Friend just inherited this sword ...

[Heatseeker]

Hello all, I am new to this forum and live in Sydney, Australia.

 

A friend of mine inherited this sword after a friend of our passed away.

 

It is listed on the will as a "Showa era Naval Katana Sword"

 

I could wax lyrical, but pictures are worth a thousand words ... about all I know about this sword is that it has a hand made blade and there are freehand marking on both sides of the blade under the handle. It is in fine intact condition, and it has a piece of silk with writing attached to one of the scabbard fittings.

 

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heatseeker]

Here's another view of the markings under the handle:

 

[Stephen]

the angle of the pix is hard to read i think is Kane or yoshi shige. date may be showa ju hachi or 1943, it has a seki stamp so mods need to move to MSofJ thread. nice clean kai-gunto

[george trotter]

Hi, your friend's sword is a WWII navy gunto made in Seki town in (it looks like) 1943. It has the little Seki quality stamp on it. The maker is Yoshishige. He started work there on 10th Nov 1943, so this must have been one of his earliest works. It is unlikely to be true handmade blade, being most likely of western steel. The surrender tag I find hard to read, other than his rank "Tai-i". The sword is in nice clean condition.

Regards,

George Trotter.

[george trotter]

sorry, meant to type 1942 for the year of his starting as a swordsmith. Geo.

[Heatseeker]

Thank you VERY much for the feedback ... I am surprised that the Japanese were putting resources in to making swords of this quality (I know the quality does not compare to a 1800s blade, but it is a very impressive piece) at a time when the war was turning against them - it just goes to show how important these swords were to officers.

[george trotter]

Hi Mick,

I had a little look at the surrender tag, but still can't get it, other than that he was a Captain in the 14th something.

The family and personal name of the swordsmith Yoshishige is Komiyama Ryozo.

I would go so far as to say that the signature was carved by Fukumoto Kanemune, the son of Fukumoto Amahide, leading swordsmith of the sword factory, as it seems to be his style of writing. This signing by another person was very common.

Hope this helps.

George Trotter.

[loiner1965]

Hi Mick,

I had a little look at the surrender tag, but still can't get it, other than that he was a Captain in the 14th something.

The family and personal name of the swordsmith Yoshishige is Komiyama Ryozo.

I would go so far as to say that the signature was carved by Fukumoto Kanemune, the son of Fukumoto Amahide, leading swordsmith of the sword factory, as it seems to be his style of writing. This signing by another person was very common.

Hope this helps.

George Trotter.

it seems this fukomoto kanemune crops up everywhere george as i have 1 katana signed in his name and my kanetoshi might be signed by him too...how good a swordsmith was he

[Nobody]

Hi Mick,

I had a little look at the surrender tag, but still can't get it, other than that he was a Captain in the 14th something.

The writing on the tag may be

第十四根派? (= maybe 第十四根拠地隊?) – The 14th base force,

加藤大尉 (Kato dai’i) – Lieutenant Kato.

[george trotter]

Hi again, if I may comment again...Moriyama Sama is no doubt correct on his reading of the tag (handwriting too rough for me I'm afraid), but I have a question on the military rank Tai'i (pronounced Dai'i)...Moriyama Sama, is this rank Captain in the Army, but Lieutenant in the Navy?

 

Also, Steve, yes Fukumoto Kanemune does appear everywhere...he must have been very busy as a mei writer. He and his father Fukumoto Amahide and Ido Hidetoshi were senior smiths at their Seki sword works. I have owned and seen a number of swords by all three and all were signed by Kanemune. The Hidetoshi was full temper from the monouchi to the kissaki....very nice to look at...I can't comment on the quality of the work, but they seem to have been in a different category to the usual Seki stamp blade (no seki stamp on the ones I saw). I suppose they were all of western steel.

Regards,

George Trotter..

[Nobody]

Hi again, if I may comment again...Moriyama Sama is no doubt correct on his reading of the tag (handwriting too rough for me I'm afraid), but I have a question on the military rank Tai'i (pronounced Dai'i)...Moriyama Sama, is this rank Captain in the Army, but Lieutenant in the Navy?

My memory might be wrong, but I think I heard that several decades ago.

大尉 reads Tai’i in the Imperial Army, and it corresponds to Captain. While 大尉 in the Imperial Navy reads Dai’i, and it corresponds to Lieutenant in the Navy.

 

I do not know the exact reason for the difference.

[george trotter]

Thank you for that information. I had not known that the same kanji have different seniority value in the Imperial Army and Navy. Very interesting. We members here are lucky to have your knowledge.

George trotter

[Guido]

It's basically the same as in the US (and Australia): army captain = navy lieutenant, navy captain = army [full] colonel.

[george trotter]

I know what you're saying Guido...I know there are "equivalent" ranks across the Army and Navy, but it is different in the case above. The "equivalent" US and Australian ranks are Army Capt = Navy Lieut., but the word (captain/lieutenant) for each is different, while in the discussion above, the kanji (Tai'i/Dai'i) is the same.

In Japanese kanji the characters Tai'i mean Captain in the army but Lieutenant in the navy. The Imperial army also has kanji Chu'i which means Lieutenant, so there is Chu'i for Lieutenant in the Army, while the kaji for Lieutenant in the navy is Tai'i (Dai'i).

 

Of course, since the tag was on a navy sword I should have known it was Lieutenant rank that was meant.

Regards,

George Trotter