Amahide

Clive Sinclaire · May 4, 2012

Gentlemen

I am interested in the details of Fukumoto Amahide. I understand that he had a gunto making factory in Seki during the war. I do, of course, have Slough's book and so am aware of all the details contained therin, but would like to know, for instance, who was his teacher, did the factory make gunto koshirae including tsuba?? etc. etc.

This is not my normal area of sword study so any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Clive Sinclire

falconj · May 5, 2012

Clive,

I think his teacher was 'Seki Sengo Masayoshi' 正吉, but I would need to check that in some records that I have 'hidden' somewhere.

regards

John

Bruno · May 5, 2012

Hi John,

I too am interested in Amahide.

Who was Seki Sengo Masayoshi? A good smith?

There are 3 Masayoshi in Slough's book but no Seki Sengo.

falconj · May 6, 2012

I have a photocopy of an oshigata which is of a sword made by 'amahide'

it has not been fully translated, but is very likely a traditionally made custom order made sword signed by 'amahide'

some of the kanji have not been translated, but I think the kanji relates to the teacher of 'amahide' and it looks like it could be/is a special order blade made for his teacher,

Clive , if you can translate this, it could give you the answer that you look for,

sorry and apologies for the poor photocopy attached,

regards

John

k morita · May 6, 2012

Hi,

See below thread and links.

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=12848

Clive Sinclaire · May 6, 2012

Thanks for that Mr Morita. I have seen this oshigata before as it is also in Gregory and Fuller's book "Swordsmiths of Japan 1926-1945" but had not realised that Suzuki Shoun was a Tokyo Sword dealer.

Regards

Clive Sinclaire

Clive Sinclaire · May 10, 2012

Gentlemen

I have now written up my Amahide and it may b found at http://www.To-ken.com under UK Sword Register No. 120. I have included an oshigata and a picture of the tsuba and tsuka, which are a little unusual. Your comments would be most welcome.

Clive Sinclaire

cabowen · May 10, 2012

I wrote an article about this smith and his son many years ago which was published in the JSS-US Newsletter. There may be some info there of interest to you Clive...I no longer have a copy- maybe someone else has it....

Baka Gaijin · May 11, 2012

Good morning Clive,

In the Token article, you mention a thin metal sleeve approx 3 inches at the koiguchi.

"e) Finally the saya itself, although plain wood under a leather foul-weather cover and having one carrying ring, has a thin dark green metal cover over the first 3 inches of the saya, nearest the koi-guchi."

Could have been to protect the left hand from ill timed nukiuchi?

Much in the same way that some modern saya have a thin strip of a harder material that wood inset on the Ha side at the koiguchi.

http://www.ninecircles.co.uk/Swords_and ... rades.aspx

Go to the bottom photograph to see the insert.

(Tacit thanks to Quentin for the illustration from his excellent site).

Cheers

Bruno · May 11, 2012

I wrote an article about this smith and his son many years ago which was published in the JSS-US Newsletter. There may be some info there of interest to you Clive...I no longer have a copy- maybe someone else has it....

I would love to read it, I hope someone has it somewhere.

Thanks

Lindus · May 11, 2012

I too have an Amahide in gunto mounts,near exact same mei. Could it be that this man{ See Morita san's thread below this} had blades made by Amahide for officers who were also martial art guys??, each has two mekugi ana in both nakago and Tsuka which I am told is an indication that the owner would also be a cutter?.

Roy

http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/gt5.html

falconj · May 12, 2012

I wrote an article about this smith and his son many years ago which was published in the JSS-US Newsletter. There may be some info there of interest to you Clive...I no longer have a copy- maybe someone else has it....

I think these are the articles by Chris Bowen, I also have the article 'Amahide: who was this Gendai Smith? by Mal Cox and another by Jerry Newman called the 'The Amahide Kokuin' but I am unsure if I should post them all here? or where Brian? I can send them to just those who want them.

regards

John

David Flynn · May 12, 2012

Thanks John.

k morita · May 12, 2012

Hi,

This is a [Dai-Nihon-Token-Shoko-Meikan] on page 195.

Bruno · May 12, 2012

Is there a possibility to know who where the others 14 swords makers employed by Amahide?

I mean are they listed in the Seki kaji tosho list or were they just unknown guys?

Brian · May 12, 2012

John,

You can upload them here or send to me and I'll post them. If anyone has any issue with copyright, they only have to request a withdrawl.

Brian

falconj · May 12, 2012

thanks Brian,

I will send them all to you, maybe tomorrow mytime

regards

John

cabowen · May 12, 2012

John,
You can upload them here or send to me and I'll post them. If anyone has any issue with copyright, they only have to request a withdrawl.

Brian

Feel free to upload my article if you wish Brian....

cabowen · May 12, 2012

Is there a possibility to know who where the others 14 swords makers employed by Amahide?

I mean are they listed in the Seki kaji tosho list or were they just unknown guys?

I think it would be difficult to determine with certainty. They may or may not be listed in the Seki tosho list. Odds are they were not all smiths but mostly factory workers.

Bruno · May 12, 2012

Thanks Chris.

I too have an Amahide in gunto mounts,near exact same mei. Could it be that this man{ See Morita san's thread below this} had blades made by Amahide for officers who were also martial art guys??, each has two mekugi ana in both nakago and Tsuka which I am told is an indication that the owner would also be a cutter?.

Roy

http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/gt5.html

Roy,

You say in your description Amahide was RJT, however I cannot see him in Dr Stein's RJT list. Anyone knows why?

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gendai2.htm

I have never seen any Amahide's blade with a star stamp. According to Dr Stein's website, "not all blades by Jumei Tosho swordsmiths were star stamped. If the blade was a private or direct purchase or not for military use, there will be no stamp appearing on the nakago."

I thought when a blade made by a RJT smith without star stamp, the only reasons were :

1° The sword was rejected by Army inspection (kizu etc...)

2° The sword was made when the smith was not yet RJT

Anyone can enlight me on these two points?

Thanks

cabowen · May 12, 2012

RJT made blades for the military under contract. If they made a blade for private sale, it would not go through the military and thus would not be stamped.

I do not believe Amahide was a RJT. I have never seen any of his blade with a star stamp either. He was too busy running the sword factory to have any time (or need) for a RJT contract.

Ronin Akuma · May 31, 2012

I have an "un-stamped (no arsenal stamp)" Showato signed Amahide Fukumoto, but it was actually signed by his son Kanemune.

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=9956&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

John- Thank you for posting Chris' article. Very interesting.

Brian · June 3, 2012

Here are the combined images collected by John F. Thanks for the info John.

The images are different sizes, but the file should be accessible to anyone interested. Contains oshigata and some great info. Thanks too go to the authors of the articles.

Brian

Amahide.pdf

Ronin Akuma · June 3, 2012

Thank you for posting the PDF, Brian.

Interesting read!

Herr Mario · July 13, 2012

...greetings gentlemen...first of all let me apologize if my post would not be appropriate in this particular thread,and I'd ask one of the moderators to move it to a proper location...I have been lurking thru the pages of this forum and this one caught my attention as I'm in the possesion of an Amahide katana which was picked up in Japan at wars end when a relative's ship pulled into a port....according to him there were all sorts of rifles and swords piled up on the dock and each sailor was allowed to pick up one rifle,one bayonet,and one sword for his personal"trophy" and ship it home.

.....knowing I was the only one in the family who appreciated and had interest in any of these items he gave them to me to care for and pass on when the time came-needless to say I felt quite honored.....but being more knowledgable of Japanese firearms and not swords this opened an entirely new area for me and the amount of information is staggering and at times overwelms my newbie brain I've been able to determine it was made by Amahide,but not which one...at first I thought it may have been the earlier one since it didnt seem 'military(the tsuka and tsuba and any other associated items were long since gone ) but thats when I learned that there was more than one Amahide-and then students that signed his name,making it even MORE confusing for me....thats why when I saw this thread I thought I'd post here....I'm attatching 3 photos-the first 2 are of one side and overlaping as I wanted to get as much detail of the signature as possible....the 3rd is of the opposite side of a kanji I believe to say "kanamaru" or "kanemaru"...again not sure...no idea if its a name...but not an arsenal mark...I think...was this one made by one of the smiths you are discussing here???....any information and enlightenment is greatly appreciated