Identification of this Japanese Sword (Enigma).

[Augustus]

Greetings to anyone who sees this. I have bought my first sword and have been trying to find out about its history. This Katana was advertised as a Kaigunto at my local surplus store, but I have reason to believe that it might be at least semi-traditionally forged and definitely not a kaigunto based on its rare to see civilian Showa Era Fittings. I have photos so it is easier to see. The blade is signed, but has a stamp above it (on its own in a seperate picture) that is badly faded that could mean it is a Showato or just an acceptance stamp of some kind. The blade has a gnome hamon, though the pattern is hard to pick up and the line breaks in places where the actual color differences in the metal does not. I see a line based pattern above the hamon on the steel to indicate it might have been hand forged, but I don't see the swirl pattern that from what I read is a dead giveaway as a tamahagane blade. I see what appears to be the date on the obverse side of the tang. The leather field wrapping on its burgandy wooden saya and the nicks in the blade say to me that it was used in battle. If possible I'd like to know more about this blade. I've only seen this design of koshirae two other times on the internet and there are two other variations of these Showa Era Civilian Fittings from what I can gather (one bamboo and one a tree based design). Its a puzzling enigma to me.

[Bruce Pennington]

Welcome Austin!

 

You have a sword fitted out for a civilian employee of the military.  I still do not know exactly what that means.  There was a Civilian branch of the military call the Gunzoku.  They wore uniforms with slight differences than active military, and worked certain jobs that freed active members more for combat.  But as you will see in one of the other threads, we're not entirely sure that "civilian employee" is the same thing as Gunzoku (discussed HERE),  You can read about it, as see other examples on these threads:

 

Iron Civilian Gunto Tsuba

and

Bamboo Leaf Pattern Tsuba on Gunto with Old Blade

 

Someone will come along with a translation of the smith's name.  The date is 1942.  The large Seki stamp at top is the "passed inspection" stamp of the civil organization Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association.  After enough complaints from shops and factory owners about poorly made showato (non-traditionally made blades), the Association agreed to inspect blades for appropriate quality.  Passing blades got the stamp. There is little hard evidence as to whether they only inspected showato or their work covered both showato and nihonto, but I believe they only inspected showato.  Your blade could have been made "by hand" in the traditional manner, but likely used some other steel than tamahagane, which is the steel that is required for the "traditional" label.  

[SteveM]

敏正　Toshimasa

[Tensho]

[Augustus]

  On 7/2/2023 at 2:18 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Welcome Austin!

 

You have a sword fitted out for a civilian employee of the military.  I still do not know exactly what that means.  There was a Civilian branch of the military call the Gunzoku.  They wore uniforms with slight differences than active military, and worked certain jobs that freed active members more for combat.  But as you will see in one of the other threads, we're not entirely sure that "civilian employee" is the same thing as Gunzoku (discussed HERE),  You can read about it, as see other examples on these threads:

 

Iron Civilian Gunto Tsuba

and

Bamboo Leaf Pattern Tsuba on Gunto with Old Blade

 

Someone will come along with a translation of the smith's name.  The date is 1942.  The large Seki stamp at top is the "passed inspection" stamp of the civil organization Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association.  After enough complaints from shops and factory owners about poorly made showato (non-traditionally made blades), the Association agreed to inspect blades for appropriate quality.  Passing blades got the stamp. There is little hard evidence as to whether they only inspected showato or their work covered both showato and nihonto, but I believe they only inspected showato.  Your blade could have been made "by hand" in the traditional manner, but likely used some other steel than tamahagane, which is the steel that is required for the "traditional" label.  

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Thank you Bruce, Steve and Matt for solving this mystery. When I head to Japan someday or perhaps in a couple years from a Japanese online dealer of nihonto, I'm definitely going to be getting a true nihonto from them (possibly a katana and a wakizashi, but otherwise just a katana). This showato is enough for me at the moment to scratch the itch, but I still can't wait to get one that is a traditional one. I've always been fascinated by the history of Japan and the sword culture, but I don't have the space at the moment for more than just this sword as I collect other weapons too.

 

By the way I do have a question. Would the Civilian Employees be employed by both branches (Army and Navy) or is this strictly Army only? Same question applies to the Gunzoku as well.

[Bruce Pennington]

Like I mentioned earlier, I know nothing about the "civilian employees".  The Gunzuko definitely worked both Army and Navy.  One famous Naval Gunzuko official was Masakichi Takayama.  He instructed sword technique at the Naval Academy during the war and invented his own style blade.  You can read about him on this site - Takayama, Masakichi -The Man Responsible for the Takayama-to.  The thread has pictures of him in his Army-looking Gunzoku uniform.

[mecox]

Austin, as noted your sword is TOSHIMASA (敏正) from Gifu Prefecture.  His real name was Asai Eikurō (浅井栄九郎), born January 15 1886 (Meiji 19).  He was a student of Watanabe Kanenaga (渡辺兼永) whose school taught many smiths. He registered as a Seki smith in Showa 16 (1941) August 18 (age 55) and worked as guntō smith.  He died October 25 1958.  In 1942 ranking of 400 smiths he was in ryōkō no retsu level (7th of 7).  You blade is dated Ni Sen Roku Hyaku Ni Nen ("2602 year of the Japanese Empire") which is 1942.  It has a large Seki stamp. Your blade has taka no ha ("hawk feather") filing on nakago, but the one in Slough book is sujikai (angled), also some different shape nakago.   Here are 2 more examples from Fuller & Gregory books.

 

      

 

 

 

[mecox]

TOSHIMASA (敏正)   Of interest, there are several examples of Toshimasa shown on War Relics Forum ...with different style /care in mei cutting.  The one on right considered to be by a different person.

Additional information: when he registered as a smith in 1941 he was living in Seki-machi, Aioi-cho. 

It appears he did not enter (or accepted?) in the 1941 Sword Exhibition, however, he is mentioned in the 1944 exhibition which was run by an army organisation Rikugun Gunto Tenran Kai and held at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.  It had 236 swords.   The table below only shows Gifu Prefecture swords.

And of course its always the best plan to SEARCH the NMB...there are a number of examples and discussion.

 

 

   

 

 

[Yukihiro]

Here is my Toshimasa blade:

 

 

[Yukihiro]

[Yukihiro]

So far I haven't been able to determine why the name Yokoda (与古田) had been inscribed near the munemachi.

[John C]

  On 10/1/2023 at 4:52 PM, Yukihiro said:

Yokoda

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The obvious guess would be the original owner but could it be the polisher?

 

John C.

[Yukihiro]

  On 10/1/2023 at 6:46 PM, John C said:

The obvious guess would be the original owner but could it be the polisher?

 

John C.

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That is what I had thought initially, as the strokes are quite different from Toshimasa's mei on the blade, but, unfortunately, there is no telling who that Yokoda was. I would be interested to know whether other gunto have had names inscribed on that part of the blade, though - if the same name appears on other blades at the exact same spot, then it would surely be the polisher's name, although I seem to remember that the blades were polished by women exclusively at the Seki arsenal.

 

Regards,

 

Didier

[SteveM]

  On 10/1/2023 at 4:52 PM, Yukihiro said:

the name Yokoda (与古田) had been inscribed

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横田

 

Could be either Yokota or Yokoda. I feel Yokota is the most common, probably because of the air base of the same name.  

Owner's name, would be my guess. 

 

 

[Yukihiro]

  On 10/1/2023 at 8:38 PM, SteveM said:

 

横田

 

Could be either Yokota or Yokoda. I feel Yokota is the most common, probably because of the air base of the same name.  

Owner's name, would be my guess. 

 

 

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Thank you, Steve.

I know this has nothing to do with the OP's thread but was it common for Japanese officers to write or have their names written on their swords?

[SteveM]

It was common to personalize the fittings with your family name or family crest, but I don't think it was common to scratch your name on the tang. 

 

But it strikes me as being more plausible to do this, than it would be to have a polisher scratch his/her name on the tang of a WW2 sword. 

[Bruce Pennington]

I have seen it a few times.  Not the "norm" but done here and there.