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Bruce Pennington

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Everything posted by Bruce Pennington

  1. Those are great, David, thank you! @Kiipu I haven't charted the blades with the "M/W", but looking over the files, it's clear they were used in earnest after the Army took control of all sword production in 1942. The stamp is seen on Mantetsu blades from the beginning of production in 1942, through the first quarter of 1944 On signed blades, we see it from Spring 1943 through Spring 1944 Yoshiharu (11 blades) Spring '43 - 4 blades Autumn '43 - 2 Spring '44 - 3 Takehisa (10 blades) Autumn '43 - 8 blades Spring '44 - 2 Tenshin 1945 - 1 blade With the exception of the Tenshin blade, it's interesting to note that all the stamped blades use the seasonal notations on the date, including the Mantetsu. Obviously, they are seen on Type 19s and Type 95s, but I have no dates for those.
  2. Sorry to hijack your post, Steve! Sesko has 2 Kanesada listed for WWII: KANESADA (兼定), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanesada” (兼定), real name Okada Sadao (岡田定男), born September 9th 1905, he worked as a guntō smith and died September 1st 1966, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide) KANESADA (兼定), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanesada” (兼定), real name Ōno Hiromi (大野広美), he studied at Watanabe Kanenaga´s (渡辺兼永) place Watanabe Kanenaga Nihontō Tanren Juku (渡辺兼永日本刀鍛錬塾) and worked as a guntō smith So the one on the left is Okada Kanesada. Can anyone translate the blade on the right? Slough lists a Furukawa Kanesada, and this sort of looks like him. Slough lists, in English, several of his mei. If I could get this one, it may match one of them.
  3. Thanks John, can I get a clear shot of those? Also how about the date side, please?
  4. I have several Kanesada on file. Kanji style seems to vary considerably with him, so this wouldn't surprise me.
  5. I don't have any Kaneyasu blades that are stamped (yet?). But yours doesn't match the Kanemichi nor Kanenao on file. I found this other Kaneyasu. Not exactly the same, but clearly both mei played loosely with the "yasu". You could be right Mal. Where's @SteveM?
  6. Sam, Haven't seen one exactly like that, but have seen quite a variety of such marks (think they have a name). They were done to tighten up the ana for a closer fit to the blade.
  7. I have 4 of his that are star-stamped. 2 Don't give views that would show any stamping, and the other 2: a '43 with a NA on the mune; and a '45 with a Seki on the mune. The other 3, without star, are: a '41 with NA; '42 with Na Ho on mune; and a '45 with Seki.
  8. I didn't want to agree with John, but after looking at 6 other Nagahisa mei and kao, I see some inconsistencies. This one differs in many ways, but here are 3 that are all the same on the filed ones, but differ from this one: 1. The right "shoulder" of this kanji, on all but the OP, is bent or lopped off, whereas it's square on the OP kanji 2. The upper left of this kanji, on all but the OP uses a small "dink", not an elongated line like the OP 3. The kao is quite close, but on all the filed kao, the 3 prongs on top are small and the right-most prong is long, whereas the OP prongs are the same size. These items on all the filed nakago do not vary, so I'd say this is a good gimei, at least for the cut test mei.
  9. Dang! Good catch, Trystan! I originally had this down (possibly from you?) in the Stamps doc as "特 = Toku (Special)", but now I can connect it to this chart. Do you know exactly what it means? "Specially adopted on basis of Inspection Rules Art. 11", but what does that mean to us or about the sword?
  10. I track that, when shown. Several of the recoreded blades came from auction sites, and old posts no longer active, that didn't show the full nakago, nor the mune. Having said that, it seems the vast majority of them were marked one way or another. A lot of them were numbered. Many had HO, KO, SAKA, NA, and Seki stamps on the mune. And just a few had small Seki and/or NA stamps on the nakago.
  11. Yes, I have 4 others. 3, like yours, with the large Seki stamp, and 1, Apr '44, with a NA stamp. And I agree with Steve, that's some really good metal-work on those fittings!
  12. If you could enlarge the original and get screenshots, I could compare to the 2 I have on file of Nagahisa. Need a clear picture. If you have a link, that would do, as well.
  13. Neil, Yes I have that one on file, and it's the only example I have of that mystery stamp at the bottom of the 3. Didier, The wartime polish seems to have a dull, mirror-like finish. It often will even obscure the hamon. You can usually tell it's original by all the scratches, dings, and such on the surface of the blade. Bubba, post-war, buffer jobs are usually quite shiny mirror.
  14. David, Could I get a clear shot of the "&" marking, or a link where I can get the shots myself? I have 2 other gunto with this mark. Both mumei, one is likely a zoheito, and one has the "W" as well. My current theory is that it comes from a particular shop. Here are the other 2 787 has the & on the blade! and 797
  15. Now that we're talking of it, though, if you find something like this and it was a swordsmith that made it, let me know. I'd like to see the kao and see if it's different or the same as his sword kao.
  16. Thanks John, but I'm only citing swordsmith kao. The guys that make tsuba, shirasaya, and others like this item are a big group. I just don't have the time to branch out that wide.
  17. Ah, good on both counts. Thanks for the update! It's a good looking sword, I like it!
  18. @matthewbrice might have a good idea on value. I don't follow this style, and could only make a wild guess. Others might know.
  19. Also, by the wording of the tag, this seems it was shipped by the officer to his home, not a surrender tag? Anyone know?
  20. Mike, Is the tassel all brown? Sometimes these can be blue/brown or red/brown, but the color can be so faded that they appear all brown.
  21. Steve, Lot's to learn when jumping into a new collector's realm! I don't know the full story of how Japan administered occupied lands. All I know is from the swords I see in reference books. But clearly there were Army and Navy administrators. Army swords had a different saya (scabbard). Here's a partial shot of an Army one: The style of your sword saya is Navy. And surprise! While looking at Ohmura's site FOUND HERE>, I see his example has the same blade design as yours! He calls it the "Kogarasu-maru structure" WWII leather tends to get degraded over time. It's possible the leather on yours got damaged and someone removed it along the way. Are the metal fittings loose? Does that second belt hanger loop slide? It looks like it's been slid too far up, close to the top. Back to administrators. The Japanese had a civil branch working alongside the military, both Army and Navy, called Gunzoku. They wore military-styled uniforms, but had their own rank structure. There were 4 ranks of civilian grades in the army. 1. Younin (傭人) were hired laborers. For instance, barbers and laundry workers were such civilians. 2. Ko-in (雇員) hired admin helpers for the office (treated as equivalent of a Lance Corporal) . 3. Hanin-kan (判任官), who were civilian equivalents of NCOs, carrying out legal, accounting, machine maintenance and other duties. 4. Koutou-kan (高等官), who comprised the officer class equivalents from lieutenant to general. Such people included teachers of non-military subjects in military schools, interpreters, legal specialists, etc. {From Nick Komiya's post HERE. Both the Hanin-kan and Koutou-kan carried swords of the branch, Army or Navy, they worked for. Yours was obviously working for the Navy, and by "colonial" I mean he was working in one of the occupied territories. Japan specialized the fittings and markings on swords. There were specific styles for standard Army & Navy; styles for Police, Railways, etc. There were specific styles and/or emblems for diplomats and administrators of occupied territories. Edit: Oops, I see Geraint has just beat me!
  22. Wow, I see it now, actually a "1" "10" "8" (I can't do the Japanese kanji).
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