Bruce Pennington

I would be interested to learn what is written on the box as well.

Alex, get both the serial number on the back and a photo of the date. If they don’t lineup correctly we know it’s a fake. However, I’ve seen two of these and they had an appropriate serial number for the year. So if they are fakes, they’re smart enough to know how to date them to match the serial number. But let’s try to find out shall we? This is the fourth one I’ve seen now, but it is a bit unique with the “Ren” stamp. I will have to check my records but I’m pretty darn sure that there are no Ren stamps on Koa Isshin blades. I am on the road, but will check when I get home. They may have finally made a fatal mistake. Plus, the Ren stamp looks hand chiseled and not a stamp at all. It should be a stamp.

They were selling for US$3600 before Covid hit. So this is a really good price. Love the look of this one Neil.

Found a Star-stamped Kiyokatsu, 1943, number 86, but no katakana. Don’t know what to think about that. I am finding blades by these guys with no numbers, with numbers but no katakana, and with katakana and numbers. Regardless of what that means, if the katakana that do show up seem to be from particular areas, then we still have something to work with. haven’t finished the Kiyokatsu search. edit: finished, no luck in him. @george trotter if you can give me some names from one of the other provinces I’ll run a search on them.

The life of the large Seki stamp just extended into 1944! Found this 1944 Kanemori with a large Seki stamp e-sword.jp/sale That just shows that the use tapered off rather than dropped dead.

Mark, Any chance the nakago has numbers stamped on the end of it? If so, could we get clear pictures of it and both sides of the nakago? Is it star-stamped?

George, I can't make out the number on this. Do we have this one already, and is this a Sadaroku? Edit: Never mind! Found it on another post - It's a Feb '44 Sadaroku, タ2383

Got my first hit: Sadaroku, 1943, Ta 1361; fittings not shown but only 1 mekugi ana; thread by our own @vajo So 3 in the Niigata area with the same katakana. Like much of this kind of work, I went through several Sadaroku with no numbers at all, but the few I've seen like that were dated earlier than '43. I haven't finished the search on him yet. Edit: Make that 4: Feb '44 Sadaroku, タ2383. Update: No luck on numbered blades for Sadakiyo and Yoshimitsu

Chris, is this in Type 98 fittings? Just wanting to know for the files. Thanks!

Maybe I'm missing something? "grades" as in "company grade" and "field grade" are officer terms. Company grad is Lt - Capt; Field grade is Major - Colonel.

Thanks George. That will give me plenty to search for, for now. One thing I just realized is that these katakana stamped numbers only show up in 1943 and '44, with most of them, currently, in '44. So that will really reduce the pool of blades to find others. Well, off to the searches.

Good work yourself, George! Thanks for looking into it. I'll start thinking up ways to search for these. Since they seem to be on RJT blades, a search of known RJT smiths by name might be a place to start. Maybe if you could give me a name or 2 of other RJT smiths in the same area as the single ones we already have?

Loved the whole video, thanks Geraint!

Thanks Trystan, I have the first one, but not the second. It's perfect, thanks!

Looking for a good, clear, photo of an intact "Na" of Nagoya Arsenal from an officer blade nakago. I have plenty from Type 95s and I have several partial Na's from officer blades. I do have 1 intact Na, but the image is small and blurry. Any help guys?

Lots of useful info on that page that can be found, in spite of Google translation errors. One section seems to re-state the info we've discovered from the Seki City website. They must have used the same source. He mentions 4 organizations that I hope to probe a bit more, but essentially, the Seki sword industry was learning to make swords faster and doubled their production ability over time. Thomas found a line in Ohmura's discussion that seems to indicate not all blades were inspected, which could mean that gendaito weren't inspected, just showato. The only thing I still wonder about is his claim that the Showa stamp came about when the Army (Nagoya Army Arsenal) started using the Seki stamp. Because, the survey data currently indicates just the opposite.

You know, most of those charts don’t need location information for the Smiths, as each stamp pretty much shows where the Smith was working. If a guy was going to try it, I would just focus on the charts of stamped numbers with emphasis on the numbers that have katakana.

To your original question, I know it was discussed with Nick Komiya at Warrelics, but I cannot find the thread. Maybe @Kiipu or @BANGBANGSAN can give you the English pronunciation of the Japanese term for tassel.

Now, I'm sure the Japanese Army didn't think it necessary to let the soldier know that his saya was made of steel. So, I'm betting this is either an Army inspector whose mark is saying "Made of Army supplied Steel", similar to the role the star stamp played in later years, or it's a shop logo, which says "steel" in the design. We also see several ways makers of officer blades sort of put "bragging rights" mei, or hotstamps, that state the type of steel used (Kobuse, Yasugi, etc), and maybe this is in that category. My gut says it's an arsenal inspector. MOST stamps I've seen on drags are of arsenals, so maybe it's an approval of the steel used. Though, I do have one with "Sha" stamped on the drag, which is possibly a contractor stamp: Hrmph. Just another mystery to add to the list. Thanks Trystan.

I think that must have been the registration date. This blade was clearly made long before that.

Gorgeous John! Gives the old blade new life, doesn't it. Do you have the gunto fittings? How do they look? Hope someone can help with the mune kanji.

Yes, thanks George! The repeats came from copying and pasting from 2 different sections of my charts, and didn't notice the repeat. The province part is where someone else ... who could that be?! ... come in! I'm posting the updated version of the chart above on this page, but I've attached my whole Stamps Survey charts as a Word Doc in case you'd like to use the charts to update with regions/provinces. That's way out of my abilities, and I'd love to get your help on that. The stamped numbers charts are at the bottom of the file. (well shoot!, messed up the copy/paste and can't delete the bottom part) 1942, Apr Masakazu (RJT) 1129; “1” on mune ニ1129 on fittings George Trotter, RS 1943 Akimitsu (RJT) タ1246 Kapp & Monson book 1943 Akimitsu (RJT) 2123 (イ536 fittings) TimBlackburne, RS 1943, May Munetoshi (RJT) 松 1080 RS star イ403 on fittings Trotter Collection, 1944, Jan Kanetsugu (RJT) ク306 Edward Mahle, NMB 1944, Feb Kunishiro (RJT) オ154 Star 1944, Feb Kunishiro (RJT) オ 154, star Trotter Survey 1944, Mar Munetoshi (RJT) タ2353 Type 98 star Trotter Survey 1942-1945 (ND) Masakazu (RJT) フ 37 RS star IJASWORDS ND Masakazu (RJT) フ37 star ND Munemitsu マ 431 Star Cillo, pg 119 ND Nagamitsu (RJT) イ313 on mune Ooitame; NMB, RS stamp survey (1).docx

That's an interesting development!

Thanks Stephen! That makes 2 Kanehiro out of 5 Kaikosha blades, so far. And only one with the large sakura. That thing is going to plague me for a long time.