Bruce Pennington

An interesting one on a WWII re-fitted sword with an Edo/Kanbun era Kanemichi blade, with Kiku, posted by Bob C at this Wehrmacht-awards Thread. The discussion says that some of the design originated in Greece, then to China, then to Japan. If you're unable to see the images on the W-A thread, the kiku with mei is posted on this NMB Thread.

I wish we knew more about the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association. They had stamps for blades and labels for fittings (or was it for the whole completed rig?). To back up Neil's - @IJASWORDS - point, this rig highlights that the stickers are not relegated to low quality, late-war gunto. Here is an Edo/Kanbun era, Kiku bearing, Kanemichi blade in wooden saya and leather cover. This one has the label on the leather drag!!! and inside on the saya itself. Found on this Wehrmacht-awards Thread, posted by Bob C. Scroll through to the second page to get the rest of the photos and discussion.

Dang! Thought I had one right for a change. I had a 50/50 chance on the kin/kane, and I had a nagging feeling the "michi" was wrong, but had forgotten that version of "nao" existed. Thanks buddy!

Guys, is this "Takayama-to Kinmichi kore saku" ?

After searching my emails for the original message my friend sent me, I couldn't find more photos, but I did find an update on the Iwo Jima claim. He added: "My mom claimed he got it at Okinawa during the war, but I sometimes doubt that story. He was at Okinawa, but as far as know, only offshore (as a ship captain). At some point I'm going to research that more through deck log archives. But I do know that from 1950 to 1952 he was stationed in Tokyo working for Gen. MacArthur. He would have a very good opportunity to get one of those "souvenir" swords then." Sorry for the misleading original post. I suspect his '50-'52 tour in Tokyo might account for the acquisition of this souvenir!

Yes, certainly could be the case for all 3 blades, and statistically speaking, the odds are for this option. I filed them as having no date, noting the late war fittings for tracking purposes.

Thanks Thomas. I suspected the stamp was too deep to be on a steel fuchi. Just never ran into such a set up before. Still learning!

Interesting Type 95 posted on this Wehrmacht-awards Thread. It's a Tokyo 1st 95 with a poorly stamped Ijima shop stamp. The fuchi SEEMS to be steel, but I remember @Kiipu mentioning that the Tokyo arsenal didn't stamp steel fuchi. The close-up might show that the fuchi is actually brass/copper and was painted black. What do you guys think

"Oh my kingdom for a [date]!" to misuse an old phrase. This is the third late war gunto I've come across with a Showa-stamped blade. Though I have not personally seen any 1945 dated, Showa stamped blades, we have 3 on record from a Mal Cox survey. So, it is quite possible all 3 of these were made in the 1944-45 range. And based upon these fittings, and the rushed finish to the nakago of this one, I'd say that seems likely. Here are photos of the other 2: A Yoshimitsu in late war fittings, no good shot of the tsuba, but looks pretty rudimentary, too! A Yoshinao

Sesko has a WWII Yoshikane: YOSHIKANE (義兼), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Yoshikane” (義兼), real name “Mishina Yuichi” (三品由一) Martin, Thanks for taking a look "under the hood"! Be sure to replace the mekugi ASAP. Does the nakago have any small stamps near the top? Might have to slide the tsuba/seppa set down to see them. They could be on either side, and sometimes on the back edge. And a couple great places to start learning about your sword: THE Japanese SWORD GUIDE (japaneseswordindex.com) and Military Swords of Imperial Japan (Guntō) (ohmura-study.net)

Rob, I'm not usually the skeptic, and admittedly, the photos are pretty blurry. But be sure to post good photos of both sides and the back edge of the nakago when it arrives. Not happy with a couple of kanji, but then again, it could just be the poor quality photos.

OK, thanks for the photos, though. Added to the files!

It's an interesting item, Martin, and Welcome to NMB! Rob summed up the sword, so not much I can add. I like the hamon (temper pattern). Nice work by the smith. I'm no expert on WWII wood-working materials, but I agree with Rob, that this saya (scabbard) doesn't seem to be something that would have been made during the war. Many swords were grabbed and brought home by G.I.s without their saya. It's possible someone, after returning home, made this really nice saya for the bare blade. But maybe someone with more knowledge of saya wood-working (like @Grey Doffin) might be able to say. I agree with Rob, that you will possibly gain more knowledge of your blade by removing the tsuka. If the mekugi (peg) dissentigrates, it is easily replaced. I have ordered them online for just a few dollars. Many guys simply use a nice bamboo chopstick and cut an appropriate piece for a replacement. There is always a chance the blade wasn't signed, but if you don't look, you will never know!

I was thinking that too, like maybe a particular shop was putting these out, but after checking the file, it was a bit different. Photo from @Grey Doffin. I had cropped it for the Stamps doc. Don @Minseito1941, what kind of blade is in yours? Any markings/stamps?

Matt @mdiddy, For the chart, are there 3 here, or are the bottom 2 of the same gunto?

Thanks Chris! Mark of Amahide's forge/factory. Do you have the mei or smith on the blade? There were 3 or 4 smiths working the factory and it's found on all of them.

I hope so! It still is, as far as I'm concerned.

Agree with George, and most I see don't have a tassel, but the one's with one come in a variety of sarute or completely without, like in the diagram. Discussed some here: Type 3 Tassel Sarute and more at length, here Tassels for Rinji Seishiki

Stacked cannon balls are Kokura. Both Ohmura and Dawson show the leather NCO tassel, and Dawson states the tassel "is correct for the Type 32 Army sword."

NIce find, John! Yes, looks like originally it was "58", but that was cleaned off, and "81" added. Note the nicer than unusual sword bag. Oh, and that's another duplicate number. Previous 81 is a Takayama-to, with associated inscription:

Would the direction of the writing be a clue?

Yeah, I would think the yasurime would disappear under chrome, too. A smith from Seki, named Kanenori.

Good one, Matt! Keep them coming!

Update Running out of places to look, but up to 35 swords with all brown tassel in the chart now. No change to earlier post and conclusions. Out of 35 gunto, only 7 are Rinji seishiki. 5 are fully civil. 1 Type 95. One Type 98 with an NCO blade. That leaves 21 Type 98s in various configurations. Brown Tassel SWORD TYPE SMITH DATE SOURCE Civil Unknown ND Tensho, NMB Civil, re-fit Yoshichika ND Kolekt-to, NMB Civil w/Sakura tsuba Kanezane ND; Showa stamp Cernie, ebay Civil w/Sakura tsuba Kanezane ND; Showa stamp Cb1100f.b10…..jp Civil, re-fit Mumei ND Civicsecondhand.ebay T95 Suya/Tokyo 1st Ser # not shown; but likely 1942 or later GFL775, Gunbrds T98 combat saya Shigemitsu ND Deadoscilate, NMB T98 combat saya Masatsune ND Brian, NMB T98 combat saya Masayuki 1942 Waljamada, NMB T98 combat saya Sukenori ND Crow23, NMB T98 combat saya Kanetake ND Large Seki stamp CMD, NMB T98 combat saya Kiyonobu 1943 Nzef1940, W-A T98 combat saya Kaneshige ND Large Seki stamp Mark Shefly, W-A T98 combat saya Unknown Unknown RI auction T98 combat saya Mumei, old blade ND Gilbergauthie-5, ebay T98 combat saya Mumei, old blade ND Panzerfaust, Gunbrds T98 standard fittings Yoshichika ND Nickindy, NMB T98 standard fittings Kaneyuki 1820 Bazza, NMB T98 alum. Saya Shoshin 1940 Aug Mike T, NMB T98 NCO blade Nagoya ND The_Derz, NMB T98 Occupied/late war Mumei ND Doomsday Runner, NMB T98 Kanesada 1944 Chrisfe, NMB T98 Mumei, old blade ND St Croix Blades T98 Unknown Unknown Mortis, NMB T98 Mumei ND Robinalexander, NMB T98 Waki refit, leather Tadayoshi, old blade ND Chip62287, NMB T98 Civil tsuba Norinaga, old blade Koto BenCld, NMB T98 Civil tsuba Kanenori ND, Large Seki stamp Dosh, NMB RS Unknown Unknown Kolekt-to, NMB RS Seisui 1944 George Trotter, NMB RS No blade photo Unknown Robinalexander, ebay RS Masayoshi, Star stamp 1944, Apr Vajo, NMB RS Kanemune 1945, Feb Panzerfaust, Gunbrds RS Katsumasa 1945, Jan PBacsuk, Warrelics RS black saya Kaneyuki 1945, Mar Narvik1940, W-A 1

Sesko lists 3 Showa era Masamichi, 2 of which were RJT, one of them Morita Masamichi, but Markus shows all 3 mei as using what we normally see with a "masa" name: MASAMICHI (正道), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Kyōto – “Masamichi” (正道), family name Morita (森田), rikugun-jumei-tōshō MASAMICHI (正道), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Hiroshima “Masamichi” (正道), family name Shinoki (篠木, also read as Shinogi), rikugun-jumei-tōshō, jōko no jōi (Akihide) MASAMICHI (正道), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Nara – “Yamato no Kuni Hashio-jū Tatsumi Masamichi” (大和国箸尾住辰巳正道), real name Tatsumi Yōichirō (辰巳要一郎), born February 28th 1915, student of Mizuno Masanori (水野正範) (see picture right) Oddly, I have one MASAMICHI (正道) on file, but his full mei was translated as "Yamashiro Masamichi", and I have Yamashiro as being modern day Kyoto. But none of these are listed as being from there. Here it is: Could this be "Yamato" rather than "Yamashiro"?