Bruce Pennington

Quite a high quality job on that mon on the kabutogane, too! Gorgeous

These are completely new to me, I haven't come across any like this. Obviously, @Stegel, @Shamsy, and @BANGBANGSAN are the best guys to comment.

Thanks Stephen, but it's just too blurry. Any chance of getting a clear shot, plus the rest of the nakago mei? As a 1943 "Me" it could have a Nan stamp, or it could be a Koa Isshin. More pics would really be nice.

Well, I wouldn't say "really good"! After 7 years of seeing these on the forum, I'm starting to recognize some of them, at least enough to find them on Japaneseswordindex!

Yes, the kaigunto seem to have a slight majority of their blades with Toyokawa, but there are quite a few with blades from everywhere else. We recently discovered one with a Mantetsu blade in it!

Hi Richard! The painted kanji are numbers "96" which often matched stamped numbers on the metal fittings. They were used to keep all the custom fitted parts together during polish and assembly. Someone will help with the smith's name. I've righted the photo to make it easier to read. My guess is 俊治 (Toshiharu) http://japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/toshharu.jpg

If you have the time, I'd love to see some pics.

Interesting idea, for sure. It would make more logical sense than a guy simply "blinging" out his sword, and would fit better considering the increasing numbers we're seeing of them. That black-tipped one sure matches the ones I've posted. @george trotter - thanks for the info, it certainly adds weight to the whole idea of them being war-period painted.

I just have to post the whole nakago of this Shigemitsu @Stephen posted on the thread you linked. It is a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" to badly misuse a Churchill quote. All on one blade, the only known non-circled Toyokawa anchor, a moustache (or 2 birds kissing), a "Kai?", and a kokuin. A Stamp Guy's wet dream! Wish I had a complete nakago on it. I pieced this together from the linked thread.

I believe someone ran a thread asking if there were legitimate one-piece fuchi/seppa, but I cannot find it, so I'm posting this. It's relevant here, too, as it may be an example of the style copied by Tensoshan in making the souvenir set. It's a one-piece fuchi/seppa on a kaigunto posted for sale on Yahoo, HERE. It's on a Suetsugu Shigemitsu blade. Clearly naval, not the army style used for the souvenir, but maybe made by the same shop for the souvenir, post-war?

Thomas, or Mal - @mecox - Japaneseswordindex lists a Hirose Shigemitsu as an RJT smith, but the oshgata only shows Suetsugu Shigemitsu. Any chance they are the same guy? Or different smiths? The massive majority of the blades in my survey with stamped numbers were RJT. Only 3 or 4 are not on the RJT list. This would be a another one. I have one other Shigestugu blade in the survey, number 316, and it's from Suetsugu, but I've probably mistakenly listed it as RJT. Also, Thomas, I'm going with 234 on this new one. Here's a comparison of the 315 with this one and I think what looks like a "6" is really a "3". Edit: Disregard, after flipping and enlarging, it's a "6", so 264 like you said.

As to the anchor without circle @Kiipu, what are your thoughts? Do you think the uncircled one is actually Toyokawa's and the circled ones are Navy acceptance?

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.."