Bruce Pennington

Thanks for the links, Thomas, fascinating! One of the quotes: "You have to understand that a lot of Japanese military items in The Netherlands come from the former colony Indie, now called Indonesia, witch was occupied by the Japanese during WW2. After the war people took a lot of souvenirs home."

I can't read Japanese. Would you mind giving the English version of these? Are they both cut tests? Are the separate tests, or speaking of the same test? Do they state dates? Thanks guys!!!

Thanks Uwe! I should have recognized the kao style. Cutter kao have that top horizontal line. They usually have horizontals on the top and bottom, whereas smith kao will only have one on the bottom.

The Showa stamp is hotly debated by those who believe they have a gendaito with the stamp. There are also 2 cases, from memory, where a blade passed shinsa with the stamp. Pretty sure at least one of them was discussed here at NMB. They only documentation we have comes from Ohmura and the Seki City website. The Seki website makes the broad, generalized claim that "all swords" were inspected and stamped, meaning gendaito with showato; however Ohmura has a chart from back then showing how many blades had been stamped, and a note on the page states that the number didn't include gendaito as "they were not inspected", meaning only showato were stamped. My gut goes with Ohmura as this chart is from back then, whereas the Seki website was designed and written by modern city publicity people who, like modern reporters, talk of things they know little about. I have the feeling that the "gendaito" with the stamp were likely blades made from something other than tamahagane.

Sorry Trystan, didn't mean to imply that. Just relaying what Stegel said.

Toine, Never seen anything like it. Really could use some close, clear photos of the blade and tip. Plus, can you remove the wooden handle and get photos of the nakago?

Can I get a full translation of both sides of this, please? They seem to be 2 different smiths and both have kao. Thanks guys!

How interesting. An appraiser with a kao. Thanks Christian!

A late-war kaigunto, Hidemitsu blade. Note the tsuka, fuchi and koiguchi were made for a chuso, but tsuba/seppa and saya were not. I've seen a few of these with mixed fittings and am starting think they were assembled this way, using available parts. Another common theme is the icky colored ito. Same ito used by Tenzoshan with the souvenirs. At auction HERE

Am I correct that they are saying this is a Masamune blade? I see that on one side, but what is written above the kao on the other side? The kao is different than the Masamune I have on file. One on file:

Shot it over to Steve, Shamsy, and he says it's the first he's ever seen. Completely legit, though.

Thanks to @John C, this 3-point label is on a late-war Kanenori. It is the most readable one of this style I've seen. According to the seller, 11z1942 at ebay, it says: (top) 票.査検 /Inspection label (middle) 合組業工物刀関 / Seki cutlery Society /Association (bottom) 市関県阜岐 / Gifu Prefecture Seki City (all read R to L)

Here's a late-war gunto with a nice quality kabutogane, found by @John C on this ebay sale. Undated Kanenori, with the 3-point Seki paper label.

Thanks John. I only have 3 examples and as you note, all 3 have the Toyokawa stamp on the seppa as well. I don't know the finer details of shops and forges that worked directly or exclusively for arsenals, but it appears this is so for this one. I know SMR had their own fittings shop, but I don't know if the Army and Navy arsenals made their own fittings, too.

Thanks John! That's the best one of this shape where the writing is completely legible.

Trystan, Is he selling it, or just sharing photos?

@Shamsy @Stegel

Thanks guys, I'll record it, but label it as possible gimei. The mon looks really good.

Hmmmm..... so we have a duplicate use for the "saka" stamp, unless this chart is simply showing that the Osaka Army Arsenal Supervisory Section had a position at the Osaka University research facility. That's possible I suppose. What say you, @Kiipu?

Can anyone say which generation Yasutsugu this was?

Is this the name at the top of this section of the chart? If so, the "Saka" is under them too.

John, just had to add this to the conversation. It is blocked by people walking by, but you can see a giant neon “KA“ in the back of the room. It’s in one of the scenes of the movie The Beekeeper.

I am on my phone, so I can’t type the Japanese katakana character, but in English it is RE 524.

The tassel is either something right out of box, never used (I have one like that), or a modern reproduction. John, @PNSSHOGUN, is the guy to ask.

Brian summarized it pretty well. The Japanese did not use damascus steel. The fittings are the best replication I've ever seen for these kind of fakes, but like Brian pointed out the ito (fabric wrap) material and the direction of the folds is classic Chinese.