mecox

Jesper, to add to Klaus and Jean above, smith is Naganori” (永則), real name Kuwahara Fumio (桑原二三男), born November 27th 1911, and registered as a Seki swordsmith Showa 17 (1942) January 29, so at age 30, and at the time was living at Kurachi in Seki. Sesko notes he was a student of Kawai Kaneyoshi (河合兼義), but not many examples of his work. The stamps at end of nakago look to be naka (or Chu) and shichi 7, and a punch mark? For information, here is a summary of his teacher: 兼義 Kaneyoshi (河合 義文 Kawai Yoshifumi) Born: Meiji 35 (1902) Oct 25; Reg: Showa 14 (1939) Oct 25/20? 1937:Kamo-gun, Kajita-mura, Shita-machi. 1939: same address. Deshi in 1937: 1. History: was a nephew of, and trained under Watanabe Kanenaga (#16) in Seki-machi. Became independent in Showa 9 (1934). 1941: 6th shinsakuto 2nd level of 5. 1942: Toshu Banzuke 5th level of 7 (Chu Saku) Became Rikugun Jumei Tosho. 1952: at opening of new Fujiwara tanrenjo in Seki. Slough: p.74. Example mei: Seki ju Kaneyoshi saku 関住兼義作

Boys Swords: look at these beauties in NMB. Top: Hobnails, April 27, 2021. Lower: Chishiki, May 10, 2021.

Here is an example of a "Boys Sword" as a tachi: full length of koshirae is 66 cm (26 ") and nagasa is 38.3 cm (15 "). As Brian notes they are miniature scale versions. Copper habaki, suguha hamon and niji mei Ietsugu 家次 (this was a line of smiths in Kaga). I think this sword is probably early Showa period (?). Seems in ancient times "Boys Day" was called Tango no Sekku and one of five events to ward off evil spirits. In 1948 this became Kodomo no Hi ("Childrens Day") for both boys and girls on May 5, and samurai dolls became popular, also carp banners. Swords and armour again became popular in Showa period. Search the key words in NMB...some good info and pics.

Don, following Moriyama san and Piers: Mei is likely to be "Noshu ju Kunihiro" but is roughly cut, and the "ju" is only one stroke , maybe like "no". There is an example in Japanese Sword Index which shows clear mei (left fig). Also another (middle fig) which is possibly (?) the same smith (this has also been read as Kunikane). Hard to find info on this Kunihiro smith, and he is not in the registration records for Seki swordsmiths. There is another smith that is similar, Kunihiro Kataoka “Kunihiro” (国広), who does a similar "Hiro" on his mei, but in the Seki records they use a shorter version of "Hiro" . His mei example (at right) also has a Seki stamp. KUNIHIRO (国広), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kunihiro” (国広), real name Kataoka Itoshi (片岡愛), born am April 1 st 1895, worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died December 2 nd 1965. In 1942 list of smiths he is ranked in 7th of 7 levels (ryōkō no retsu) (by Hikosaburo Akihide). I could not find any more on your man at the moment. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihir3.jpghttp://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihir2.jpghttp://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kunihiro.jpg

Volker, did you look at this in NMB Downloads:

John, appears to be a group of soldiers and officers in Manchuria, is this mid 1930's? The officers all look to have Type 32? swords. The stamp seems to be their unit/group: Dai x x x Hyobun - Chusho ("branch") From right. Line 1: Chuo Yamada Hancho (at centre is Captain (leader) Yamada [man with hands on knees?]. Line 2: Manchu (Manchuria) & a location name. Line 3: ?? Line 4: Miyagawa no Bu-something.

Here is a summary of Echizen Kinai tsuba and tsubako. Japanese Sword (cox website) » Tsuba: Echizen Kinai (on.net)

Additional Kanezane info here:

@Bruce Pennington @Jcstroud "in retrospect pg 10 of Malcolm Cox s pdf about naval stainless toyokawa circled anchor stamped blades states no blades of this sort were found after 1944 and only two were signed !! ?????" your statement is out of context....there is a note below the table which means not found in this current compilation, it obviously does not mean "ever found any where in the world at any time"!!!

MASAKIYO (正清): Shimane – “Masakiyo” (正清), real name Amatsu Tomita (天津富太), born 1884. He worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō, in 1942 Banzuke ranked as kibin no retsu (Akihide). In 1941 exhibition ranked First Seat ( (6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai)(新作日本刀展覧会, 1941). From Yakumo village in Shimane. Oshigata from Slough. Note @k morita for teachers.

Daniel, as noted Seki Ishihara Kanenao. Info and examples in NMB Downloads https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/files/file/61-Japanese-naval-swords/

Jan is correct, but 亮信 in this case is read as Sukenobu not Akinobu. Family name is Toki. There were two brothers Sukenobu and Kanemasa making swords in WW2. Family background and examples here:

This is 23rd generation Fujiwara Kanefusa. More info here:

Shinoda Hiroshi Ujifusa 篠田 寛 氏房 UJI 11 UJI 25 Ujifusa was born 20 May, 1912 (Meiji 45) in Seki, and was trained by Kato Jumyo 加藤 寿命, who was from the Watanabe Kanenaga 兼永 school. Ujifusa was producing swords in the early-1930’s and in particular with the increased demands in 1937 after the Japanese invasion of China. More info and examples here on NMB Downloads:

Certainly been refurbished and some refitted. But a lot of the parts don't look to fit well. Certainly repainted saya and tsuba poorly rebound. The silver foil habaki also looks out of place. Yes waiting to see the nakago.

@KiipuThomas, the pics and discussion are largely about shin gunto koshirae and the number of seppa, e.g. 3 or 4 pairs as opposed to 2 pairs. The 4 pairs look to be described as the classic for old tachi, and the 3 pairs on expensive gunto koshirae. The pic of newspaper at end shows article in "Rikugun Shikan Gakko" military school paper of Showa 19 (1944) that is basically saying the more seppa on luxury koshirae are not practical. This last item is a very "flowery" discussion of the topic.... "Joto" (expensive) fittings of 6 seppa...when new around the tsuba fitting not too tight or too loose (fitted with looseness of a fine hair) and this is usually for 2 pieces, but with 6 pieces it will become loose ("gata gata"). Also compared with 2 pieces the 6 pieces are out of balance.

hello, how are you? mei reads Shige Saburo Sukeharu. 茂三郎助春 Is a kaigunto naval koshirae. Probably an arsenal smith and not common name or work. Looks to be a genuine WW2 Japanese sword but is very poor condition. Not sure why the handle wrap has exposed wood....has wrap moved up the tsuka? The tsuba and seppa are unusual however, and officers tassel in good condition. If you search for "sukeharu" there is another on this site in Feb 2022 必勝　茂三郎助治　Hisshō Shigesaburō Sukeharu

Thanks Thomas, very helpful. But of course the more exciting thing is that the SUMO Haru Basho starts tonight in Osaka !!

@KiipuThomas, thanks for this extra. What I found of interest was the bottom line (translation by wife slightly different) 全国刀匠中ノ上位ニ在ル者　Zenkoku tōshō chu-no-jōi ni aru-mono.　National Swordsmith Middle-Ranked Persons. But this shows "rank" of these tosho. I will compare this to the 1942 Banzuke of Kurihara.

@k moritaMorita san, also please note I did not correctly "link" my earlier post. It should have been linked to: Mal, I thought you might enjoy reading this post by Nick Komiya. 1941 IJA Weapons Prices in today's values, Post #14 Source document can be found at the link below. 全国現代刀匠作刀日本刀展覧会開催の件 Any assistance with translation greatly appreciated, as some of these names are difficult.

Thank you for this additional information, I was not aware of it.

I used the wrong link for item below......it should be Thomas' post: Mal, I thought you might enjoy reading this post by Nick Komiya. 1941 IJA Weapons Prices in today's values, Post #14 Source document can be found at the link below. 全国現代刀匠作刀日本刀展覧会開催の件 I found this mail from Thomas and the original from Nick Komiya very interesting, especially the list of 27 swordsmiths invited to display swords in July 1942. Seems to be a selection of better tosho of the time, so I tried to translate and identify. Got most of them but we got stuck of some. Any assistance / correction is most welcome.

I agree with Bruce and also Colin earlier. Difficult to say what the rock is, but it does look like a fine grain sedimentary rock with a prominent bedding plane, that he hit on the top (we don't see that view). The colour, texture and the dull sound of the sword strike suggest maybe a chalky (carbonate) material (Colins comment). Also the rock mass appears to be weathered, which can also produce a clay mineral content. Certainly if it was an igneous rock like granite it would be a completely different story...maybe with a broken blade. But the whole exercise seems pointless......be of some value if the details of the blade were known and some before/after pics.

Yes very interesting, you could buy gunto and other swords at many locations including in major department store (dated 1942).

yeah its not definite from pic. Scratch it and see. I also note that the close up of the saya lacquer shows it is thick plus has a pattern....not cheap war work, also has kurikata slot.