Bruce Pennington

From this thread: Unknown Shingunto Sword

But an interesting one to have in that the serial number puts it toward the end of the copper handle series, and the blade is real good shape. Plus, it has the Kokura cannon balls with HO stamps!!!

I can't answer the rank question, but the gunto is army.

For the price, I went out on a limb and just bought one anyway. Looking forward to it!

I'm quite ignorant on the subject, but I do know they made swords for other rulers, too: https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/golden-sword-last-emperor-china-679181/

I know there is a guy at NMB who says he carries all sorts of parts, but I don't recall who that was. You might try posting a "want to buy" in the Want to Buy forum.

Edgar, There are some nihonto guys here, at the Military thread, that may be able to answer that for you. If not soon, post pics of your blade, full length, plus clear shots of nakago and blade tip, on the Nihonto forum.

Looks good! Do you know what’s inside it?

Beginning the new year with the latest version of the Stamps Document, v. 7.3. I'm starting to feel like it's final phase. Barring any major new discoveries, or uncovering some of the "unknowns", we've all hit this pretty good, and I want to thank everyone who has participated in creating it. 7.3 includes some grammatical fixes, a couple of added kakihan, and a small intro to "Kamon (Family Crests) on blades" with 2 examples. My favorite update is the discovery by Thomas (Kiipu) with an assist by Nick Komiya of a probable shop name for a navy dirk that has a Tosho script kanji on the guard. Tohso mei are also seen on flags as shrine stamps. I've recently seen the Emperor's stamp, and it was written in Tosho script. Thomas found a shop named "Echizen’ya Tazaki Shōten" whose first kanji "越 is pretty darn close, close enough to list it as "likely". That discussion can be found HERE at Warrelics. Another Buddhist "flaming jewel" was added, for a total of 3. Two are on Kanemune and Amahide blades, which is significant because Kanemune worked for Amahide at his forge (thanks Mal Cox!). So this mark could be something they did, rather than something requested by a customer, or at least an "option" offered by the forge to customers. on a Amahide blade 7.3 can be found HERE

I added a sarute and NCO leather tassel to mine. I wouldn't do much more as it's real easy to "clean" off the original patina, paint, and coatings from the various parts (seppa, tsuba, tsuka, etc). Warm, soapy water on a rag gets most of the grime. Oiled rag gets most of what's left. Might be tough to find a barrel screw to replace that wooden mekugi, but it can be done with enough time and searching.

Need some help on this one. Got the "mitsu" part, but stumped on the first half of the name.

No, that last option isn't "toshi". Time to bring this over to the "Translation Assistance" forum and get some more eyes on it.

I know this is mentioned in some scattered threads, but I came across another habaki with stamped numbers on a legit Type 98, found in the Cox/Toki article on Seki Toki Swordsmiths.

Not very often we get to see one with the tsuka off. This one - NCO shin gunto fake? - shows the ignorance of the fakers. All that trouble to get a better copy of a Type 95 and they put junk kanji on the nakago! I noticed the "TO" inspector marks reminded me of one of the examples earlier in this thread, so I compared them. Very similar. The Kokura cannon balls are different, but similar Suya and TO.

Ha ha! Do you have now gone through all three choices that I was considering too!

I thought about that, but the Japanese sword index.com spells it with 敏光 (Toshimitsu) So it didn’t look right.

Hopefully a someone will get this for you, but I'm leaning toward 敏光 (Toshimitsu) The mei style is different, but seems to be the same name. During the war, there were often more than one guy using the same name.

Many things wrong with this. The Ko and Suya stamps are getting scary good, but the TO inspector stamps are crap, both on the tsuka and the blade. Copper handles never go above the 6XXX serial range. The drag on the saya is too fat. Just to name a few. I've compared it to a legit for some points:

James, Updating this thread and would love to see a picture of the second Showa stamp above the smith's name. The stamp on the nakago mune is the "Gifu".

Came across this looking for something else. Update: 山 Yama Matsuyama Branch Officer of Kokura Army Arsenal 小 Ko Kokura Army Arsenal Supervisory Section Don't know what the "1" is for.

Here’s the cord. Maybe from a Swords bag?

Good point, Brian. I decided to simply mention their existence on blades, with a couple of examples, like I did with bonji.