Bruce Pennington

Thanks to both Thomas and Paul! Paul, to the fittings have the "510" on them?

Steve, I'd post the pics for the thread, but when I click the link now, the pics are gone. I saw it the first time I went, but not now. Hope someone will copy and post them here. After reading the list of officer swords turned in by NCOs in @BANGBANGSAN's thread, nothing would surprise me.

This one is at a Affiliated Auction. Tells: Bad Tokyo stamps on blade and fuchi and missing contractor stamp on fuchi Grinder marks inside tsuba cut-out Bad bohi, which even has perpendicular grinder marks in it! Oddly, it appears to have cosmoline on the blade! That might just be rust, though. If cosmoline, it means the fakers really went overboard to try to give it some age. Finally, look at the dimples in the tsuka diamonds (which are painted silver!). They are punched, i.e. concave. Real ones are convex little dots.

Here's one in bad shape. On a Kanemichi at a Bagwell Auction: https://www.proxibid.com/Firearms-Military-Artifacts/Military-Artifacts/U-S-Vet-Estate-Hand-Forged-Japanese-Samurai-katana-Sword-Kanemichi-Saku-W-Capture-Photo/lotInformation/62012792#topoflot

Well, the numbered habaki says it's Chinese-made. There were legit Japanese swords made in Manchuria for officers stationed with the North China Railway, but the differences are obvious. In spite of the apparent age, I'd have to place this one in the fake category. There were fairly poor looking swords made in occupied lands for collaboration forces, but they are different than this. This one is trying, in every way to present itself as an IJA gunto.

No, these are sufficient. I cannot tell the age of this very accurately. To me it doesn't look older than early 1900s, but maybe one of the Nihonto experts can give you an estimate.

Feb '44. You have to subtract 1. Showa 19 is 1926 + 19 - 1 = 1944.

The fittings are at best imitation Japanese, and at worst intentional fakes. Yet the thing has age. I'm aware that the professional fakers can artificially age stuff, so that's no guarantee the item is legit. Please give a full photo of the nakago (tang). But unless someone can come up with an island/SE Asian language the kanji fit, then the mei alone shows the whole thing to be a fake. I checked the Java (Sumaran) mei and it's not even close to the same. I'll post a pic for comparison.

The kyu-gunto had great many variations. Either Fuller or Dawson (or both) mentioned this.

Sorry! Couldn't resist that! Ha! Thomas, I honestly tried but couldn't make it out. Does it give any data like date or serial number? And is that one of the swords that went to an NCO?

Is it the floral pattern at the top of the saya, instead of a plain surface?

Steve, Did you buy it? If so, I hope they take returns. Even the fittings are fake.

Just posted the question on Warrelics. I'll update on the military thread if anything pops up.

I don't buy or sell anymore, so don't follow the market. On the occasions I've checked fleabay, prices took a big hit during the past COVID year, but of late have seemed to rebound even higher than they were before the virus hit.

A nice variation of the maze on a Sukenaga blade at Yakiba.com (not advertising for Ed, simply found a nice source of high-quality blades which tend to have high-quality fittings!).

Speaking of mon, found an excellent example of the crest just hinted at on post #37. It's on a Nobushige tanto at Ed's Yakiba.com

Brian, When I click on that link, I had to download and add something to my Firefox browser. Now when I click on it again, all I get are ads.

Well, since I've never seen it before, I don't have any reference to even imagine a reason. At first, I wondered if it was intended to be a flower shape, but the primary flowers for the Japanese were the cherry blossom, 5 petals, and the chrysanthemum, what, 16 or 32 petals? But it is obviously not just random holes. Your idea may have merit, though, as even the bohi, I am told, is actually there as a weight reducer. But even in it's functionality, the smiths turn it into part of the art and beauty. I haven't done any checking on this idea, but what if it was the essence of a kamon? Who knows, but quite unique.

Thanks Phil, I'd love to get the photos of your second one! Your photos of this one are sufficient, thanks. I'm attaching an article @Kiipu, @16k, and I wrote for the JSSUS newsletter on the Mantetsu blade. It has probably more than you'll ever want to know. MANTETSU DISCOVERIES.pdf

Phil, Is this yours? How much do you want to know about the Koa Isshin Mantetsu? The serial number puts this in the middle of the year of 1940, regardless of the "Spring" on the date. Almost all of them say "Spring" for some reason. Thanks for posting, I didn't have this one in the Mantetsu Survey. Now I do!

Dan, I don't know why you're not getting any help on the translation. You might try posting your request on the Translation Assistance forum.

Ammad, I consider ALL WWII gunto collectable. They are a valuable piece of probably the most terrible time our world has ever experienced, and the men that served their families and nations (on all sides) deserve to be honored and remembered. I would care for that sword as carefully as I would a National Treasure sword.

Marc, I believe those are simply the museum catalog numbers of the gunto, written on tape.

David, that's quite a beautiful kaigunto! Equal to those you see on Ohmura's site, and he's got some real beauties! I have to say I've never seen a tsuba with holes punched like this one. Quite unique.

You can't go wrong with a Mantetsu!!! And Hamish's gunto is worth buying. Once you go Mantetsu, you'll never go back (to horribly misquote a well-known figure of speech)!