Ichi Gatsu Ni Jū San Hi Sendai Hachi Jū Kyū  (明治十九年一月二十三日仙台生八十九才武州川越没)

Translate by Steve M:
The sword is by Fujino Masatsugu from Chichibu city in Saitama Prefecture.

It was made at the request of Sakurai Saburō, on the ocassion of the 13th anniversary of the passing of his relative Sakurai Tomiharu, who was at one time a Lieutenant colonel in the Japanese Imperial Army. Tomiharu was born in Sendai city on January 23rd, Meiji 19 (1886), and died at the age of 89 (1975) in Kawagoe city.
This means the sword was made around 1988. 

[Volker62]

t'ks a lot Peter

 

wow great signature......!

[Stephen]

Somewhere buried  in old post( I tried to find it) I had a sword that said seven lives for my country

Pheasant thigh nakago

 

Shichi sei hokoku...

Probably misspelled and probably why I can't find it

[francois2605]

@Stephen Here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9324-shichisei-hōkoku/#comment-94266

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's a rare one.  I've seen a couple over the years with an inscription on the nakago mune like this.  Posted by @Okan

 

1943 Kanemitsu blade with a unique kiri engraving and LOOOONG inscription on the nakago mune that says "皇紀二千六百三年大東亜戦必勝祈願刀 – 2603 Imperial year (1943), a prayer sword for victory in the Greater East Asian War"

[Bruce Pennington]

Don't know if @NickC was going to post this here, if so, sorry Nick for jumping the gun!!!  A great one posted by Nick HERE.

 

Translation by @SteveM:

"Its a war poem/song

 

海ゆかばみづく屍

山ゆかばくさむす屍

大皇のへにこそ死なめ

かえりみはせし

 

Translation (from Wikipedia) is:

 

At sea be my body water-soaked,
On land be it with grass overgrown.
Let me die by the side of my Sovereign!
Never will I look back.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umi_Yukaba

 

(Date on the other side of the sword is October, 1943)"

 

Further details from @Ray Singer

"Umi Yukaba
This tachi shown here has the Umi Yukaba song on the uramei side. The title means “Going Out to Sea” and it was the anthem of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. It is a sad song with a mournful tune and was often sung on the decks of aircraft carriers when kamikaze pilots took off on their last missions. The lyrics come from a poem written in 749AD by Otomo no Yakamochi in the Manyoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), which represents the earliest recorded poetry in Japanese literature."