Bruce Pennington

The kyu-gunto had great many variations. Either Fuller or Dawson (or both) mentioned this.

Sorry! Couldn't resist that! Ha! Thomas, I honestly tried but couldn't make it out. Does it give any data like date or serial number? And is that one of the swords that went to an NCO?

Is it the floral pattern at the top of the saya, instead of a plain surface?

Steve, Did you buy it? If so, I hope they take returns. Even the fittings are fake.

Just posted the question on Warrelics. I'll update on the military thread if anything pops up.

I don't buy or sell anymore, so don't follow the market. On the occasions I've checked fleabay, prices took a big hit during the past COVID year, but of late have seemed to rebound even higher than they were before the virus hit.

A nice variation of the maze on a Sukenaga blade at Yakiba.com (not advertising for Ed, simply found a nice source of high-quality blades which tend to have high-quality fittings!).

Speaking of mon, found an excellent example of the crest just hinted at on post #37. It's on a Nobushige tanto at Ed's Yakiba.com

Brian, When I click on that link, I had to download and add something to my Firefox browser. Now when I click on it again, all I get are ads.

Well, since I've never seen it before, I don't have any reference to even imagine a reason. At first, I wondered if it was intended to be a flower shape, but the primary flowers for the Japanese were the cherry blossom, 5 petals, and the chrysanthemum, what, 16 or 32 petals? But it is obviously not just random holes. Your idea may have merit, though, as even the bohi, I am told, is actually there as a weight reducer. But even in it's functionality, the smiths turn it into part of the art and beauty. I haven't done any checking on this idea, but what if it was the essence of a kamon? Who knows, but quite unique.

Thanks Phil, I'd love to get the photos of your second one! Your photos of this one are sufficient, thanks. I'm attaching an article @Kiipu, @16k, and I wrote for the JSSUS newsletter on the Mantetsu blade. It has probably more than you'll ever want to know. MANTETSU DISCOVERIES.pdf

Phil, Is this yours? How much do you want to know about the Koa Isshin Mantetsu? The serial number puts this in the middle of the year of 1940, regardless of the "Spring" on the date. Almost all of them say "Spring" for some reason. Thanks for posting, I didn't have this one in the Mantetsu Survey. Now I do!

Dan, I don't know why you're not getting any help on the translation. You might try posting your request on the Translation Assistance forum.

Ammad, I consider ALL WWII gunto collectable. They are a valuable piece of probably the most terrible time our world has ever experienced, and the men that served their families and nations (on all sides) deserve to be honored and remembered. I would care for that sword as carefully as I would a National Treasure sword.

Marc, I believe those are simply the museum catalog numbers of the gunto, written on tape.

David, that's quite a beautiful kaigunto! Equal to those you see on Ohmura's site, and he's got some real beauties! I have to say I've never seen a tsuba with holes punched like this one. Quite unique.

You can't go wrong with a Mantetsu!!! And Hamish's gunto is worth buying. Once you go Mantetsu, you'll never go back (to horribly misquote a well-known figure of speech)!

I see this is an auction, so the price will go where ever the buyers are willing to go. Like John, pointed out, the price you pay should be in the range you can live with if the sword turns out to be gimei or the polish has ruined the hamon. So for a standard WWII gunto, I wouldn't pay more than $1,400, and the auction price is already above that. Now, of course, if the mei is legit, you could easily go $2,600, but the nihonto guys are a better source of pricing on that end of the discussion.

I’m with Ray, I really like this blade. If the price is right it would be worth having regardless of everything else.

I'm glad you posted the photo, John. When I go to the link, all the photos are blank with "No Image" in each square! I have 2 others (thanks for number 3!) and they are all on the koiguchi. I don't have reference to whether the saya are army or navy, but all 3 have the hole for a chuso tab, so likely army. The reference in Chris Bowen's chart, found on TheJapaneseSwordIndex.com, says it's of the Shokeikan Gunso Kabushiki Gaisha who "made army and navy koshirae....located in Tokyo and owned by Mr. Saito."

Kanekura Submitted by kazarena on Mon, 2007-05-14 20:13 金藏 初代 [Help] △ 寛文︱ 美濃 Kanekura (1st gen) ID KAN503 Province Mino Start Era Kanbun (1661-1673) End Era Enpō (1673-1681) Active Period 1661-1681 Lineage Image / Interactive Source Rating Reference/Page Hawley 15 KAN503 Toko Taikan ¥2M 67 Signatures: 大和守藤原金藏 From The Nihontoclub.com Russel, I'd post this over on the Nihonto Forum so someone can give you an expert's opinion of the blade. It's claiming to be from the 1600s and has that really flat curve, or sori, which is seen in some really older blades. But the Nihonto guys can tell you more. The fittings look new to me. The tsuba has been terribly polished removing all the natural/original finish. The ito, or handle wrap also look new, as does the leather of the saya cover. I agree, it's a nice looking sword for something likely re-built recently. If the blade is in fact old, and the asking price is reasonable, it's not a bad starter.

IJA Type 98 fittings. The large Seki stamp is seen on DATED blades between 1940-1944 with the massive majority of them appearing in 1942. HOWEVER, a great many of these blades are not dated. One source states that the large Seki was used in parallel with the Showa stamp, which could mean the non-dated blades could have been made from 1935-1944 or, what I believe, made before the Army took control of sword production in 1942, so between 1935-1942. The presence of the stamp means the blade was "showato" or non-traditionally made, but I've observed that these are found on good-to-high quality showato.

Alex, I hope your friend can return the item for a refund because it is a Chinese fake. Several "tells" and clearly fake. If it was $150 or less, it's ok for a wall-hanger or toy, but not Japanese.

Here's your smith: 秀俊 (Hidetoshi), Real name: 井戸 俊三 (which my google translate says is Ido Toshizo) The small stamp at the top is the Showa stamp which puts the blade's manufacture in the 1935-1942 range. Can't speak to the fittings. The handle (tsuka) looks like a modern re-wrap, but I could be wrong about that. In fact I could be wrong about everything I've said! Hopefully the experts will chime in soon.

Eve, The "oil" in the pictures appears to be WWII cosmoline. I'd read @zook's post ON THIS THREAD to see how to remove it. As to 2376, could you please show us the nakago? The fat seppa, family crest, and combat saya are all typical of an old family sword that was re-fitted for the war. It could be something nice! And you may already know this, the the fittings are Type 94/98, @PNSSHOGUN can help you distinguish between the 2 with the thickness of the tsuba, WWII Japanese officer gunto.