kanji characters on tang of pattern 44

[tonyb]

Hi All could any one tell me what the meaning of these 2 kanji characters mean on the top of this 44 pattern tang.

I know the rest of the mei is;"Hizen No Kuni Mitsuhiro" April 1935.

Cheers tony

[John A Stuart]

Hi Tony, The date is, Showa Ju Nen Shi Gatsu Jitsu. A day in the 4th month of 1935. The two kanji I can only get the first, Sho. John

[k morita]

Hi John,

 

Kanji character "ko" means inspection mark of Kokura army arsenal.

Katakana character "Ho" means #1 factory in Kokura army arsenal.

 

Morita

[tonyb]

thank you very much john and morita you guys are great.

Cheers tony

[John A Stuart]

Yes, Thanks Kiyoshi-san. John

[Kiipu]

This sword is a bit of an mystery.  It has a peacetime date of 1935 but has wartime inspection marks along with late war fittings.  The post is old but in the off chance the owner or sword is still around, can a picture of the entire length of either side of the nakago be provided.  Just recently, a second early sword dated 1941, has surfaced over at the Stamp Survey thread that has similar nakago mune markings.

 

Nakago Mune

小　ホ = Inspection marks used by Kokura Arsenal.

Nakago Reverse

昭和十年四月日 = A day in April 1935.

Nakago Obverse

肥前國光廣 = Hizen-kuni Mitsuhiro

[Mister Gunto]

It could be that the sword was originally made in 1935 and sold to an officer or a private citizen as usual. However, at some point much later in the war the owner, or his surviving family, sold or donated it to the the Imperial Government for the war effort. The sword was then refitted at the Kokura arsenal in the late war mounts. The arsenal would almost certainly have marked the blade there for inventory / processing purposes. 

[Kiipu]

That could very well be the case and it is one of two possible outcomes.  The other scenario goes down this road.  The owner stated a "44 pattern tang" which infers a Type 100 blade.  These blades were introduced in 1940.  If this is the case, then there was an omission of one of the year numerals following the 十.  I just recently ran across this type of omission on a Kanemasa blade.  You can see it at the post below.

Murata Swords 村田刀

 

Hopefully, the blade will resurface down the road with better pictures of the nakago; but until then, the enigma continues.