Bruce Pennington

Thanks Rob!

It's the only thing holding the fittings to the nakago. The rig is likely 100 years old and is probably just stuck with corrosion/grime. Have you tried the wooden block and hammer method?

Dang!!! So, we are possibly seeing a custom order Mantetsu made with tamahagane - fully traditional, gendaito?

Thanks to Kevin, @Beater, who brought a couple of Mitsunobu blades to my attention. I only had 1 other on file, and had not noticed, until Kevin pointed it out, the kao/kakihan is identical to kao found on Teruhide blades. Doing a search, I found a thread where Ray Singer had quoted Rich Stein on his Japanese sword index website stating his opinion that the two may be the same guy. Ishido Teruhide is a well known smith, but I don't see Ishido Mitsunobu in Sesko's list. He's listed in Slough, but Slough believes the mei to be daimei (one smith signing for another). I agree with Rich, and doubt a smith would share his kao with another smith, plus we know of several other smiths that changed their art names over time. So, it's quite conceivable that Ishido Mitsunobu is simply another name used by Ishido Teruhide. Teruhide Mitsunobu I've regrouped the two in the upcoming Stamps doc revision to include this possibility. Another interesting development is the realization that Mitsunobu blades have stamped numbers on the mune under the habaki! I now have 3 on file, all undated - 707, 925, and 958. Hate to think of the rest of them out there undetected because guys post their photos, often, with habaki in place.

John, I was looking at my one-handed Kyu gunto and noticed that it has a node. You can also see that there were larger nodes all the way down the handle compared to the ones on the sides. After seeing this, it does not surprise me to see multiple larger nodes on yours.

Thanks for posting that Chris! I only had 3 (now 4) in the "MI" line of blades. Two are Ren stamped and two are Koa Isshin. Nice to see that one. What would you say, still oil quenched? or water?

Another red one, this time on a Type 95. Posted by Leo2018, on this Wehrmacht-awards thread.

Thanks Steve. In the one shot that shows a partial view of the saya throat, it looks like it was newly made and not even close to WWII shape. Also, I was initially put off by the angled file mark pattern on the fuchi, but after checking the only other one I have on file, it has the same look/texture. Seems to be a Mizuno fuchi style.

OOPS! Thanks John!

Another Masatada, April 1942, at Gunto Art Swords

Another Yasunori, June 1940, sold at Doug's Gunto Art Swords site.

Found another of the "015728" fake knives at this Brand Used Works auction

A bad fake at a Echoes of Glory International Military Auction House auction

A Monstrosity! Tsuka looks legit, but fuchi? Tokyo inspector stamp is upside-down, and the contractor stamp is a rough Mizuno logo. What faker in his right mind would fake a Mizuno stamp? What faker has ever HEARD of Mizuno? The blade has no bohi, like the late war 95s. The saya has a Type 98 sayajiri and the whole thing painted a hideous green, with a Type 95 saya throat at the top. And dig this: @Shamsy @Stegel

Looks like it to me, John. I've never studied them, but 2 or 3 sites I just read make it sound like there should only be 1 or straight line of a few. These seem different than that, but I'm talking WAY out of my depth here. Here's an image of a same' with a bunch of them:

I meant to add that I agree with Matthew’s first feelings that it is simply a shorter type 19. Dawson shows examples of short (waki) lengths of blade in every type, at least in the officer swords. And we have seen plenty examples here on NMB.

The photos helped clear up my amazement at judging such a large number of blades, too. 11-14 guys on the panel. That would be 20 or less blades per judge, assuming they didn't all have to see each blade. But even each blade had to be seen by everyone, I guess it wouldn't be that ginormous (HA, there's that word!) of a task. 1-3 minutes per blade is only 200-600 minutes of evaluation.

May be impossible to know either way. The backstrap pattern looks identical to the field grade Type 19. But Dawson states, pg 70, that the miniatures made for children can come in "surprising detail." He even shows a sword knot made for the boy's sword. While his example has good detail, it isn't the quality we see in your example. But he also discusses the point that these were custom made for wealthy officers' children. So, enough money can get high quality work, obviously. The youth section is discussed on pages 212-216. The swords he shows are marked as school swords, but he states there are other unmarked swords in collections that may have been youth swords. But, in this section, he states they were normal lengths and sizes.

Already got my copy on order!

Discussed many times, on many threads. In the old days, these were immediately labeled as fakes. We now know that there were many swords made in occupied territories. Some of them, like the Java sword, are easily identified. But the rest fall into this identifiable category. The bad fakes have angled blade tips, or Damascus steel, or acid engraving on the blade. Swords like these, have normal steel, though poorly made, and maybe not hardened, and true looking Japanese blade tips with convincing aging and wear. At the end of the day, no one really knows!

Can't imagine the task of judging 236 blades!!!

The rivet looks old and original. The leather holding the buckle is the same kind of leather as the cover for the saya. I agree with John, it sure would get in the way of a quick draw! Never seen anything like it. thanks for sharing it!

Update: Sword Encyclopedia replied and has sent my info to the editing/fact checking department. Very interested in articles and writers to contribute further. So, if anyone would like to add content, reach out to them. I've sent them our articles on SMR, the souvenir, and Stamps. All 3 are too big for their venue, but they will summarize and run the draft by me for approval before posting. Leon Kapp wrote back and doesn't recall writing the article. So, looks like Blade mag staff did the write-up using Leon's stuff. But the part about the star-stamped blades must have come from somewhere else, as it's not in Leon's book and Leon wouldn't have made that statement. I don't see a way to contact the Blade editors, but have put a Comment post at the end of the article online.

Like I always say - Communication is a terrible thing!

Sorry about this, Paul. Looks like you got double-bit with 2 fakes. After 20 years, not likely to get a refund. This is the second time I've seen this faked blade pattern in Kyugunto/Type 19 fittings. You can see other examples from this shop in the Fake Swords page of the Gallery. It's numbered "32076". I have 2 others with the exact pattern and "46127" serial number on file (now 3).