Bruce Pennington

Eric, This is a Type 98, so one ana is standard. It is the Rinji fittings that are made for 2 ana. Can you pinpoint or explain what you mean by "clasp comes out...."? The screw in the kabutogane, and maybe the odd cord wrap, look Bubba to me, although the cord does look old. No idea what that metal pin is in the mekugi ana! Took a closer look, and you're right! A half-struck Seki stamp ...... but no mei. What a strange one! Another oddity - (and my technical lingo on this is weak) the curve of the nakago jiri is upside down from where it should be! It should be inline with the shinogi:

Date is November 1944. And I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one without the smith’s name on the other side! How unusual! The poor thing is had a rough life, but I like all the metal fittings.

John, Recommend you start a new thread with these. I'd like to discuss them a bit, too, but the subject matter is divergent from the "Pilot Sword" topic.

We have a member or 2 who have done this by downsizing their collections. I don't think their intent was specifically to disperse their collection, but that was effectively the result of the downsizing. Maybe we could get some feedback on how that went for some of them.

Well, hrumphh! @Eds and @Alban L - Have to make a retraction!!! I was looking at this on the run, and on my phone. After getting home, I have to say I was wrong about the fittings. All the fittings are Navy. The ito is still that end-of-the-war icky color, and @PNSSHOGUN's comment about the same' being something other than canvas puts me on the fence about that too. I still think it's likely canvas, but with these photos it's hard to say. SOooooo..... I'm backtracking to this likely being very late war kaigunto. Sorry about the earlier posts.

I'd never get a Kitchen Pass for that long away from home!

A number of ways. All the metal fittings are army in design, but the color of the sword is navy. The color of the wrap is the standard color of the souvenir. Also the fuchi is one piece with the seppa. Everything about this matches the mixed design of Army Navy sword used in the souvenir. The only thing different about this one is that the metal fittings are not gold gilded. But it is a navy stainless steel blade in army metal fittings with navy color Ito and scabbard.

Ed, This is one of the 8,000+ souvenir swords made by the Tenshozan factory of the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal, after the war. You can read all about this on this document: John, are you saying that Mitsunaga worked for, and made this blade, at the Seki Kaji Tosho? If so, this would add evidence to the idea that Tenzoshan was using available surplus blades, and therefore, this blade was really made for the war.

Don't think this one has been posted here. Comes from this Gunboards Vintage Pics thread.

Date looks like Tenpo 9, 8th month, so August 1838?

Well, looks like the blade came through OK though.

Nice finds, John!

Michael, Could you post a clear shot of that mark above the mei and ana (hole)? There was a Kiyonobu RJT smith, and that could be a star-stamp.

For my 1 cent- worth, the ito is wrapped in alternating directions which is proper for Japanese work. The fakers usually fold the ito in the same direction along the tsuka.

Can’t say it any better than I did on my original post: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23337-dads-mantetsu-koa-issin/#comment-236448

Lack of stamps on the nakago most likely means he made/sold this to a private sword shop. Lack of stamping can also help indicate the blade could be gendaito. Not conclusive proof, by itself, but adds to the evidence.

Great find John! That's a long-standing shop. Sort of like the Suya history. Pics added to the files!

I paid $2200 and all the blemishes on my Mantetsu went away!

Ok, I see what you're going for, now. It does have a cool look. It works for me on the tsuba and menugi, but maybe, like John said, too dark for other things like blade and saya. But then, art is in the eye of the beholder! Nice work Matt, and a good hobby complimenting your collection.

I have a very vague memory so maybe seeing this once before and someone saying it was occupied India or thereabouts. The dual flag is the same style as what we see on the Manchukuo swords - Japanese and "other" flags.

I don’t know who posted it, but I remember a guy showing his photography set up with a neutral gray background and a bright spotlight behind him. That seem to work well too. I’ve tried the gray blanket method, and it seems to work a little bit!

Tony, I am the worst guy to be speaking about photography, but I know there have been some discussions on the various forums on how to do it well. My first attempt looks very similar to yours! Seems like one of the keys is to have a dark background with a very single bright light shining on the subject. there are some examples and discussion on this thread: there are a few guys that have it down, the only one I can recall though is @Ray Singer, But I know there are more.

Piotr, You didn’t show the full tang. Are there any stamps on it or stamped numbers?

Nice to see the leather cover! Don't see that often on Mantetsu.

I had a lot of help with that article, especially from @Kiipu, @BANGBANGSAN, and @16k, along with countless other NMB guys who helped gather info and data! If you haven't already read Ohmura's page on these, it's a good read too: http://ohmura-study.net/998.html