Jump to content

Gendai Tosho Wwii Blade Shape/length


Recommended Posts

Hi all,

following the recent interesting discussion on RJT stamps etc I thought it might be of interest to mention the variations that can be seen in one smith's WWII work. For example, I have two blades by Yamagami Munetoshi, but they differ from each other...see pic..One is pre-RJT period and the other is mid RJT period. This change might be unimportant, but I just thought I'd mention it.

 

Top blade is signed  tachi-mei using his "normal" kanji for TOSHI and is dated Sho 16 year 9 mo.  i.e. Sept. 1941, tang number 308.

Fittings are Type 98. Blade 66 cm - tang 21.6 cm with two ana. Machi 3.2 cm - yokote 2.3 cm. Kissaki is 4.5 cm long.

 

Bottom blade (star) is signed tachi-mei using his "RJT" kanji for TOSHI and is dated sho 18 year 5 mo. i.e. May 1943. tang number (matsu) 1080.

Fittings are Type "Contingency Standard". Blade 64 cm - tang 22 cm with two ana. Machi 3.2 - yokote 2.3. Kissaki is 3.3 cm long.

 

The main difference is in the later shortening of the blade and kissaki lengths. The bottom blade is 2 cm shorter in the length of blade and 1.2 cm shorter in the kissaki, so this is a total of 3.2 cm shorter overall in the blade. Despite this shortening, the widths at machi and yokote stay about the same , making the later blade a more effective close-quarters shorter, thicker blade.

 

I am not sure if this change is due to saving tamahagane or is due to the demand of changing conditions of the battlefield. It could also be simply due to his "mood" the day he made it. I just thought this obvious change might be of interest to my fellow gendaito nerds and they might share their ideas on this change. It would be of interest to see if others who have two blades by a single smith have also noticed significant change as the war progresses.

 

Regards,

post-470-0-47364200-1534232506_thumb.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fascinating stuff, I have a similar example, RJT smith Muto Yukihiro one pre RJT and one RJT about 3 years apart.

 

The sword in Shirasaya is quite large and impressive, dated November 1941 68cm Nagasa with 1.5cm Sori

 

The Type 98 is dated October 1943 and has 63cm nagasa:

post-3926-0-14413800-1534242489_thumb.jpgpost-3926-0-61104400-1534242452_thumb.jpgpost-3926-0-79977600-1534242238_thumb.jpgpost-3926-0-07062100-1534242190_thumb.jpgpost-3926-0-13962900-1534242150_thumb.jpgpost-3926-0-12114200-1534242873_thumb.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

John, that's an interesting pair of swords ..just based on the two sets we have seen so far I'd say it is likely that feedback from the battlefield might be the cause of the changes...be good to see a few more examples though.

 

Yes Stephen...more likely the feedback on field needs rather than the tamahagane supply, but hopefully we'll get some more info.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...