Bruce Pennington

Michael, Sorry to detract from this excellent topic, but could I get photos of the nakago/mei on this one? I'm starting to make a record of smiths that used Yasuki/Yasugi steel. And for give my ignorance, but is the smith "Ichimonji" or "Seikosai"?

Also, @John C has found another Kanemichi blade with the Yasuki Steel stamp But what's killing me is there are 2 stamps at the top, the lower one likely a Showa stamp, but the upper one totally defies me. Any ideas, guys?

Hi guys! Thanks to @John C, we've got a Kanemichi blade (ok, half a blade!) with a nice Yasuki steel stamp (and 2 stamps on top of the mei!) Could I get a translation of the inscription on the other side, please?

John, could I get a link to the rest of the photos, either here or via PM? And anyone got a name on this ..... Takamasa? @Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN @SteveM

Chris, you don't show the saya, is there one? I have seen numerous swords that were fully civil from kabutogane to blade tip, but simply put into a wooden saya with leather cover to 'militarize' it. Well, in fact, I have even seen fully civil swords, saya and all, but simply with a leather cover. There were at least 2 big pushes by the military to get civil swords donated, and/or bought by the military, to meet the big sword shortage during the war. The effort to militarize them was vastly varied.

Think you're right! Ha! The google translate says it's "Four-eyed car".

Found a Type 95, "Ichi" stamp, on an estate auction. Gold saya has LOTS of wear and looks WWII era. @Stegel @Shamsy

Here's a real strange one! Found by @Stephen. Doesn't seem to fit any of the kyu models in Dawson's book. Inscription translated by @SteveM HERE. Steve felt the emblem on the haikan is a mon. Any ideas, or should I post it to the Mon Thread?

Kay, Stegel described the details above, but didn't specifically point out each stamp. You have the arrangement depicted a item 3 on this chart from Ohmura's excellent webpage HERE. Iijima contractor - Tokyo 1st Arsenal inspector - Kokura Arsenal

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.