mecox

Tom and Stephen, thats a beauty, yes May, 1945, thats late. This is a Nagoya, Aichi smith who name was Takeuchi Kinsaburo Kanemasa (his deshi Morita Kanefusa). It is tachi-mei : Bishu Takakura Ji ju Takeuchi Kanemasa saku. Takakura Ji or Tera is a temple in south Nagoya. Around May 1945 Nagoya was under massive bombing raids. He was a RJT, 1941 6th exhibition ranked level 5 of 5, in 1944 army exhibition ranked as Nyusen. he continued making swords post-war and then registered 10 July 1954. Would love to see the hamon. Looks a nice item.

Arty, as Kiipu says 村井秀次作 "Murai Hidetsugu saku" family name is Murai and Hidetsugu is given name which he also signs on sword. He was born Taisho 2 (1913) October 23 and registered as a swordsmith in Seki Showa 16 (1941) March 12. He was from Minami, Bugi-gun which appears to be in northern Gifu higher country. Looks to be a basic Showato maker and not to have formally trained as a swordsmith. Not many examples but can find if search NMB.

Some background and explanation in this:

Yes Kojima Kanenori. More info here:

well my mother always used to say "don't lick your knife"!

Cake tamashigiri. News pic from Fiji 2011. President of Fiji & his wife cut cake for 75 years of a shipping company. Two shingunto technique.

Bruce and Chris, this is Kinmichi 金道 real name Hibino Ichiji 日比野　一二 born Taisho 6 (1917) May 6, and appears to have died in 1945. He was from Oyama, Tomida, Kamo-gun, Gifu (5-6 km to east of Seki and registered as a Seki smith Showa 17 (1942) Sept 10. He does not look to have trained in the traditional way in Seki schools and likely transferred from another job (e.g. blacksmith)to swordsmith.

More of Hizen Masatsugu here:

Bruce, who knows, but that is a likely scenario. Yes modifications do not look recent, and part of its history. I think considering hamon and type of nakago jiro could pick several Seki toshi.

Hi Gareth, thats a great looking shingunto with quality mounts (as much as I can see) and I guess saya is the same. The blade also looks good, and as you suggest oil temper. From hamon and nakago it looks like Seki showato. However, to me it looks like someone has tried to make this look like an older mumei. Close up of nakago shows the taka-no-ha yasurime changes angle a few cm from jiri. Original filing continues up the left edge. Also the nakago shinogi curves a bit plus becomes sharp. A key feature looks to be remnant strokes of a kanji (the position suggests it could be "saku" ? ). Also, on the small pic of nakago, just above the hole, a few small lines could indicate a stamp? The yasurime here is also redone. This all appears to be wartime vintage. But I am often wrong plus have not seen the sword itself.

Andy, yes Miwa Kanetomo as George notes, one of the earlier registered WW2 tosho in Seki. Some additional info in following article (tosho #29)

Mark, its a nice looking package, but yes needs some work to pull it together. The very regular sanbonsugi hamon and the smooth (looks like) boshi (around the tip), plus the rounded mei, look like a late Kanemoto generation (Shinto). Presumably also has a nice saya?

Yes Kiyomichi. Stainless steel blades at Toyokawa arsenal with anchor stamp. Here is an interesting one from F&G.

The problem is with the number of flights to Aus. This is the main problem with parcels, and USPS maybe not accept them, but seems they can be sent via a combo of USPS + EMS (via Japan?). Can send parcels via couriers eg. DHL, FedEx, but can be expensive. Swords via USPS looks to be a problem, as may be too long or prohibited item. If accepted at a PO, may get stuck somewhere for a few weeks then returned to sender. I recently received a sword from CA-USA to Aus via USPS+EMS but needed to be <36". Was moderate price.

Mario, information on Kanenori here:

Bruno, looking at the pic from the FRONT, and considering the BACK row LEFT to RIGHT (and assuming a date of 1941). Left: NAKATA ISAMU KANEHIDE, born 1913, age 28 (your small photo). Middle: NIWA SHUJI KANENOBU, born 1903, age 38. Right: KISHI MITSUHIRO MITSUNOBU, born Taisho 13 (1924), age 17. He was a student of Shuji Kanenobu (your big photo, cap with black brim). Mal

Bruno, information on this photo in this article page 28.

Yes its Okada Kaneyoshi, see this article tosho #7.

Yes thats him, Kanenao. See Naval sword article pages 39-42

Peter Collector, have a look in NMB Downloads article on Amahide......https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/files/file/52-ichimonji-minamoto-amahide/

PeterCollector, name of article is Kojima Tokijiro Kanemichi and Kojima Tosho Family

Peter, have a look in NMB Downloads, article on Kojima Kanemichi & family. This has summary and examples of Katsumasa on pages 3, 6, 69-86.

Jeremy, how long ago, as this method may not currently be available. And as a matter of interest (a) what did you describe the item as, and (b) how long was the package. thanks Mal

Ron An excellent couple of spits, most enjoyable, informative and I'm sure therapeutic. Also fascinating to see what you are selling. All the best with the sale. Mal

Thanks Bryce & John, thats what I feared. It seems to have become near impossible over the last 12 months. Mal