Bruce Pennington

Wow, pristine finish on that kabutogane, and an interesting mon as well.

I'm a little shocked by the Blade magazine article. Though the title says "By Blade Staff", just before the text, it says "by Leon Kapp." Most of the paragraphs are from his book, Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths from 1868 to Present, pages 64-71, published in 2002. I had a running email conversation with him and Richard Fuller back in 2021 where he shared his surprise after personally polishing a star-stamped blade and deciding that the material must have been tamahagane. I shared with them both the regulations we've all discovered about the RJT program and the use of the star stamp, and Leon agreed that star-stamped blades were traditionally made. So this article, dated February 11, 2022, apparently authored by Leon is a puzzle. Having only a tiny view behind the scenes of magazine publishing, thanks to @b.hennick and the JSSUS newsletter!), it's possible this article was actually written before our email conversation and it took several months before the Blade staff worked it into a published issue. It is also clear that Jolene Sim used Leon's article, even the photos, and paraphrased (dare I say plagiarized?) his work without reference. Edit: Just finished contacting the Sword Encyclopedia staff, and have emailed Leon Kapp. Will update when I get word back.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a black painted police dirk! Posted by Goldendrachen on this Warrelics Thread. Most of the paint is worn off, but you can see that it was there.

Ah, thanks Trystan. It's been a rough few days, here at home. I logged it on the chart, but forgot to file the photos. Got it now.

Agree with Brian. I have to say I've never seen a source make that claim before. I'm out of time, but when I get a chance, I'll send a message to the site letting them know about the error.

Thanks Mal, I've corrected my charts to read "Nobutake" instead of "Nobutaka." Trystan, In my chart, I have 2 Dec '42 Nobutake blades, numbered 47 and 49. Do you have record of a 49, and if so, photos? Or is the 49 a mistake?

There may be someone who has a better answer to this, like @mecox, @george trotter, or @Kiipu; but I believe it started in the late 1800's when Japan started Westernizing their military. For reasons unknown (to me anyway), the practice continued throughout the war in varying degrees. Look at SMR. They began numbering their blades with Alpha/numerals in '38 (maybe '37, but haven't seen a '37 blade yet). Then transitioned to Japanese kanji after that. Don't know why.

John, When the Army assumed control of sword production 1942, the Nagoya Arsenal was using the "Na" stamp. In '43, that's almost the only stamp we see. For an unknown reason, in '44, they switched to the small Seki stamp. At this same time ('44) we see the appearance of the Gifu-in-sakura stamp, which I believe (theory) is what the Seki Manufactures Assoc. created when the Nagoya Arsenal commandeered their stamp. But both Na and small Seki were Nagoya inspector stamps.

John, the short answer is we don't know. We have no documentary or interview evidence to explain these numbers. We have 1 photo of women working in a factory with blades lined up with painted numbers, but that's it. Trystan's idea is a plausible explanation, but it's just our educated guesswork. Consider gunto with stamped numbers on metal fittings that match painted numbers on nakago. Did the fitters do both numbers, or did the factory/arsenal paint the numbers and the fitters simply used the arsenal number on their fittings? I see the latter option on Mantetsu, where there are stamped numbers on fittings that match the blade's serial number (I'll have to check the files on Mantetsu with painted numbers to see if there are matching numbers on the fittings to the painted one, but I want to say it is the case, implying the painted numbers were done by the fitters). On the other hand, I've seen blades with double-painted numbers on nakago with 2 ana - implying that the blade had been re-fitted. But what of the double-painted blades with only 1 ana? Maybe Trystan is right and one set of numbers is done by the factory/arsenal and the second set by the fittings shop, regardless of number of ana. So, options and opinions, but very little confirmed facts, sorry to say.

An interesting thought, John. I have no doubt about legitimacy. I'll have to figure out how to label it. The faded stamp has the original Toyokawa anchor in circle. This large one - is it a re-styled logo of post-war Toyokawa? That would be my guess, but it would only be a guess. I could label it with "Possibly post-war, re-styled Toyokawa Navy Arsenal." I dearly wish we were all doing this in 1950 so we could find the guys actually involved in all this and ask them these questions.

By golly, you're right! Sorry!

Photo posted in case the imgur link goes dead over time:

Here is a thread posted by @Stegel of white painted Type 95s and someone posted a white painted bayonet. I want to say I've seen a white painted officer gunto, too, but don't recall where I saw it: Winter is Coming. Edit: found one:

He's looking at the painting kanji, Uwe. Dominik has them.

I was browsing through the Invaluable auctions and found a LARGE number of fakes being sold by the Affiliated Auction house. No idea why they have a higher grouping of fakes than the other houses.

Deoma, John is correct. This is a post-war souvenir produced by Tenshozan. Quite unique with the double anchor! Don't know what to think of the faded one, and the large, imprinted one is unusual too. Thanks for posting this one.

Pardon my interruption, but Thomas, I dearly hope you have a book in the works! Please!

As far as I can find online, the Nagoya arsenal operated to the very end of the war. @Kiipu or @BANGBANGSAN might know more facts about that.

The only famous Yamada Daisuke I could find is a model: There was a Col. Yamada. He made Colonel in 1926 and eventually Genral. A brief from Wikipedia: "With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Yamada was named commander of the IJA 12th Division, based in Manchukuo. During that period, the 12th Division was an elite unit, with a disproportionately large amount of firepower and heavy equipment. He became commander of the IJA 3rd Army in 1938, and that of the Central China Expeditionary Army from 1938 to 1939. Yamada was promoted to full general in August 1940, and was recalled to Japan to assume the post of Inspector-General of Military Training from 1940 to 1944. He also served as a member of the Supreme War Council during this period. In May 1943 he was promoted to the honorific title of Third Court Rank[2]" Might be the guy this fake is trying to use.

The whole topic has been worthwhile to me. I started out with the mindset that there were perfect, mil spec Japanese gunto - and everything else was Chinese fakery. Since then, I've learned so much of the history of the times back then, the struggles the industry went through as mainland factories were decimated, and the atrocious practice of dumping entire brigades of men in isolated tropical locales and leaving them to survive or die. Make-shift forges in occupied territory, traveling repair teams, even a known POW who made blades - all were unknown to me until we started this sprawling look into what the collection world considered junk. Throw on top of all that the knowledge of Allied fakers, and it's turned into quite a jumbled mess. But it's no longer simply just real or fake. And as to buying/collecting them - that is the age-old debate of my taste vs your taste. If it's not your bailywic (there's a Word of the Day!), go do what you enjoy and stop knocking those who enjoy such history.

Crimson Mist Militaria is a good place to look for parts. He's got quite a variety. I've bought stuff from him, and he's easy to work with. Since your set looks like it was a civil blade re-fitted, there is no limit to the arrangements you can choose from. I have seen them in fully civil fittings, but simply with the leather cover. I have seen civil tsuba with army tsuka. I have seen army tsuba with civil tsuka. And I have seen civil tsuka with army kabutogane. So, literally, any combo would be period legit.

Matt, when I try your link I get “ Sorry, this user was not found.

A bring back sword from your father?! I was personally in your shoes. I had mine polished, and it took me two years to find all the parts to restore the fittings. It was worth every dime and all my time. I’ll never regret doing it! All my other swords are in original condition, but this one was going to get restored to its original glory (maybe even better than it was originally).

That would be my theory, but it’s just pure speculation.

The yakiba blade and the one John posted are two different blades, both dated 1944. I have them both on file. The use of the small Na stamp was dominant in 1943, but was tapering off in '44 and a few are seen. The small Seki became dominant in 1944/45, with a few seen in '43. So there was overlap in '44 of both stamps. John, I have seen several blades with double painted numbers, some of them, like this, with double ana. To me, this speaks to the idea the blade was re-mounted at some point, but we can only speculate. Yakiba blade: Even the yakiba blade was double numbered: I don't have close shots of the blade John posted.