A name of Suzuki Shoun.鈴木照雲

Hi,

I have often seen the name of Suzuki Shoun which was engraved on a sword tang on this forum. 鈴木照雲

I was imagining Suzuki Shoun was a martial artist or Budist priest or something until now.

But he was a sword dealer in Tokyo in early Showa period.　See [Dai Nippon Token Shoko Meikan] on page 128.

Those are the link on this forum.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12330&p=105925&hilit=shoun#p105925

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11213&p=95929&hilit=shoun#p95929

This is from a sword I have, allways thought that as the Tsuka has two mekugi ana it would have been made and mounted for a martial arts man............

Hand forged in traditional style by the well known Gifu swordsmith Minamoto Amahide, it has full length well cut Hi {Grooves} on both the omote & Uru. Made to special order it is signed........" Minamoto Amahide ojite Suzuki Shouan shi moto kitau kore wo" Translates as "Minamoto Amahide forged this at the request of Master Suzuki Shouan"

"Master"Suzuki Shouan leads me to think that that he was probably a Martial art sensei and either ordered this for a student or himself. The two Mekugi ana in the Tsuka also leads to that conclusion.

Amahide's real name was Hideyoshi Fukumoto. He was one of 200 smiths that worked in the Seki Tanrenjo during the war,officially assigned to Tanrenjo in October 27th,1939. He was one of the Imperial Army's Rikugun Jumei Tosho. According to "Gun-To Tosho Retsui { Ryoko no retsu} compiled by Kurihara Hikosaburoin 1942,Amahide's blades were ranked as " Ryoko no retsu" ( Oo- Wazamono) among some 400 Jumei Tosho. That means Amahide though not top rank at that time was still regarded as a good Jumei Tosho.

Blade length from Kissaki to Machi 63cm

Width at the Machi 3cm

Width at the Yakote 2cm

Kissaki to Yakote 3cm

Sori 1.5cm

The Hamon is Gunome Midare.

Hada can be seen in place but this polish unfortunatly did not bring it out well..

The fittings are of good quality with eight original seppa

Brass Gunto Tsuba and Kabuto Gane with silver Family Crest {Mon}

Sarute of the clasped hand type holding the officers original Gunto rank tassel.

One splendid thing about this sword is the two indents and one hole, made I would suspect by either shrapnel or bullet's, the officer must have had the sword withdrawn from the saya at the time as no damage was done to the blade.!!!. The Nakago has three holes,two in the Tsuka to allow a second peg, this was seen as a sword that a Martial art man would have used .

Roy

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