Bruce Pennington

Wonder why the stamps would be for Tsuneyoshi, but the smith name is something else?

That's a new one on me. But I can see why they would have mounted that way to honor the relative's service. Wonder why someone would go to all that trouble to make something honorific for the family and then it winds up on the open market?

Sheesh! How many ways do they need to spell "20"?! Thanks Steve! So August 1888

Yes, it was definitely made for a kyugunto. Have you deciphered the date? I don't know what that 3rd kanji is "Meiji ? 1 year August month"

So, to summarize, both the Showa and large Seki stamp can be found on blades from several areas, not just Seki/Gifu. Showa: 76% are from Gifu; Seki: 85% from Gifu; 14% from other prefectures 15% from other prefectures Other: Other: Aomori Aichi Chiba Chiba Fukuoka Fukuoka Fukushima Gunma Gunma Osaka Nagano Saga Omi or Shiga Tokyo Tottori Tottori Yamanashi There were 25 smiths whose blades were found marked by both the Showa and Seki stamps (not on the same blade), and one that had both plus a blade with the Toyokawa arsenal anchor. Amahide Hidetoshi Jumyo Kanefusa Kaneharu Kanehiro Kanekado Kanemasa Kanemichi Kanemune Kanenao (Sho, Se, & Toyokawa) Kanenori Kaneshige Kanetada Kanetsugu Kaneyoshi Kanezane Masanobu Masatsune (Chiba) Masayuki (Yamanashi) Ujifusa Yasutsuna Yoshiaki Yoshinao Yoshikane (Tottori) Yamanashi So, this does not support or disprove the polisher's claim that the Army was using the Showa stamp. It is still possible. Just speculating, but maybe smiths outside Gifu were selling swords to shops in Gifu, or to one of the Guilds, which put their blades under the scrutiny of the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Assoc. and thereby receiving the Seki stamp. Interesting investigation, but unfortunately it only added to the mystery rather than clearing anything up.

Also, can I get a photo of the date, please?

Dan, Quite interesting! The kanji on top are in Tensho script. If you don't get a translation of either that or the mei soon, post it in the Translation Assistance forum. I'll put it in the Warrelics forum too. Nick Komiya is good at these Tensho items.

Edward, does this blade have a Seki stamp either on the side, top, or on the mune?

Take some time to read through (mostly pictures!) Ohmura's site. It's a free education and after seeing the real thing for 65 pages you'll spot imitations a mile away. HERE: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

Fabulous, thanks Peter! Yes, I compared the mei I have on file with Yoshiharu and it matches. I must have done a typo when I labeled the file. Looks like I need to get Marcus' book.

All I can say is that it's not Japanese military. Seems to have a substantial bend in the blade, too.

Well, now we know who to go to when someone shows up with a navy kyu! We'll be sending them your way. Nice digging.

Link to Mark's thread HERE. I recall seeing pictures of Samurai wearing their swords hung from a ring rather than stuffed in their belts. Anyone have those pics? Could these be original ashi from back then? Seems like it was photos from around the early 1800s.

Using the Dimension Dark, like it! Thanks for all your work Brian.

Seki update: 61 smiths - 124 blades (large Seki) Awaiting request for prefectures on several smiths, but what shocked me was I already have 9 smiths from prefectures outside the Seki/Gifu authority: Kanetsugu - Gunma Kazunori - Aichi Masatsune - Chiba Masayuki - Yamanashi Nobumitsu - Fukuoka Sadakatsu - Osaka Yoshichika - Tokyo Yoshikane - Tottori Yoshitada - Saga I will update if any of the unknowns turn out to be from someplace other than Gifu. Why would blades made outside Gifu be inspected by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association?

Thanks Steve! File annotated!

Ok @Itomagoi, ready to work your magic on another list? I've been through my Seki-stamped blades - 61 smtihs, 124 blades - and need the prefectures of the following: Kanehide Kanetake Kanetsuna Munechika Naotane Suketsugu Tadakatsu Tadayuki Toshiharu Yoshifusa Yoshiharo Yoshimichi Yoshishige Yoshisada Yoshimitsu Yoshitada Thanks in advance!

Had this filed in my Seki-stamped files. Don't know who's it is, but I could use a translation, please!

Sorry Steve, I couldn't read my own writing. It's "Yukihira" and after looking him up, seems he's from Nagano. So the precentages don't change.

Good catch George! Now we're back to "unknown location" on Kanesada.

Hard to tell on my phone, but it looks like the scabbard is custom fitted with some thing like raised skin or your skin? Mine is the same way, and the adjoining slide. I’ve always wondered why the Navy didn’t secure their fittings with screws like the army does.

While we wait for updates from @Brandon_Lane, I'll post a survey I completed on my Showa-stamped blades. I have 118 blades on file with the Showa stamp, from 45 smiths. 118 blades 45 smiths _____________ 33 from Gifu/Seki 11 from other prefectures (Fukushima, Gunma, Aomori, Chiba (2), Yamanashi, Fukuoka, Omi or Shiga, Tofuji, Miyazaki or Hyugo, Tottori) So 24% of the blades are NOT from Gifu/Seki. This raises the question about the Showa stamp being the one used by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Assoc., as I've noted in the Stamps Document. I'll have to dig out my source, I think it was Chris Bowen's interview with a swordsmith, that claimed the Showa stamp was being put on blades by the Army. This new survey data would support that. As we know, Seki produced approx. 70% of all WWII blades. The Showa-stamped blades in this survey from Seki/Gifu is 76% with 24% from other prefectures. If the Seki Cutlery Man. Assoc. was applying the Showa stamp, why would it be appearing on non-Seki/Gifu blades? It is more logical, though, if the stamp were an Army stamp who would be inspecting blades from all over Japan. I will next survey my files of Seki-stamped (large) blades. They should all be from Seki/Gifu if this is going in that direction. Edit: the source was a letter from polisher Sugiyama to Ron Gregory in my post at the top of this page,

Peter, excellent detective work, thank you! (small typo on "Fukushima"). I found 2 Yukiharu smiths in the Nihonto Club database, one from Miyaki and one from Hyugo, so unless this one is a third, he's not from Gifu. Thanks guys! I'll post the Showa survey results on the Arsenal Stamps thread.

Do you have a source? The odds are good that all of them are from Gifu. But I have found nine smiths with Showa stamps in my files that are from other prefectures. So I need to be sure on these if possible.

I like @IanB’s article Reading Signatures in the Member Downloads.