Bruce Pennington

Hey guys, I'm away from my books for a couple more months. Is this something listed in either Dawson or Fuller? I don't have photos of the rest of the sword, yet, and I've asked for shots of the backstrap, handguard, and blade. The workmanship looks a bit poor, like a fake, but I've never seen a fake with such an emblem.

Steve, You might already know, but the blue/brown tassel was used by Company grade officers - Capt's and Lt's - as well as the equivalent grade Gunzoku personnel (civilian force working for the military). I've attempted to enhance, a bit, the mei. Maybe someone can make it out. You might need to take some more shots with lighting/shadows that enhance the writing

And just to make you crazy, Ha!, there are dots at the mune jiri, as well as the ones with dots counting as high as 11:

Alex, The black paint are assembly numbers, something like "16138"'ish. Can you give me a clear, closer shot of this:

Tristan, Do us a favor and post pics of both sides of the nakago (tang). Also would love good shots of that haikan (belt hanger loop) and the blue/brown tassel with the cut off ends. We have threads interested in those things. If you want an evaluation of the blade, whether traditionally made or not, we'll need a couple or close, clear shots of the hamon (temper line) and surface steel. It's a nice looking Type 98 in combat saya.

They got really close with a lot of the details, yet all of the details are off. Yet cosmoline on a fake? I don't know the history of the Chinese faker industry, but this would imply they got started right away after the war when cosmoline was still used by G.I.s bringing stuff home. I hate trying to evaluate swords like this that look fake (reproduction) yet have clear age commensurate with the WWII era.

Just checked old threads. Plenty of long mei, no bohi. One example of long mei, with bohi, but no date. So this one is quite rare! Good luck with the sale.

Might be a small Seki stamp at the top above the mei. Too bad it's blurry.

A variant of the 4-Sakura pattern

Wow! Unique. And it's listed with 2 other military tsuba, so the implication would be that it's WWII, and military related, i.e. Gunzoku. The price is amazing! $6,97 USD. The shipping would cost more that the 3 tsuba!

FWIW - I have one other Masayuki on file with 2 dots: The dots are a mystery. Used to think they were done by fittings shops (and still could be) but I've got one or two on file from a hundred years back or so. This one is a Koto era waki:

Thanks Steve! The guy actually had it listed as a Mantetsu! Ha!

Adding to Brian's post - none of the fittings are legitimate Japanese craftsmanship.

Here's the article, Ron: The Mysterious Naval Landing Forces Sword - A Souvenir. You'll want a copy (free download) to keep with your sword Executive summary: 8th Army PX (military version of Walmart) contracted with the Tenshozan Forge to make over 8,700 of these souvenirs. They were sold to occupation forces in Japan and later in Korea in 1950. Many of the blades were war suplus, but the fittings were crafted with, what I believe, to be an intentional mix of army and navy fittings to make it clear to customs officers that this was not a War Trophy, which had been outlawed for shipping. Your nakago is finished, so to me, it has a chance of being a war surplus blade. But that's speculation on my part. By the way, I grew up in S.E. Dallas. You been there long?

And that's what counts!

A guy has this listed as a Mantetsu! HA! That's really bad. But it's in that "cursive" style, so I have no hope.

Man, I hate the cursive! I'm barely recognizing some of the print style writing!

Steve, Forgive me, but while your question is definitely interesting (I have never seen anything like this), I'm dying to know that the translation is on the paper (asuming it is the nakago) and hoping to get a shot of the tsuba.

The hash marks are a modified Roman numeral system. You can see two single strikes at the top for the one, one, and the five strikes on one side and the three strikes on the other. So the number matches the rest of the fittings. That’s a nice sword, with a really nice hamon. It’ll be fun chasing around to find the missing parts. But it’s worth the effort.

I know I have seen another gunto with that same style tsuba. Wish I knew when and where. I'm saving that as a possible variation of the Gunzoku tsuba used when retrofitting swords for them. Might not be. Might simply be a civilian tsuba.

I have one like that, too. Maybe it's due to wear and use. Your tsuka shows quite a bit of use. I think the applied finish to the fuchi simply has worn off. Nice presentation, Tony! Welcome back. Oh, and I'm saving the shots of the tassel. It's a perfect example of how the blue fades to light tan. Fortunately, some blue remained in the fringe at the end. Wish I could recall the last discussion I had with a guy about his 2-tone brown tassel. I had speculated it was totally faded red or blue at the time.

Nice presentaion, Steve, and a really nice sword. I see it has the full wrap-around rayskin, an upgrade from the usual.

Stamps of the Japanese Sword, March 2025 Annual Updated version available. Stamps of the Japanese Sword; March 2025 Changes: - Navy section re-written to discuss the discoveries about the Circled Anchor stamp. - Kao: a few additions of both Kokuin (hot stamp) and Kakihan (inscribed) - Cut Test Kao: added examples of stamped mei of Hakudo - Began a section of Appraiser Kao - Unknowns: Added a few unknown fittings stamps, like the small star and others - Type 19 Shop stamps: one new one added Enjoy!

You can read about the Army Type 98 on Ohmura's site - Army Commissioned Officer Gunto - Type 98 Care and cleaning - Guide to Care for Japanese Sword - Japaneseswordindex.com There were several smiths that signed under that name in WWII. I don't know how to tell which one was yours: "KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Nōshū-jū Kanemasa” (濃州住兼正), “Shuryūshi Kanemasa” (炷龍子兼正), “Nōshū Seki-jūnin Kanemasa” (濃州関住人兼正), real name Ōno Masami (大野正巳), he is also listed with the first name Masaki (正己), born in February 11th 1923, he was adopted by the Ōno family and studied under Morita Kaneshige (森田兼重), gō Shuryūshi (炷龍子), younger brother of Yoshida Masaaki (吉田正明) (see picture right) KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemasa” (兼正), real name Kuriki Shōichi (栗木正一), he is also listed with the family name Kurimoto (栗本), born Februar 15th 1918, he studied under Kojima Kanemichi (小島兼道) and worked as a rikugun-jumei-tōshō, ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941) KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemasa” (兼正), real name Toki Yoshihira (土岐善平), born November 21st 1897, he worked as a guntō smith and died November 2nd 1980 KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemasa” (兼正), real name Masunouchi Kenzaburō (升内兼三郎), he worked as a guntō smith KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Aichi – “Bishū-jū Takeuchi Kanemasa kore o saku” (尾州住竹内兼正作之), “Bishū Kōzōji-jū Takeuchi Kanemasa” (尾州高蔵寺住竹内兼正), real name Takeuchi Kanesaburō (竹内兼三郎, the first name can also read Kenzaburō), rikugun-jumei-tōshō, he was no longer working as a swordsmith after World War II, Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941) KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tōkyō – “Shōjū Kanemasa” (小銃兼正), “Kanemasa” (兼正), real name Murata Tsuneyoshi (村田経芳), he worked for the Akabane Arsenal (赤羽造兵廠)"

Sam Brown belts used in Japan have been discussed at Warrelics. I think there are more than one reference, but here's one at Warrelics thread.: "Regarding the Sam Brown belts, they are regulation as per the naval landing force uniform regulations set forth in 1933. They are supposed to be worn by all NLF officers, even when the sword is not in use. They had already become a defacto standard by at least 1927, as almost every NLF officer in Shanghai had one." - Adachi