mecox

James, yes looks to be Fukumoto Kanemune who was a key smith in the Amahide workshop in Seki. Details in this NMB Download:

Chris, yes looks to be: FUJIFUSA (藤房) from Gifu, real name Yoshida Fujikazu (吉田藤一), born on July 8th 1918 (Taisho 7). Worked as a guntō smith during World War II, and registered as a Seki smith Showa 19 (1944) April 30. He lived at Nishi-cho in Seki-machi. Not much information on him. He was a later war smith. You blade is probably mid-1944. There is also a blade by him dated June 1945.

BK-6 EDO no TANTO KOSHIRAE IDE Masanobu Heisei 9 (1997) Hardcover with dustjacket, 99 gloss pages (70 pages of colour photos), around 125 examples, 20.5 x 21,5 cm. In Japanese, shows wide variety of koshirae over time, good informative photos. Very good condition. $40 plus mail. BK-7. Two Books: (A) ART OF THE Japanese SWORD & (B) SHOHIN SHU The two books by Mukansa swordsmiths are US$40 plus mail. BK7-A: The Art of the Japanese Sword: As Taught by the Experts. 2004. by Kunihira KAWACHI and Masao MANABE. Softbound with a glossy jacket, 21 x 15 cm, 156 pages in English. Introduction to Japanese swords, manufacture and care, current Nihonto world, personal history, Q & A section, sword stories and lists of sword museums. Many colour pic and 16 pics of his work. Excellent condition and signed by Kunihira with a poem. BK7-B: Shohin Shu (“Collection of Small Items”), Showa 61 (1986). A booklet by Sumitani Masamine (1921-1998) from Ishikawa-ken, a modern smith, who became Mukansa in 1966, and in 1981 was designated Ningen Kokuho (“Living National Treasure”). Size 24.5 x 21 cm, with 31 glossy pages, and presents coloured and B&W photos of kozuka and bachiru made by Masamine. The latter small knives were popular in the Tenpyu Era (711-781) of the Nara Period. Has a note by Mr Soichiro Inokuchi (1995) who was head of the Nihon Bijutsu Token Kai of Kanazawa and a colleague of Masamine san. Published by Token Shibata. BK-8. Two Books: (A) KOTO SWORD SCRAPBOOK & (B) MEIBUTSU. The two books are US$35 plus mail. BK8-A: Koto Sword Scrapbook. W.M. Hawley. 1976. Softcover, 27.5 x 21.5 cm, 64 pages. A book of oshigata from a sword appraisers records around 1550. Swordsmith names are in English in the index, plus the reference number to Hawley’s large swordsmith compilation. Reasonable condition, cover a bit worn Oshigata of around 127 swords with clear mei. BK8-B: Meibutsu: Japanese Swords and Sword Fittings in American Collections. Token Taikai 1979. Softcover, 68 glossy pages of swords and fittings (17 pages of tsuba), text in English with good details, clear B&W photos. Contains full size fold out oshigata plus 4 foldouts with multiple oshigata in rear envelope. There is a lot of information in this book. Very good condition, but cover is loose. BK-9: MON, THE Japanese FAMILY CREST Hawley & Chappelear, 1976. Hard bound of 104 pages in English with useful index of mon subject, design and families, 28.5 x 22 cm, also a summary of historical background of mon. Excellent condition. Owners name in front. US$85 plus mail. BK-10: Sekishi no Shoyu Token Koshirae (“Seki City Collection of Token & Koshirae”). 2008. By Seki City Office of Tourism. Softcover and 40 gloss pages, 29.5 x 21 cm, text in Japanese, clearly labelled. Has 32 full page B&W photos of swords with detail of mei, of a range of swords over time to modern. New condition. US$25 plus mail.

BK5: MINO-TOKO MEIKAN “Mino Swordsmith Lists” Heisei 20 (2008) now SOLD, thank you.

BK1: SEKI KAJI NO KIGEN OSAGURU “The Path of Origins of Seki Swordsmiths” Seki Kaji Toso Chosakai “Committee for Study of Seki Kaji To” Heisei 7 (1995) Hardcover with dustcover, 301 glossy pages, 30 x 22 x 2.8 cm, text in Japanese. Contains summaries, overviews, plus a collection of papers on separate aspects by different authors. Covers the development of Seki swordmaking, materials and smiths from the very beginning, including archeological findings and old records, with maps, photos and charts. Also a translation of contents pages. US$65 plus shipping. BK2: WAKIZASHI NYUMON “Beginners Book for Wakizashi” Kazuo TOKUNO Showa 50 (1975) Hardcover & plastic dustjacket., 21 x 15 cm, 190 pages, 56 pages of B&W photos with nakago and monouchi, 10 pages of koshirae, 55 pages of oshigata. In Japanese, very good condition (has some notes in English in book). US$30 plus shipping BK3: NIPPON TO SEKI SHICHI RYU (“Seven Styles of Seki Swords”) YAMADA Aoi 1970 (Chuou Token Kai) Hardcover with slipcase, 27 x 19.5 cm, 339 pages, this is a summary of the key toshi of the main Seki schools. In Japanese, there are 210 pages of oshigata with Japanese script, tosho names are easy to see. Each smith is later described in Japanese text. Also 13 pages of clear B&W photos of mei of the key swordsmiths. Includes “family” trees. Authors stamp in rear. A hard to find book, in excellent condition. US$75 plus shipping. BK4: Two Exhibition Books: Gotoh Museum Swords & Omamori (tanto) BK4-A: COURT and SAMURAI in an AGE of TRANSITION (exhibition at Gotoh Museum, Tokyo). By Japan Society, 1990. Soft cover, glossy pages, 29.5 x 22.5 cm, 127 pages, English text, description of period, background and all items. Full page B&W photos of 22 swords with full descriptions. Very good condition. BK4-B: OMAMORI TO TENRAN KAI (exhibition by Zen Nippon Tosho Kai), 2007. Soft cover glossy booklet, 29.5 x 21 cm, 40 pages, beautiful colour photos of blades and koshirae of tanto and smaller omamori-to. Japanese text but easy to follow captions. Excellent condition. Two books for US$35 plus shipping.

Bruce, date kanji as noted by Jussi and Ray is sho gatsu (first month). Below text from a useful notebook (written by wife and self "Hizuke no Hon" Book of Dates....)

Seth, it looks like this smith from Seki: HIDETOSHI (秀俊), real name Ido Shunzō (井戸俊三), born June 14th 1915, he worked as a guntō smith and died September 18 1985. In 1942 ranked as ryōkō no jōi (Akihide). Worked in Amahide group, summary and examples here:

Paul, there is a bit more on the Kanenobu in this paper:

Could be Kanetsugu, but not fully sure which one. Not fully sure, but does Dan's sword have a Gifu stamp? There are three in Sesko: (1) KANETSUGU (兼継), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanetsugu” (兼継), real name Maekawa Gen´ichi (前川源一), born January 15th 1904, he worked as guntō smith and died March 9th 1951. (2) KANETSUGU (兼継), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanetsugu” (兼継), real name Maekawa Yoshiki (前川喜儀), born March 5th 1913, he worked as guntō smith and died September 9 th 1964. (3) KANETSUGU (兼継), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gunma – “Ryūminsai Kanetsugu saku” (龍眠斎兼継作), “Kanetsugu” (兼継), real name Imai Kenzaburō (今井憲三郎), he studied first under Kiribuchi Kanetomo (桐渕兼友) and later under Kasama Shigetsugu (笠間繁継), gō Ryūminsai (龍眠斎), he died on February 6th 1971 at the age of 77, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Third Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941). This one is also P. 71 in Slough. Dan, need a better pic of mei.

Paul, your sword is Niwa Kanematsu Kanenobu (born 1874). His son was Niwa Shuji Kanenobu (born 1903). There is a summary of them in NMB Downloads:

Hi Dan, and Steve, the sword is a very late war item in a type 3 gunto koshirae. The nakago is rather rusty and the mei are extremely roughly cut. Date is Showa ju kyu ju gatsu 昭和十九年十月 1944 October, getting late in the war and all low quality. Smiths mei is Kane X saku, can't read the second part of name. There is a stamp up near habaki , looks like Gifu Gi in sakura.

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: