Bruce Pennington

Cool, John, good luck!

John, is that on a 25?

Showa 18 = 1943. There is a small Nagoya Army Arsenal "NA" just below the habaki edge on the dated side. It would be good to see if there is a star above the name (mei) under the habaki. I have some of his on file with star stamp. Also, could you check the back edge of the nakago (tang) for stamped numbers, please?

Bill, Here's my favorite photo for that question. No one knows why there are matching numbers on fittings of some gunto, but not others.

One place is the NMB For Sale section: For Sale - Swords and Edged Weapons

That's a new one for the "Unknown" files!

Thanks John, I do like to file examples as we find them.

Nice collection, David! Too bad so many blade tips and blades were damaged by water getting in the saya. This looks like it had a nice hamon. You might know already, but it was a Type 98 Army officer sword in "combat saya" or "informal saya" which would have had a leather cover. They quite often went missing over the years.

Agree with above, and the paint is faint at top, but maybe 1625.

That fact alone, would put all these in question. Originally, John, PNSSHOGUN, was concerned about the authenticity of the mei. We have seen a number of blades coming out of Japan that were likely originally mumei and had fake mei added. These could fall into that category. Is it possible they were all minitogawa blades that had the fake Captain inscription added recently?

Gorgeous kaigunto and blade! Nice presentation, too, John, thank you!

Hi Dave! Don't know how much you know about the WWII swords, but here's some more about the sword: Type 98 Japanese Army Officer sword (gunto). You can read about them, and see great examples, on Ohmura's site: Military Swords of Japan (gunto) - Ohmura Basic Care for Japanese Swords - Japaneseswordindex.com The painted numbers on the side opposite the mei (signature) are almost too faint, but appear to be "4597". They often match the stamped numbers on the metal fittings, as they were used to keep all the parts together during processing/manufacture. It's not uncommon to see unmatching numbers, and we don't know for sure why. It could imply that the original fittings were damage and replaced by new ones during the war. The stamped number, which, I think, is "988" is another matter. On Army blades, they seem to be production numbers, in sequence by each smith. They might be in order to track a certain number of blades made for a military contract, but we don't really know. The orientation of the number on the end fits a pattern that puts your blade most likely in 1942. They changed orientation over the years in a fairly consistent manner, so I feel comfortable with the date, but it's still just based upon my observations.

Rock Island protects themselves by using the word "style" in the description, like "Japaese style sword", "Japanese style NCO sword" ect.

Another posted by Nicotrojan on this Warrelics Thread. I like this mon for some reason.

From Sesko's list: SADATSUGU (貞次), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Sadatsugu” (貞次), family name Takai (高井), rikugun-jumei-tōshō, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)