Bruce Pennington

There is a moderate discussion of this on this thread: Help on Translating Nakago Mei. Back then, I had found an online page for the Inaba Tanrenjo, and I tossed that around with Mal Cox a bit. But inconclusive. If the mark is of a forge, as opposed to a personal mark of Kaneyoshi, then the other marks posted in that discussion (an in the Stamps Doc) are by implication, forge marks too.

Now, here is a variant of the large anchor, with the tight, pointy barbs we normally see on the small anchors. I have several like this, all on Inaba Kaneyoshi blades (no dates). They are on kaigunto, not souvenirs. His blades are also often found with small anchor and the extra kanji that no one has really figured out. It resembles the kanji for Inaba, but it's different enough to raise questions.

No, they are all undated, and all I know is they carry the Toyokawa Arsenal stamp.

Hard to say, John, similar:

John, After doing some digging, I figured out what had given me the impression that some were hand crafted. The large stamp of one of the double stamped blades had some flaws that looked, at first glance, to be hand cut. But I actually found another on a Hiratoshi blade with a flaw at the same 2 o'clock position. Also, what I though was a flat cut, turned out to be yasurime line and steel build-up interfering with the stamp line. Finally, I discovered that the stamp of this one was not a new design. I thought it had barbs that pointed inward, but none pointing down. After zooming, you can see the faint shadow of the downward barb on the right side. The left side barb is lost as the stamp was struck on the shinogi. I have found, in the past, a couple of large Seki stamps that were hand punched, section by section, but so far, I'm not finding what I thought were hand worked anchors.

Thanks Don. If there was one, the corrosion has it covered.

I suspect some of these are hand-carved, and not just a stamp.

Brian, Would it be possible to amend your opening post, or just add here, a bullet-list of the added bennies of a Gold Membership? I've tried doing a Search of the site and cannot find such a list.

Nice one posted by @Walter55 HERE.

Nice to have your experienced research onboard, though!

The double stamped blade in my first post is owned by a buy on the Russian Guns.ru. I've sent him a request for measurements. It was an old post, so we will see if he replies.

photos of the whole nakago would be appreciated, too. It's likely got a kao at the end of the mei.

For what it's worth, I have 4 other of his blades on file, all dated 1942.

The small stamp is of the Suya Shoten comany. They had a good reputation. You must have already had the mei evaluated? I thing a bunch of us would still enjoy seeing it. Not often we get to see dirks with privately made blades.

I, too, would appreciate some close, clear shots of any small stamps near the top. Easier to find and see them with all the fittings removed from the blade. There may even be some on the back edge of the nakago (tang).

Is it star-stamped? If so, can I get photos for the files?

Good point, John. I only had 1 Takeyasu on file and it's in souvenir fittings.

John, Not disagreeing, but could you fill us in on your reasons for this assumption? How did you zero in on Sukehiro/Shotaro?

Alaen, I see a lot of corrosion at the top of the nakago. Any chance you could remove the tsuba & seppa to see if there is a star stamp near the top?

Mark, Could you remove the habaki (brass collar) from this blade and look closely above the signature, and hole, for a star stamp?

I see him on the RJT list of Japaneseswordindex. Here's what is in Sesko's list: KATSUNORI (勝則), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tottori – “Katsunori” (勝則), family name Yoshida (吉田), rikugun-jumei-tōshō @Minseito1941, Don, do you have one of his blades? I only have a Feb '45 of his in my chart but I don't have photos, or a reference to that blade.

Yes, that's the "standard" small anchor I've been looking for. It has the more pointed, angled, barbs. And it's smaller and different than the smaller stamp I posted above on that dual-stamped blade.

Then, you could buy any ashi, regardless of fit, and remove the ring. Those things were welded in a circle, so it would take some metal working skills.

I haven't been studying kaigunto, in general, and as a result, their stamps. After gathering a few samples of anchor stamps, I've learned that there were two variations of the barb on the end of the large stamps. I had believed that the "original" anchor had a barb that was small and more pulled back, pointy. But, in fact, the barbs are simply "L" shapes inverted on the anchor tips to make a barb. Some are small L's and others are are large: This single blade has both, and the barbs are clear to see I'm struggling to find more examples of the small anchor stamp that are clear enough or stamped well enough to see the details. When I've found some good examples, I'll update. Here are a couple more of the large stamps with slight variations in the barb

Here is a Toyosuke, stainless, anchor-stamped in army fittings. Posted by MactheWhopper: