Bruce Pennington

Hi Artem, Looks like Kaneuji - 兼氏 (Kaneuji) 1940 One of the real translators can give you the kanji on that date. It's written in the "2600 year" format.

Had some time on my hands, and was browsing. After a close look at this kokuin, it's really quite different that the normal hotstamp. The "1" and trhe outer shape of the turtle? is sunken. But the light brown details, like the legs, are chiseled. You can clearly see what I mean on the upper left leg. Interesting!

Ran the question by Austin Adachi on Wehrmacht-awards. He wrote the book RIKUSENTAI The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japanese Naval Landing Forces 1927-1945. Figured he would have some numbers if they could be had. His answer: Hello Bruce, I'm seeing a wide range of numbers but it's said at least 155,000 IJN personnel were KIA or MIA. I'm not sure about the ratio of officers to enlisted during the war but the 1932 records state about 9.8% of the navy were officers and 9.3% by 1935. Unfortunately the records on public archives don't list these figures beyond 1935. We can make a very broad guess that the number of officers KIA in WWII was around 14k using 9.3%. I'm sure someone has done a more thorough investigation but I did not have much luck in finding anything either. Regards, Austin

Just got the saya photos, and nakago. Typical nakago for these.

Oops! I mean rayskin!

Wiki has this on total Navy strength: "Personnel strength December 1941 — 291,359 including 1,500 pilots July 1945 — 1,663,223" I'll send a message to Adachi, and see if he has any idea.

Really nice eel skin saya, Tom! To me, that would put the market price toward the higher end. Large Seki stamp puts your blade in the 1940-45 range with the most likely date of 1942.

It's actually owned by Stegel. Seller doesn't ship internationally, so he sends them to me and I send them on to Erns. So, I got to play with it for a while! I've posted it on the Manchurian Rinji Seishiki Sword thread, as it's fittings are fairly rare. You can see pics of it there.

An old Air Force buddy sent me these from a sword his father-in-law brought back from WWII. Same emblem: I'll update when he sends nakago pics. @Brian - could we get this moved to the Military forum?

Another "Wa" stamp on one of the possible Chinese collaborator swords. Found on this Warrelics Thread.:

After re-reading this, the original post included the bring-back authorization paper. Don't see how there could be an argument about that. Yes, I know such papers could have been added to the grouping, but we have no real reason for discounting his story of the veteran's family and the paper. With that in mind, I have to change from my original post and agree with Thomas.

John, I don't know the officer/enlisted ratio, but if you had that, you could estimate how many officers were lost. And I don't know for a fact, but I seriously doubt any officer would have gone to duty without his sword.

I'm thinking this might indicate the whole rig, blade and fittings were made at the SMR factory.

It's in shirasaya in the photos I have:

In a 1944 Mantetsu in MRS fittings

Dang! Mark this down in the history books - I got one right! Ha! I agree, the writing on the end of the nakago looks period, but added. Unusual. John, what do you make of that? I've never seen a single hanger being the removable type. Custom job?

@Bowman - Chris, I want to add my welcome to NMB, as well. It is rare to get a personal assurance about a sword's history. This makes a turn in the direction of our discussion of this type. Like you said, were these made as souvenirs for G.I.s at war's end? Looking at the condition of yours, though, I seriously doubt it was a newly crafted souvenir. Obviously, it had a lot of wear and tear, implying a good deal of use in the field, over time. Modern fakers can reproduce such a look, but I seriously doubt souvenir shops of 1945 were doing this kind of thing. Thank you very much for dropping in on the discussion!

@Brian - could we get this moved to the Military forum? Thanks my friend! Chris, Don't worry about harming anything, these are made specifically easy to disassemble. You'll see in the link Grey posted how easy it is to push/tap out the small bamboo peg holding the handle to the tang. Then, the handle and handguard pieces simply slide off. Sometimes dirt, grime, and age can make them resist a bit, but don't worry about harming anything to gently tap them off.

Harrison987, over on this Wehrmacht-awards thread, posted this radio. You can see similar labels. Focus isn't good enough to see if any match exactly, but it at least shows the radio idea is on the right track.

Ha! Don't worry Chris. We will always respect you in the morning!

There has even been a Mantetsu papered, the discussion can probably be found on NMB with good search skills. The thought has turned to include blades of noteworthy historical value, regardless of manufacturing methods.

Now you got me going! Here's one made in the 1600's. Posted by @SRDRowson HERE.

I'm the kind of guy that HAS to take things apart, Ha! Have you tried to unscrew the end-cap? The Japanese did make threaded nakago posts on their kyu-gunto and Type 32s. I've never seen it done with the WWII gunto though. In any case, you have quite a unique sword there. Collectable in it's uniqueness.

Herman, @SteveM may correct me, but I think your blade was made by Yoshimitsu of Seki. I think it's dated 1942. Fascinating writing under the normal mei and date, though. Maybe Steve can make those out for us?

The provenance stories like the one Chris posted, to me, seem credible when the person speaking isn't trying to sell the sword, just seeking information. When found on a For Sale description, it could simply be a made up story. Now certainly, even the person seeking info on a family sword, may be intending to sell later, and we just don't know, but why add the story?