mecox

Chris and Peter thanks for positive comments. Chris I have yours as 1944 Jun A, but just realised I did not include your mune "ko" and "ho" in the table. Mal

Folks, To me Masatsugu from Saga Prefecture is a WW2 tosho of interest and I have done a compilation for him. Brian has put it in Downloads. If you are interested in him have a look, and please let me know if errors. Also if you have examples or more info be great if you could post it. I can always do an addition. Mal

This is a rather weird mei. looks to be: MI NO KUNI KAJITA JU MORITA KANESHIGA SAKU The "no" is katakana (a small stroke).... very unusual use. So Mino is the Province. Kajita is a town in Mino (I guess he came from there). So checking, it appears the towns of Tomida and Kajita were combined to form Tomika. Be good to see the blade. Mal

I am pretty sure its Morita Isamu Kaneshige of Seki born 1900 was a Rikugun Jumei Tosho. Quite a good smith. But I dont follow all this mei. Mal

I had a couple over the years, but none showed that type of potential. Thats a treasure. Mal

Nice tanto, and continuity of the nie along the hamon is quite special.

Fine by me and has some good news angles

Yes it is Taguchi Masatsugu. Hizen no Kuni Masatsugu Koki ni sen roku hiaku san nen u-zuki kichi jitsu (uzuki is April, year of the Hare , U Nen) “lucky day 4th month 2603 years Japanese Empire” (April 1943) This old oshigata is from Mr Han Bing Siong of Netherlands Token Society. I believe they got NBTHK papers from Japan for it.

Hi Brian, obviously my email was not clear, I was referring to Echizen Kinai tsuba and meant of katana-size. Thanks for pointing this out. Here's some pics.

Hi Herman I sold most of mine last few years, but still have a "top level" and a few "quite goods" all katana, signed and the generations identified.

Good video, and represents their tanrenjo and dedication well

His translations came at a crucial time for many of us. Massive amount of valuable work. Thanks Mal

Dealt with him a lot some years ago, never had a problem. Mal