Bruce Pennington

Can't make out the first kanji. Appreciate the help! It's on a post-war souvenir Toyokawa blade.

Grey, Is that a quote from the upcoming book? It would explain a lot, and would be very useful information to know. Like I said above, this seems to be a precursor to what Tenshozan put out for the Army PX after the war.

Dang, ruined a really good whine I had going! Just proves the point that "It can always be worse!" Ha!

@DTM72 - Dan, nice group, hope you can keep them all. Check out this article on what is mistakenly called a “Navy landing sword.” It’s Army, most of all. The discussion explains the rest. Looking forward to photos! https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/legally-rebutting-existence-type-3-army-officers-sword-708745/

If Brian would give us a raise, we could hire editors to proofread our work! But this is such a low budget operation, I have to make my own coffee!!

The souvenirs sell for 400 $ to 500 US$. All the fittings are army, not Navy. People get tricked by the Black scabbard paint, but there were plenty of army swords with black painted scabbards. It can also be confusing to see a navy stamped blade in army fittings. That did happen, but was not common.

+ 1

Purely speculation, but I wonder if something like this might explain one of the Mantetsu waki on file. I have 2. One was clearly cut down to make the waki, as the mei is cut, whereas the other was clearly made as a waki with intact mei. Maybe someone had a damaged blade, like this one, and had a repair team or smith cut it down and make a waki from it. Cut down Original:

Hmmmmm..................... This has all the appearance of one of the post war souvenir gunto made by the Tenshozan Factory. Read this ARTICLE ON THE POST WAR SOUVENIR. But the souvenir, until now, always had a rounded steel tsuba, and more gilded metal fittings. It's only a guess, but my thinking is that it's one of the first versions of the souvenir. There's certainly a chance it's a late-war gunto. The only thing not "army" is the black fabric same'. But I've seen a good number of these and the overall look is of the souvenir gunto.

Not sure why I had earlier posted that my only gunto with celluloid was that RS, because my 1941 Mantetsu has it as well. Like George's, mine hasn't yellowed, just some aging patina. The yellowing of some may be due to amount of exposure to the elements? I have seen celluloid same' in various years, but they do seem to appear more in the last couple of years of the war. This may be due to a military order for all weapons makers to avoid using animal products, due to shortages. Nick Komiya posted the order on Warrelics (don't have the link at the moment).

Thanks Thomas! I had the 2 '44s, but they aren't star-stamped. I've added the star-stamped '45. Interesting that they were making these earlier, but no star. Maybe someone at Korkura thought their blades deserved the recognition (i.e. his career portfolio) and submitted some blades to the RJT people for qualification? Or maybe it was someone distributing the tamahagane and realized the Kokura factory blades deserved the star? Wish we knew.

Right! So, no further speculation as to it's true meaning in life? Letter opener? Souvenir? Re-purposed kozuka? I'll start with the deer antler method and go from there.

Barry, we will need to see more pictures of the blade full length, a close-up of the blade tip, and better pictures of the handle fittings and hand guard to tell you for sure. Initial impression is a replica or Chinese fake. They like to stamp numbers on the blade and habaki.

Quite amazing beauty on your kozua! Here's some more pics of that "letter opener" of mine. I started wondering about the kozuka idea, but I doubt someone would put a mekugi and tiny shirasaya for that, right?

Kenny, I once owned a Feb '45 Sukekuni. I wonder why the box is missing around the kanji for the "kuni" on yours? Just another example showing that the Japanese weren't flawless perfectionists in their work! is yours in the standard tan fittings? Here's the mei from mine:

Ok, thanks guys! Not part of my normal area of study, but always good to learn new stuff.

Thank you Trystan! Matt sent me this one yesterday, too, but I'm glad to see your thoughts on the "2" or "3". The center stroke is so slight, compared to the others, I was tempted to call it a 2. But I think you're right on that. Such a sad sight! The tsuba is quite interesting. I've seen a small number of fittings with the kana/number system used, but this one has the extra kana next to the Suya logo. Quite a puzzle.

Here's a muromachi period blade, not Aoi, but relevant: https://www.Japanese-sword-katana.jp/katana/2210-1007.htm This one from 1864, you can see the careful cleaning around the kanji, but leaving most patina on the kanji: This example to me shows enough corrosion that my impression is that the nakago has been smoothed down. Not polished, just cleaned up. https://www.aoijapan.com/katanamumeiyamato-shizu/ And Edo period, again not polished, just cleaned: A Muromachi one: I just don't see any with ugly, corroded nakago. I guess I'm not seeing any on that site "polished", but I have seen polished nakago. Maybe it's being done by polishers in other countries?

Ray, I have 3 other star-stamped blades with this mei on file. Is the "kuni" a first name, Kuni Kanemoto? The RJT listing shows 3 Kanemoto, but none of them show "kuni" as a name. Thanks!

Thomas, Can I get links or photos? I don't have these in my files.

Thomas, You just popped all my Circuit Breakers with this overload!!! Ah! First, I'd go with "May" Now this post-war report is confirming, clearing up our question as to the meaning or right translation of the Kokura 1st Factory inspector mark and 2nd Factory inspection mark. Right? Which also blows the Collectors' Urban legend that Kokura Arsenal didn't make swords, they were just an Administrative overseer for Tokyo 1st and Nagoya. Or are we distinguishing a difference between an arsenal making swords within the arsenal itself vs an arsenal that has 2 factories specifically made for them and making swords for the arsenal? Either way, we now have the actual name of the Kokura Arsenal 1st Factory! Ok, and now we have Star-stamped blades with a shop mei - Kasuga Workshop + Smith - and we have 2 of them, one by Fumitada (not listed on the RJT pages, Slough, nor Sesko), and Yasunori (also not on the RJT list). Now, Yasunori. Slough lists 2 - Kajiyama (High to Superior Gendaito) from Tokyo; and Kotani (Med to High grade Gendaito) from Hiroshima. Both used the kiri yasurime style found on Yasukunito. He doesn't mention the Yasukuni shrine operation for either of them. Any idea which Yasunori we might be seeing here? @mecox @george trotter - any help?

Annnnnd another black-painted tsuba! Convinced these were done by the original owners during the war, maybe even by the outfitting shops. Matt, those are normally seen as Roman numerals, so "46" or "64". Trystan was right in seeking numbers on the other fittings, as that is often the case. Yours might have been re-fitted after the marks were put there. It is also possible they are put there by the smith for his own purposes and the fittings shops simply piggy-backed on the number already present and used it on their fittings.

Just seeking clarity, not vested in either side of the issue. So the polished/cleaned nakago in Aoi Japan sales - do you think they were polished outside Japan?

The photos aren't clear when zooming in, so there's no way to see the fine details of the tsuka. The only thing I wonder about is the sarute. It appears to be steel. Were there steel sarute? I agree about the leather. Appears to be quality workmanship.

You’re right! That’s what I get for going by memory! A mind is a terrible thing to waste.