Bruce Pennington

Thomas, and John! Nick Komiya at Warrelics said it could be what you say - Kazutada - and Guy found the same reference in Sesko's book. It's now part of Stamps of the Japanese Sword, ver 8.1, to be released in the future.

Thomas, Doesn't look like you're following this thread, so the quote should send you a message. These hotstamps usually mirror the smith's name. Do you have a photo of the mei and the nakago?

He's stuck a Suya Shoten/Kokura handle on that Nagoya blade and trying to sell it again. https://www.ebay.com/itm/114737295938?hash=item1ab6e03242:g:~JcAAOSwCbBgWUAJ

Also, Takehisa is one of the know smiths with the "W" stamp. I have no record of a Kanehisa with the stamp (doen't mean it couldn't happen, of course!).

LOTS of fakes on fleaby right now. But a repeat offender is Consignments-with-us. I've send him a message on 2 of his sales. We'll see how he replies. https://www.ebay.com/itm/333980029498?hash=item4dc2c2d23a:g:nRwAAOSwKBBgih5l and https://www.ebay.com/itm/233987298807?hash=item367abad5f7:g:qmIAAOSwzf9giiEx

Michael, do you have the blade? If so, please post photos and the mei, thanks!

Japanese sword index has it as Takehisa: They have 4 oshigata of Kanehisa and none use this kanji.

That's an interesting article Jacques I checked Wikipedia, though, and they don't mention acid treatment. "Damascus steel was the forged steel of the blades of swords smithed in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel[1] either imported from Southern India or made in production centres in Sri Lanka,[2] or Khorasan.[3] These swords are characterized by distinctive patterns of banding and mottling reminiscent of flowing water, sometimes in a "ladder" or "rose" pattern. Such blades were reputed to be tough, resistant to shattering, and capable of being honed to a sharp, resilient edge.[4] Wootz (Indian), Fulad (Persian), Fuladh (Arabic), Bulat (Russian) and Bintie (Chinese) are all names for historical ultra-high carbon crucible steel typified by carbide segregation."Close-up of a 13th-century Persian-forged Damascus steel sword Tha'ts just a small sample of the article. Maybe guys are imitating the look of Damascus steel by using the acid treatment. Sorry for diverging off topic, but I've never gotten educated on what Damascus steel really is before.

Thomas, I too would like to see more of the blade, and the nakago.

It doesn’t look like Damascus steel to me. It does look like something treated with acid though. The writing looks legit, can someone translate? The first one looks amateurishly made though. I could be wrong on all the above.

Wanted to pass along something from Leon Kapp, of "Modern Japanese Swords and Swordsmiths" Kapp, Kapp, & Yoshihara (I'm not pushing the bookstore, just posting the book). It reinforces what we've already learned about star-stamped blades being made traditionally: " I just finished polishing a star stamped blade for Leo. The mei is (star stamp) Chikuzen ju Kajiwara Hiromitsu saku, and the date is August of 1943. It is a well made sword and about 26.25 inches or 2.2 shaku (which seems to be a popular length for gunto). I bet that this smith is related to the Kajiwara polisher. Chikuzen is the Fukuoka area where the polisher is too. I am sure this is a tama hagane blade for several reasons. 1) Very hard steel 2) Forging patterns are visible in the ji 3) The hamon has a good clear and complex nioi guchi First of all, the blade is hard. There were a few hakobore or small chips which had to be removed, so I know the blade is very hard. I have polished some Seki stamped (RR track) swords, and they are much softer. Modern gendaito are hard and similar to this one. Second, there are patterns visible in the blade and I think they are from forging and folding the steel. You can see what looks like some fine itame hada in most parts of the blade. The steel’s appearance looks like a typical gunto from the 1930s to 1945. The RR track blades have no patterns, but do have occasional small marks in random places in the steel which I think are areas where the steel was compressed locally by the hammering to shape the blade and edge. Occasionally there are traces of a short single straight hada line which could easily come from the RR track puddled steel. The steel does look rather different. This looks very different from the RR track type steel. The color is good. Third, there is the hamon. This hamon has good clear and strong nioi. It forms irregular shaped gunome all over the hamon, and there are ashi, irregular gunome and the strong nioi area is very wide. Generally, with RR track steel, the nioiguchi is narrow and the active part of the hamon is restricted to a narrow band. In addition, the nioi guchi is generally much weaker. This type of hamon looks like it was made with tama hagane steel. So, in conclusion, I am very sure this star stamped blade is made from tama hagane. I’m sorry I didn’t get better photos and need to make some kind of small photo setup to get decent images of hamon and jihada. The hamon photos show the strong nioiguchi and a lot of activity. The jigane photos show the tight but visible pattern in most of the blade. The mei is there to show the star stamp." ..... ". I now have a Seki stamped blade and another star stamped blade here to be polished, so we can look at this with more samples soon. I also have other blades waiting so it will be a bit of time before I can get to those polishes. I am very sure this star stamped blade is tama hagane. I mentioned that the star stamped blade is much harder and similar to good tama hagane gunto. That is a subjective observation but a very clear thing to experience when you polish them first hand."

Dang, these are high quality craftsmanship.

That's an excellent photo Trystan. And thanks for reminding me - these are both made by the same company!

Easiest one I know: http://ohmura-study.net/900.html

Updated Stamps of the Japanese Sword, version 8.0 available. I've had a few requests for a book version of this, so I've been revamping and rewriting. We've learned enough of the history to start writing our own version of the facts as known today, so the "History" portion is greatly re-done. I'm temped to revamp the "Star" discussion, but @mecox's translation of Ohmura's discussion has some interesting facts that we've still been unable to track down, so I've left that as-is to prompt future investigation. An "Intro" is added to include a minimal "Thanks". I wanted to add that but hate the fact that I'll miss a multitude of people that have contributed photos and discussion. So, if you see that I've missed you, please send me a PM and I'll add you to the next version. Other updates: I added a page with the interesting discussion we had on the "5 Measures" stamp. Added various newly discovered kao, and other small edits. I'll try a trial print at a local shop to see what it looks like in hand. I'm worried that some of the photos might come out too small, in book form, to be usable, which is why I like the digital format. You can zoom/enlarge the digital version. But I'll take a look and see how it comes out. Enjoy!

Thanks for the reference Gilles! I've forgotten more than I remember these days! Maybe that's where I had seen it before. Richard's errata sheet for this book corrected the reading to what Hamish posted above - "Wakasei of Tokyo which is the name of the manufacturing company."

Chris, I have seen that once before. I've searched my files, thought I had saved it, but can't find it now. I also THINK it was presented to Nick Komiya at Warrelics and no one knew what it was. But I've been chasing so many rabbits lately my memory is doing somersaults and other tricks. I would recommend posting it on the Warrelics Japanese Militaria forum. I can do it if you like, and update when I get some word. Let me know.

Thomas, I lean in the same direction about the arsenal overseeing officer blade production, as you propose. That same production chart from 1944 would support the idea. I have very little photo evidence to back it, but what I have is 3 Kokura (stacked cannonballs) stamped officer blades and 1 copper-handled NCO: 2 Masayasu (provided by the Malcolm Cox Survey, citing Fuller & Gregory) and 1 from Ohmura's site (unknown mei) This one is on the nakago of the Type 95 Copper (provided by @Stegel) The "KO" shows up (again very limited data) both in 1935 and in 1943: And the "HO" is spread throughout my charts. I haven't made a consolidated chart just for them. Roughly speaking they are seen with other arsenal stamps in 1935, 1941, 1942. Then they are seen by themselves (usually "Ho Ho", double stamped) in 1943, 1944. So I think this all backs your idea in rough terms.

Oy vey! Missed that, you’re right!

The date is March 3, 1943.

Neil, I don't see Yasunori on the RJT list. Are the blades star-stamped? It is a good example, though, that certain smiths may have had a particular shop fitting their blades. Thanks Thomas! How cool - blades 94 and 95 Edit: After searching the files for the "95", I don't seem to have any record of it. Searching the NMB pages I see the 94 was noted on this Tread about Marks on Fittings. I may have miss-typed the 94, into 95 on the chart.

Steve, Hopefully someone can expound on your ware question! But yes, it's a beauty! I paid 2400 years ago for a near pristine kai and it only had a showato blade in it, so you did quite well. Kaigunto are always more expensive than army gunto (assuming matching qualities). The market has definitely recovered from the COVID slump.

Wow, this is cool! Bamboo fences, found on a @paulb post HERE.

Very interesting topic John, thanks for bringing the stories! I agree with John (PNSSHOGUN), that we might be talking about 2 things - "issued swords" were only Type 95s to NCOs. These short swords were "presented" or we might say gifted in honor of their upcoming mission.

You're right George! I've made the corrections to my files. Thanks!