Bruce Pennington

That thread has the same kao for Shigemitsu as this one. This one is just way more clear!

Another update on the Circled Anchor vs Anchor with no circle - Re-reading my Stamps of the Japanese Sword doc, pg 21, I realized one of the stamped blades had an anchor with no circle - @Kiipu = and an unknown stamp below. As far as I know (for now) it is the only example I have on file:

This was posted back in Sept '21, and I don't know why I thought it wasn't in Fuller's chart - it definitely is; but he was uncertain of it's exact meaning/pupose: "(xiii) Probably a naval inspection and/or acceptance stamp. Found on naval parade sabres and dagger guards. Possibly associated with the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal."

@PNSSHOGUN and @IJASWORDS this one at the Lanes Armmoury site seems similar. Yet the fuchi isn't blackened. From the edge, the tusba looks painted a shiny black, but with it removed, you can see it might be the silver coating you're talking about?

Adding pictures for future reference. The removal of the stamp and date are very obvious. I understand shinsa teams that ignore mei removal as there are so many gimei blades, but why would they ignore the removal of a stamp/date? And I don't even understand why the owner removed the date. There were multitudinous gendaito during the war that would easily paper. Looks like it was a showa stamp, for the record. I have kanemichi with both stamps, but most were showa.

Wow, on the zoom-in, they look like half-tubes. Quite unique!

I've always loved the look of the long kissaki.

There were some yari discussed on NMB with such red coloring. Here's one:

And even the old look of the mei could simply be the same environmental effects that corroded the whole gunto. Just look at the tsuba and other metal fittings. This looks like it spent a few years in the swamp. I don't see layers of patina on the nakago, but rather a single layer of heavy oxidation. I have seen a number of late-war smith names that were taken from old famous smiths. It would not surprise me if this blade was a showa era blade. I agree the straight sori hearkens to an older era, but didn't many smiths adopt older styles? I am the absolute wrong guy to be talking kantei on blades, so ignore all of this if I'm off-base; but it would make more sense to me to be a gendaito with the matsu stamp on the end.

Ah, a waki. Maybe even one made from a broken or cut-down full sized blade. Still, don’t recognize the markings. I have seen a variety of unusual marks that are probably put there by the fitting shops and/or the polisher.

Excellent one John! We need a pinned thread indexing these, like Warrelics has for Nick Komiya's threads.

The original post was on this Sword Forum International thread but he didn't know the context. I thought I had a copy of the actual book page, but cannot find it for the moment. If memory serves me, it was the coronation of the Showa emperor in 1926, and the observer reported "a large gathering of Japanese with silver blades held high and gold sheaths glistening in the sun . sure it was rallying for a final last stand.."

A pristine Type 98 example found by @Stephen on a Yahoo auction:

That's the most pristine example of a blackened set of fittings for a Type 98 I've seen. Posting this on the Type 95 Black Saya thread where we have both NCO and officer examples. Ohmura has almost identical examples on his site: http://ohmura-study.net/906.html But you're right, you don't see this very often!

This habaki posted by Tom, @drb 1643, HERE, got me to thinking about the edge style. Is it clouds? I think I've seen it a few times. There are a couple others on this thread that are similar, but both of them curve around to form the "boars' eye" or heart shape as we think of it. This one looks to me like cloud edges with rain.

Thanks Tom!

Is it from a kyugunto? Maybe a zoheito? Waiting to see fittings and rest of the blade.

JP!!! Glad to hear from you again! Can't say more than the guys have already said. Love your caring heart and feel for you as you mourn and heal. After losing my best friend, then parents, then a brother, I realized that loving greatly comes at a great cost when we lose those we love. But what are we to do, right? Loving greatly is worth the price. I am surprised at how great a blow a person can take and still recover. I can tell you (I'm sure you already know) many of us here are blessed by your company and are very glad to see you back. Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that telling it helps in healing. And honestly, a daily visit to NMB can be a refreshing break from one's burdens (it is for me!).

Here's my thoughts on it, Trystan - When SMR started, according to Ohmura, they were making 400 blades per month, or 4,800 per year. The chart found by Nick Komiya for 1944 production showed that SMR made 6,000 blades that year. If they were just numbering the blades from 1 to 6,000 there would be numbered blades found each year in that full range. But they were breaking them up with the Iroha lettering series, and each year had anywhere from 6 to 14 "series". Let's just say a year used 10 katakana. With 6,000 blades, divided evenly (we don't know that they were), we wouldn't see any numbers over 600. 1942 only used 6 katakana, so it would be normal to see a number over 1,000, and we do have a couple. 1943 used 15 katakana, so I'm surprised to see some over 1,000 (this may mean the numbers for each kanji weren't uniform in distribution). 1944 only used 5 kanji, so I'd expect to see numbers over 1,000, and we have plenty. What is surprising is to see numbers that year over 2,000 (again suggesting the distribution of numbers wasn't uniform). And finally, 1945 used only 1 kanji. With fiscal year beginning April 14, there were only 4 months of production, but at 550 per month, that still should put numbers over 2,000 and we have 1 in the 1,000 range.

Matt, We neglected to fully discuss the style sword you have, in our chasing down the smith. Your fittings are from a contingency modification to the Type 98 Japanese officer sword. Type 98s were fairly expensive, and officers had to buy their own swords. So the contingency model, or Rinji seishiki (RS), or for years incorrectly called the 1944 model (designed in 1938 and produced in numbers by 1940), and Type 3 (Type designations were ordered by the Emperor, and this was never established as a "Type") was created to be cheaper, yet had modifications that made it a hardier sword. The lacquered ito (handle wrap) and simpler fittings made it able to "take a licking and keep on ticking". Not popular until around '43/'44, then we see a lot of higher-end, upgraded RS like yours with fully traditionally made blades. Most blades in the RS fittings weren't traditionally made, called showato, but the blades in the upgraded fittings are almost always traditional, called nihonto. Many officers brought family blades to the war and had them refitted in military koshirae, and many were donated to the war, or bought up by the military and sold in markets and/or private shops. Yours is the first old/family blade we've seen in the RS fittings. So it's pretty unique. You can read about the history of these here: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/deflating-another-myth-type-3-army-officer-s-sword-expanded-version-584796/ and http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/unveiling-rinjiseishiki-sword-1940-a-793016/ This one discusses the program to get family blades for the military and the sword shortage that made it necessary: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/family-short-blades-gunto-688110/

Dang! I’m going to have to look up half of these words!

I have considered this. I don’t believe the gold is random or insignificant. It is normally a sign of royalty, wealth, respect, worship. I don’t want to speculate yet, even though that is something I do regularly! Ha! But I think it is intentional. In our culture today, it represents the highest of prosperity.

There are a number or Army waki posted on NMB over the years. Here's a thread: Short gunto

Some officer gunto: And another with obvious wear and tear:

More gold gunto: Many of these show clear wear and tear. This one is black with gold, whereas mine was gold with black trim: This one is like mine, but the tsuka wasn't painted like mine was: