Bruce Pennington

Hi Jon! I'm a poor one to say about whether it's gendaito. I'll let the experts opine on that. But the fittings are fully civilian. There were several WWII smiths whose blades are found in civil fittings that were obviously from that era. Some were even refitted with a mixture of military stuff for the war. Civilians were still buying swords during WWII and it is no surprise some of them made it out to us from the occupation forces.

Was struck by the precision in detail on this kabutogane on the gunto sold by Sam for the NMB fundraiser HERE. The dimples are exactly lined up. Normally, they seem randomly placed. Even the one on Ohmura's site, who had really pristine examples, are random. A small thing, but caught my eye today.

What John said, plus it was designed in 1938 It's concept was to be a cheaper, more robust derivative of the Type 98. Just speculating, but the reports from early gunto repair teams said that a large amount of their work was done on broken handles. The longer nakago and two ana might have been an attempt at remedying that problem.

I knew we could count on you, Sam! I agree with you on all your points. After reading your explanation about the stamps, I took a closer look and sure enough it is the Gifu filled with paint.

It’s pretty shocking to think that someone seems to have intentionally found as many fakes as they could find.

That blade is gonna be gorgeous with the polish! Thanks for the added photos.

OK! Here's a "real piece of work" for your perusal. Being sold by Southern Soldier Antiques on this ebay sale. Surprisingly, the orientation of the numbers on the blade and saya throat are correct for a Nagoya 95. Quite unusual!. The bohi is started and ended in the right location - again unusual for a fake - yet it has a wave, and not straight. These set this imitation/fake apart from all the rest. HOWEVER, the barrel screw is totally wrong -standard for fakes, and of course, the stamps are crap. What shocks me, @Scogg , is the drooped ito, copying that transition stage of ito design. Thoughts???

Well, my data exceeded the post limit. Here's the main question about the painted number:

Ok! This baby is a "real piece of work", as they say, Ha! Being sold by Jewelry&Coin on this ebay sale. Navy tsuka, kabutogane, fuchi, menugi .... but the oversized, yet thinner than normal, tsuba. NOT a 1-piece fuchi, and it's navy. YET, Army haikan with missing semegane and sayajiri on black-lacquered saya. Feast your eyes on that nakago, with a second ana because it's so long. Double navy circled anchor - both large, which is unusual, and the top one was double struck. Takeyasu. Here's where I'm asking for some opinions - painted number - "? 6" - "26"??? It COULD be a messed up "56", but I don't think so. What do you guys say?

Plus, and I'm sure there will be an exception found, the police sabers have one of several sun-ray patterns on the top end of the backstrap, as in the picture above.

Your Katsumasa was proabably this guy: "KATSUMASA (勝正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Katsumasa” (勝正), real name Kojima Shichi´emon (小島七右衛門), born October 20th 1892, he studied under Kaneyoshi (兼吉), worked as a guntō smith and died September 22nd 1947" Sesko doesn't have anything on Yoshimasa, but Slough says he was from Gifu and made "Low to Medium-Grade Showato." The small stamp above his name is the Showa stamp used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association between 1935 and 1942, Most dated blades I've seen with the stamp were dated 1940-1941. The blades, in my opinion, with the stamp are fairly nice looking. Some claim they are traditionally made. I don't see a Kunihisa in Sesko's list in that date range, but like Steve said it's likely gimei. Value depends greatly upon the condition of the blades and overall fittings. In good condition, each of the blades could fetch $900 - 1,200 USD. Poor condition would go for less.

Due to shortages of the new gunto - shin gunto - the Army aurthorized officers to buy Type 95s for 33 yen, in July 1937. See Nick Komiya's article: Swords Out of Stock.

I went to file this gunto and was surprised by how many of them I have on file! 4 are NCO blades w/serial number in Type 98 fittings These are signed 'officer' blades in Type 95 fittings. Kaneshige - @bkww2 (and earlier from the ebay seller) And these with long nakago with two ana, so they were made this way: Masatsugu, Apr 1945 - @mdiddy Masatsugu, Jun 1945 - @drb 1643 Yoshichika, 1940 - Plimpton & @mdiddy Yoshitsugu, 1803 - Auction & @steven While there is always the possiblity that some were post-war piece-together, they four - Masatsugu x2, Yoshickia, and Yoshitsugu were made to be in a Type 95 tsuka.

An excellent, free site for learning everything about WWII swords: Military Swords of Imperial Japan - Ohmura

@RJV Rob, I don't see a stamp at all. Maybe you forgot to post that photo?

Yes, and while searching for contact info (which I have not found) I also saw the name Moses Becerra, whom I have heard recommended many times. Don't have contact info on him either.

I used David Hofhine, but I just tried his website and cannot connect to it. I also saw his Facebook page has been dormant for several years. Don't know what's up with him. Maybe some other guys can make a recommendation. I believe there is a guy in Hawaii that is quite popular, but don't recall his name.

Mark, You can read all about the RJT program and the swords they made on this thread: Arsenal Mark on RJT Sword Fittings. You have a quality made blade there. If you have a couple thousand dollars to have it polished, it would look quite fabulous! Would you mind posting a photo or two of the full blade and fittings for my files? Care and Cleaning tips: Japanese Sword Care. The style fittings are a contingency model made for Japanese officers. There is no Army official name for the style, but most people call them a Type 3 gunto. You will see terms like Rinji Seishiki (contingency model in Japanese), Type 44, Late war Navy landing sword. You can see pristine examples of them on Ohmura's site: Army Officer Type 3. The history of the model: Unveiling the Rinji Seishiki Sword in 1940 - by Nick Komiya

Crimson MIst has a kabutogane: Sword Parts - Crimson Mist Militaria This guy on ebay has a full koshirae set, but wants $1,200! You might message him and ask if he'll sell what you need individually: Ebay Sale

That's going to be a challenge, Kevin, but not impossible. Took me 2 years to get the missing parts I needed to refit my dad's gunto. Here's a couple shots showing the needed parts (from Ohmura's site: Army Officers Gunto 1943)

Sure! I like an overall shot of the whole rig, and a close-up of the hamon and blade tip, if that's OK.

Again, thanks Ray. I just got around to reading Markus' article from your link. That cleared it up for me. I was able to condense Markus' description in a way to explain that on my Stamps doc.

Hi Theo! The fittings are Japanese Army officer Type 98. The saya (scabbard) is aluminum, which is not rare, but not as common. The paint they used wouldn't stay on the aluminum. Don't know if they ever figured out a better compound for them or not. The style was released in 1934, Type 94, and modified to the 98 in 1938. They were produced all the way to the end of the war. If there is a small stamp underneath the tsuba/seppa set, I can narrow the timeframe a little more. You can read up on the Type 98 (and others) on Ohmura's site: Army Officers Type 98 - Ohmura Care and Cleaning: Japanese Sword Care

Sort of related to the topic - a waki in shirasaya that was fully leather covered for the war. Posted by Jack Smith on the Facebook group:

Thanks Ray! So, way back in 1183-98. Were these swords in the time that Japan went away from the straight blade to the curved blade?