Help identifying five blades.

[NumbLock]

Hey all.

I'm looking for any info on five blades I have.

Anything would be greatly appreciated. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Hi Robin, could you please show us further pictures of all blades (including the tip) along with the mounts? What is your intention with these swords?

 

This one looks promising.

 

[NumbLock]

Sure, will do. And the intention is to display them.

[DTM72]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:23 PM, NumbLock said:

Hey all.

I'm looking for any info on five blades I have.

Anything would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

All the way to the left is a katana in later Type3 mounts (a contingency model to the most common Type 98 just to the right of this one) These generally had machine made blades.

Moving from left to right, second from the left is a dated katana in a type 98 saya (scabbard). What you see is the date (Showa Ju Hachi Nen Hachi Gatsu )(August of 1943) 昭和十八年八月

The center katana appears to be slighty suriage (shortened) and looks to be early Shinto or possible Koto. Hard to tell from the distant photo.

Second from the right is a katana from WWII signed (Seki Ju 23rd Kane Fusa Saku Kore with Showa acceptance stamp above signature) ( Seki city 23rd generation Kanefusa made this) 関住二十三代兼房作之

 All the way to the right looks to be a suriage (shortened) wakizashi that was probably once a katana. I would guess early shinto on this, but again hard to tell without close up.

[NumbLock]

[NumbLock]

The blade of the middle one looks like it's definitely seen use

[PNSSHOGUN]

Can we see photos of the mounts for all of them?

[NumbLock]

Don't have them.

[Bruce Pennington]

The characters by the ana (holes) are likely to be bonji - Buddhist names of gods.  

 

The bottom one is possibly Daikokuten: daikokuten - Search (bing.com)

 

 

22 hours ago, DTM72 said:

(August of 1944) 昭和十八年八月

Forgot to subtract "1" - 1943.

[Bruce Pennington]

I think the other one is Monju or Monjusri:

Manjushri - Wikipedia

[DTM72]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

 

Forgot to subtract "1" - 1943.

 

Yep, fingers went fater than my slow brain. I edited my post to reflect the correct math. Thanks Bruce!

[Bruce Pennington]

Now, Robin, as that second blade has a date, you should be able to flip it over and see a smith's name.  

 

Also, the blade signed "Kanefusa" - is there a date on the other side?  Probably not, but it could.  Could you do me a favor and post a clear shot of that stamp at the top of the signature?  It looks to me like a Showa, rather than a Seki, stamp.

[NumbLock]

Thanks!

I'll have to check. I'll post it here when I get a chance.

[Bruce Pennington]

You'll find a lot of interesting reading and immaculate examples of the war swords on Ohmura's site: Military Swords of Imperial Japan (Guntō) (ohmura-study.net)

 

As mentioned earlier, the first gunto on the left - Type 3/ Rinji Seishiki - was designed to be easier on the pocketbook (Officers had to buy their own swords) and sturdier under field use.  You can read all about them here:

Unveiling the Rinji-seishiki 1940

and

Rebutting the "Type 3" Term

[NumbLock]

Awesome. Really appreciate the info.

I'll check those out.