Bruce Pennington

"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"?

Dan, good find! I thought it was the same blade, too, but on closer look, the star on the old thread actually overlaps the top of the first kanji, where this one doesn't touch. Same guy, though, and it looks like it's "Masamichi". Japaneseswordindex RJT list has a "Morita Masamichi" listed, unfortunately, no oshigata on him. Different fittings too: Mark's This one from the Poulin Auction

HI guys, me again! I used Brian's chart for kanji and found the "Sane" - 眞, and seems like tha second is michi - 道, but I don't see a Sanemichi in Sesko, nor on the RJT list, as this is a star-stamped blade. Can you straighten me out please?

A showa stamped Yoshinao in late war fittings. I do have 3 '45 dated showa-stamped blades on record (from a Cox survey, no photos), so this could have been made in '45.

Here's a late war kaigunto. Note the fuchi that almost has a built-in seppa and has that, oh what to call it?, flimsy, bright, cheapily-made look to it, like the souvenir fuchi. Also, dig that horrible dai-seppa! Has a large-seki stamped Yoshitsugu blade in it. I wish it had been dated. I do have a single 1945 blade with the large seki stamp, so it's possible this was made that year.

I'm with Rick, what a beautiful sword! Send our regards and best wishes to the owner. I hope he heals/recovers. Forgive my rookie question, but it's dated November 1430 correct!?!? Wow! And the scripted inscription is so elegant.

Does make you wonder, especially with the provenance of the sword you've posted.

Thanks to everyone for all the good information!

I assume this is not a souvenir sword? You can’t tell just by looking at the kabutogane. I can see a fabric under the wrap, so the two of them combined points toward late war assembly.