Bruce Pennington

Wow! Nice find, and great custom fittings:

Nice synopsis, Thomas. I don't own one of those, or I would. Just have to sit around waiting for the Curious Cats to have a look and post.

Ha! Love it! You could get a job at certain auction houses!

Nice find, John! Classic example in every aspect. Just added it to the files.

I see it came with the swordsmiths drill, also! Ha!

Mal, I'm the wrong guy to ask about that. All I can say is it is not unusual for find smiths, with stamped blades, not in any reference material. A couple times, when searching for a smith not in the books, someone comes up with a ranking/rating chart that shows the guy, but that is the only documentation with his name. A bit frustrating!

As I was filing these, I found (forgot they were there!) two Type 95 nakago with actual stamped numbers - 260, and 1551, both on very late pattern 95s. So the idea isn't out of the question:

Thanks Thomas. What a mess! I have many star-stamped blades with Na, small Seki, Ho, Ko, and numbers; but I don't see an on file with a Gifu. I agree with the above observation that the star is stamped over something, but I have a hard time seeing it as Showa. I have no Showa stamped blades in 1944. I suspect it was a poorly struck Gifu and the properly struck stamp was then added below it. Then there is a light star, which looks to have been poorly struck, too, with the deep star cut, finally, on top. I don't know what to think about the star. I agree with Chris, it's not what we normally see, and I think I even see an extended stroke on the left point, as if it was chiseled in, stroke by stroke. Yet there is age/grime in the star that matches the black grime in the intact Gifu stamp. I suppose one idea is that a shop owner, during WWII, faked the star and put the blade in Type 98 mounts to crank up the asking price for the sword! Kikuhide is not on the RJT list, yet we already have a couple other names with good stars that cannot be found on the lists either. I'm filing it under the Gifu + Seki stamped blades on the chart, and won't list it under the star-stamped blades. A side note: I do have a few RJT qualified smiths' blades with both the Gifu and small Seki stamps, but none of them have an added star.

And definitely spend some time reading through the fabulous website: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

The Showa stamp puts this blade in the 1935-1942 range, but the massive majority of them are seen in 1940-41.

Most info covered already. Type 94/98 - Army Officer swords Type 95 - Army NCO sword Type 97 - Navy Officer sword Great website with tons of excellent pictures, descriptions, and history: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html Great article describing the military's need for swords and their efforts to get family swords donated and/or to buy them for the war effort: Effort to acquire Family Swords by Military. NNB forum for discussing fittings like your tsuba (Handguard) Tosogu

After seeing Stegel's numbers, I'd lean toward a "19". The hole cut over the number, if a "5" would have left the topmost horizontal stroke. I've simulated ana over the 9 and 5 of Erns' number:

Those are the "Ki" of the 2nd Factory of Tokyo 1st Army Arsenal, and the "To" of Tokyo 1st.

Added the Akitaka 1098, which is one of those mystery ones out of sequence. I see what you mean on the third number. Hard to picture what number it would be with such a curve in the upper left hand corner of the number. Maybe a "9". But I've filed it a "86?", too.

Sesko lists 2 Katsumasa: KATSUMASA (勝正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Katsumasa” (勝正), real name Kojima Shichi´emon (小島七右衛門), born October 20th 1892, he studied under Kaneyoshi (兼吉), worked as a guntō smith and died September 22nd 1947 KATSUMASA (勝正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Tottori – “Hōki Kanaya Katsumasa saku” (伯耆金谷勝正作), “Hōki-jū Kanaya Katsumasa kore o saku” (伯耆住金谷勝正作之), family name Kanaya (金谷), he also engraved a single coin crest onto his tangs, jōkō no retsu (Akihide), Second Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀 展覧会, 1941) Slough lists Kojima as "Low-medium grade showato". Hoki Kanaya is listed as a Minatogawa smith and used a longer mei. So, I'd lean toward Kojima on this one.

No way to pin a date down beyond 1938-1945. By the offset chuso button, it's not likely earlier than '38.

I think it is, John. I went from one to the other looking for variations in the mei, but couldn't find any.

Welcome Svein! The Gifu and Kokura stamps looks correct. Haven't seen the fakers imitate the Gifu correctly, yet. The Na on the blade is shaped correctly, but haven't seen one that deep and clear before on a blade. To my eye, the tsuba seems fat. Overall, I'd say legit, but word from @Shamsy and @Stegel would clear up my concerns.

Thanks Trystan! I'd say it's original. The line of rust above it runs down into the grooves of the star and the stamp style looks correct. I have 7 other star-stamped blades on file with "Na" stamps. 3 of them are on the side and 4 on the mune. So that's not unusual either.

11

No, they are identical is size and shape. That's what I suspected. So the re-work of the nakago must have shortened it, causing the clip to extend farther through the throat. The added seppa tightened the tsuka/tsuba/seppa set to the habaki, but once tight, no more could be added to make the clip fit properly. And no documents about the re-work. Wish they all came with prominence record sheets! Edit: I just realized the reason for the clip extending too far could be that the clip itself is a replacement and slightly longer.

Not to hijack this thread, but I did some recon on my copper and it's got some oddities in this respect. #2643 but the saya throat is un-numbered, so I assumed from the beginning it was a factory repair/re-fit. After taking it apart, I could see that it had been repaired and re-fitted. The nakago was pretty gnarly and there was an extra large seppa on the front (hadn't noticed that previously!) It all fits together well, though the tsuka is tight coming on and off. No wiggle in the tsuka/tsuba/seppa fit. There is a good space from the latch clip to the saya throat, but I don't know if that is normal. @Stegel or @Shamsy might know. And for anyone tracking such things, it's marked with the TO inspector stamp:

Quite unusual markings, too. The decimal after the “F” seems to indicate the letter is the first of a shop name, maybe.

Thanks guys! The Type 98 fittings are mostly standard, just has a slightly upgraded habaki. So, the soldier must have been trying to get his sword for a cheap price.

It's a bit of a mess, but seems right. You'll find some clear examples on Ohmura's page of Army Officers Kyu Gunto