English vs. Japanese Numeric Markings

[SwordGuyJoe]

All,

I have some military blades that have the tsuba and seppa marked using English numbers - shin-guntos. I also have a couple Kai-guntos with Japanese markings. My question is why the difference? Is it based on time of production? Perhaps where the swords were made? The difference between kai and shin gunto? Not sure and I am having a hard time finding the answer online. Can you guys help?

[loiner1965]

good question joe....i think it was easier to stamp in english numerical stamps as they are freely availiable and you would only need 10 punches to cover the the whole range....this is only my views

[Joe Choi]

Hi Joe....

I guess it was done that which ever punch they had availalbe at the factory, they've used it.

Arabic (which we all use) and Chinese.

I have a Naval Dirk which has letters "JUN" stamped on its Seppa.

Strange using Alphabets? no?

 

Joe

[SwordGuyJoe]

Interesting thoughts, I wonder if anyone actually knows why. One attraction to this hobby is all of the questions to ask. The frustration is how many go unanswered.

[Weidas]

i also have some swords marked with arabic and kanji figures. what i noticed, arabic figures were stamped, kanji - looks like scratched or something. Most likely we'll never know why it was done so...