Bruce Pennington

Oh, yes, could you check the back edge of the nakago (tang) for a similar stamp?

Dang! Best team-work thread I've ever seen, brings tears to my eyes! Love it. (I'd say I'm joking.....but I'm not!) Last tid-bit - the small stamp, partially struck, is the "Gifu in Sakura" stamp. We began seeing them on blades in 1943, when the "Seki" stamp ended. Seki is in the Gifu prefecture. The Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Assoc. used the Seki stamp to mark approved showato, but the Nagoya Army Arsenal absconded the stamp to use as one of their Inspector stamps in 1943. It is speculated, not known, that the Association started using the Gifu in Sakura as their stamp from that point onward. Most of the dated blades with it are in 1945, but a good many of '44 blades have them, and just a few '43 blades.

John, Thanks for the explanation about the scammers and your shop. It's incredible the time and effort those guys put into their work. Like the guys that fake swords, if they'd use the same skill and ingenuity to do honorable work, they'd still make a good living. It's a shame.

Damascus steel is a Chinese standard for these. Japanese never used it.

Looks like 2 of them have thinner tsuba? I'm still learning differences between the 94/98, so just an educational question, John. Also, I'm not OCD or anything, but that top gunto needed to be moved more to the right, as the tsuba are alternating - left, right, left, right, etc - except for that top one! HA! sorry, just messin' with ya. Nice collection, buddy boy!

"Kai" is my short-hand for "kaigunto" or Navy sword.

Thanks David! That's a new one for the files!

Gorgeous John!

Steve, Difficult to say. As a buyer, and I was looking at your kai and a "perfect" kai with the navy menugi, I personally would chose the one with the Navy menugi, regardless of price. But other collectors, who have different collecting goals, might not care if the price is right (cheaper). So, in general, I could say, yes it would lower the price, but there is such a variety of buyers and what they want and why they want it. That's why I said, earlier, that I'd set the asking price at normal market value and wait to see what offers come in.

Ok, after taking a close look at the staining about the "7" and a stain off the end of the saka stamp, I believe they are the same blade, and "1867". I'll correct my charts. Boy that '8' in the older photo sure looks different. Previous Updated

Also, I have a " 阪1367" on file as one of yours, correct? I double-checked and they are definitely not the same blade.

Eric - @rancho - Nagamitsu made some gorgeous blades. Congrats on yours! Thanks for the number, too. I assume no date on the other side?

HUGE I'm tellin' ya!!! Ha!

DOHHH! Trying to do too many things at once, and forgot that! Thanks Stephen!

@SteveM - do I have the "hisamichi" right?

Steve, Kaigunto prices are higher than Army because they are more rare, or less common. There's just not as many of them. Plus they are "prettier" than the plain Army gunto. Thanks for the stamp! The large seki stamp was used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers' Association to mark good quality blades. It is not know for a fact whether they are only on showato, but I believe that is the case, and higher quality showato at that. You can read more about this in the Stamps of the Japanese Sword document. A good close-up of a section of the blade, showing steel hada (grain) and hamon details might help guys give you a more educated opinion. I'm no nihonto guy, so my opinion on that is not worth anything.

Thanks Uwe! Google searched: "Hachiman is commonly viewed as a Japanese god of war but he’s mostly worshipped as a patron kami of warriors and archery, and not of war itself. The archer kami was initially worshipped near-exclusively by warriors and samurai but his popularity eventually extended to all people in Japan and now he’s also viewed as the patron kami of agriculture and fishing as well."

@Okan - any chance of gettting a link to the original sale pages?

Ok, that's just not nice! Now we're all going to have to wait to see what you've got!

Also, would you mind posting a clear picture of the stamp you mentioned?

Yes, I love the hamon on it. Even if it's oil quenched, it's still a beauty. Ok.......thanks for bringing up the shark-skin saya. I hadn't noticed that, but was simply seeing the dull sheen of the photos from a distance. After zooming, you are right. So, forget all I've said up to this point about the possibility of it being a post-war souvenir. Nothing about it, with exception of the Army menugi is symptomatic of the Toyokawa souvenir. I've not followed current market prices on kaigunto. Pre-covid, they sold around $2,400 plus or minus. Re-wrapped tsuka are not uncommon, as many gunto came home with some really damaged ito. The only oddity, then is the menugi. I personally wouldn't downgrade a kaigunto much for that, as who knows if it was done post-war or simply late war. It's a pretty piece overall. If you're selling, I'd simply ask market price and see what counter offers come in. Sorry for getting this all confusing with my mistaken souvenir saya impression!

@Michael 67 posted this Masataka on the High Class Gunto thread:

Thanks George! The very Matsu 1080 that got me started tracking these and it's my Stamps Doc cover, but I realized I didn't have it on file!

Never seen a skin saya cover like that! Can even seen the hair dimples. Everything about this matches what we are seeing in the island-made swords. Same lower quality steel, with no polish, flat look; typical nakago. Tsuka wrap is unique, and like you said, Brian, could have been a returning G.I./sailor, but it looks like someone was imitating a ratan look fitting of the Philippines or somewhere in SE Asia.

Quite an interesting collection Rob. Each one different in it's own way. I've done that with mine. I wanted representatives of the main types and some of the major variations. So none of them are look-alikes.