Bruce Pennington

Google translate: Sumitomo Yoshiharu

You forgot to subtract 1. Showa 17 - 1 + 1926 = 1942. I have read where (and I'm talking WAY out of my area of knowledge) the full mei is a sign the smith, himself, cut the mei, but the 2-character mei could be done by apprentice of mei-cutter. Could be off-base about that, though.

The gap could be from missing seppa. Don't see any on the blade-side of the tsuba, but they could be hidden by the angle of the photo. The tassel is quite faded. At first glance it's the all-brown. Reference books like Fuller/Dawson call this a "late-war army tassel", but new info from Nick Komiya points to the Gunzuko. They were authorized to carry army regulation gunto, but were to use the all-brown tassel. It could be a heavily faded Company grade tassel. When you get it, look for hidden blue in the weave. Oh, and I'm curious to see if that "sarute" is a period shoestring or a post-war fix.

I see I've turned this thread into a collection of habaki art! Here's one from a 17th century sword. And a nice 2-piece

If you plan to replace the sarute and remount the tassel, you an sometimes find replacement cloth sarute for sale. Otherwise, it would be completely acceptable to replace it with a metal one. I have no doubt that the original owner wouldn't have hesitated to do so, if it were broken during the war. Either way, you will find a tiny metal wedge inside the sarute barrel (which simply unscrews. I use a cloth to cover the ends of the barrel and grip them with pliers to gently unscrew the halves). I would keep that tiny wedge in a safe place as it would be very easy to lose, and you might find someone looking for one in the future.

Piers, I see it now, you're right! They aren't animals, simply the trunk, obscured in places by the gold remnants and cuts of the craftsman's tool.

I wonder if this Sukesada was claiming lineage (or smith-eage) to the Sukefusa Ichimonji line? " Old records convey a history in early KAMAKURA times, but the significant work was late-KAMAKURA when the BIZEN spotlight falls on YOSHIOKA. FUKUOKA SUKEFUSA line smiths transfer with ICHIMONJI style. YOSHIOKA ICHIMONJI period from SHO-O 1288 to GEN-KO 1331. Energy at FUKUOKA ceases in the late KAMAKURA as attention shifts to YOSHIOKA and OSAFUNE. I'd like to add the kiku and ichi to the Stamps Document (I know they aren't "stamps"), but am searching for an accurate description. I have a good feel for the "ichi" as representing the ichimonji shools of sword-making. But the kiku - I'm still looking for a good description. Were they claiming to be under contract of the Imperor/Shogun? Or was it just a personal style/choice like the Buddhist symbols on blades? Or somethinge else?

Al, That's a fabulous explanation, thank you! So do you think the smith was claiming to be working for the Emperor by using the kiku? Also, and this may be way off-base and useless information, but while cruising the list of Samurai mon, I found this one: But it would be upside-down on this blade, so that doesn't fit, plus the "Nasu" name is not being used in the mei at all. But knowing that there were many variations on every mon motif, I wonder if there is a chance that the one on this blade is intentionally flipped and adopted as the kamon of the commissioner of the blade?

Here's a tough one (for me!). It's 3 pines in a circle, but if you look closely, the "trunks" of the pines are animals. Can't make out the first, but the second looks like tiger/leopard, and the bottom ? frog or hippo? It's on a real nice gunto owned by Michael at this thread: Officer Sword What Do I have No 3

John, you're the Type 94 expert - are you basing that on the thickness of the tsuba? Just curious. I don't see any tell-tale rubbing signs of the second haikan (ashi), but that may just mean the owner removed it immediately. Michael, From the first 2 pics, I can see the remnants of a cloth sarute. You must have removed it already for the subsequent photos? My dad's Mantetsu came with the same thing, which is how I knew to look for a cloth one to replace it with. Very pristine gunto. I agree with John, that the officer paid some extra Yen for this. The sakura chuso button (release button) is not very common, and is clearly custom addition. Hopefully someone will translate soon. If not, be sure to drop a pic of the mei over at the Translation Assistance thread. I also haven't seen that family mon before. I'm posting it on the Mon thread, if you don't mind!

A little education please - I understand the significance of the chrysanthemum, but what does the ichi mean? or why the two together? Thanks!

Thanks John. I guess I've heard of it, but never seen it or maybe never seen it so vivid. Is that the same as Matt's tassel in post #43?

Jareth, Do you know what the heck that is?

Interesting example John! I should modify my statement to "I can't imagine an officer carrying a gunto without a tassel", as I actually don't know WWII regulations or practices about the matter. There were naval officers stationed on islands, and therefore "in the field", but I wonder how many of them were actually in front-line combat. I suspect most kaigunto spent their life sitting in the corner of their quarters on ship or in offices. But again I'm speculating about things I know nothing about. It is interesting to note that most gunto today are found on the market without tassels. I imagine some were removed before surrendering at war's end, some were removed and sold by dealers and collectors, but just how many were removed and not used by the original officers ..... good question!

That's a cool way to match them up, John! And a good reminder for us when we see seemingly mismatched items here and there. Dawson's comment that "Japanese army officers were fiercely independent and felt no obligation to upgrade their equipment to be "uniform" in appearance." flies is the face of some who poo poo "mismatched" gunto because we (sometimes I find myself even in this camp) are so saturated with how items should look, we immediately assume the mismatch is due to post-war piece-together work. Of course, much or most of it IS piece-together, but this is still a good reminder to be a little more cautious before labeling something as such.

Sure about the date: July 1942 Smith: 兼直 (Kanenao) but I'm bad about smith names, so could be wrong. Small stamp is the Seki stamp, which means the blade was made non-tranditionally, in the Seki prefecture for the Army.

An officer would never have carried their sword without a tassel. Navy all used the dark all-brown tassel. They can be found at sometimes at NMB (PNSSHOGAN just sold one), ebay, and dealers.

Thanks Michael, the fittings are exactly what we would expect for a star-stamped RJT blade. The painted-canvas same' is often seen in the late-war Rinji. I don't know if it is due to lack of rayskin or if it was considered more hardy for combat befitting the purpose of the whole Rinji seishiki model design. Many, but not all, of the RJT blades had stamped numbers. Again, another mystery, as some match numbers on the metal fittings, where others don't. Your open heart stamp on the seppa is only the second one I've seen! It must be a koshirae shop logo, but as of yet, an Unknown. Thanks for the pictures!

Michael, Double release buttons - 1 on tsuka and 1 on saya? Also, does your nakago have stamped numbers at the end? If so, do they match any numbers on the other metal fittings? How about small stamps on the back edge of the nakago? Thanks!

Anthony, A standard Takayama-to runs about $1,400 USD. If you use the retention cord and the upgraded saya covering (which shows wear), you could bump that up a tad.

I got this from DaveR on one of the "Type 3" threads. If my math is right, isn't it saying that the nagasa is to be 2 saku 2 sun = 66.6 cm? That seems kind of long, doesn't it, and not lining up with real life blades (once we get some actual measurements!)? I must say, though, that often the mil specs didn't always pan out in real life for gunto. Nick Komiya posted a note from Tojo, himself, who stated the RS model should be made of tamahagane! I also find it interesting that the bottom sketch of the fittings seems to have a release button on the koiguchi.

I think this was discussed on another thread that I can't find with my poor searching skills, but there are two late-war tsuka on this page with sarute ana not drilled through. I just found another. This star-stamped Munetoshi is in upgraded lacquered wooden saya, but you can see the sayajiri is low quality and the sarute ana isn't drilled through.

George, You may have answered your original question. It could be a simple as: blades made for Govt standard Rinji fittings (an prices) had to fit the Govt sized saya; whereas custom Rinji could literally be almost anything.

Ah, Chris, I've been looking for that one! I have a photo of the stamped mune, but not the nakago with mei and date. Could you PM me with those possibly (simply just to keep from sidetracking George's topic).

Thanks David! That 2353 is pretty cool! I doubt it is the 2352 of the Trotter survey, the numbers are easy to see. Also, number stamping on the war blades is quite varied, with numbers not aligned and differing sized numbers/letters commonplace. As I searched for your 443 reference I found a couple more that I didn't have! Here's the updated table: Matsu 1941, July Munetoshi 106 (RS ana) Trotter Survey 1941, Sep Akihisa 249 Type 98 Trotter Survey 1941, Sep Munetoshi 308 Type 98 Trotter Collection 1941, Dec Akihisa 566 RS Model Trotter Survey 1941, Dec Akihisa 577 RS Trotter Survey ? Akihisa 松 61 RS Trotter Survey ? Akihisa 松 97 NMB 1942, Feb Akihisa 松 542 RS star Trotter Survey 1942, Apr Munetoshi 松 11 RS Trotter Survey 1942, Nov Munetoshi 松 422 ? star Trotter Survey 1942, Nov Munetoshi 松 433 RS star Trotter Survey 1942, Oct Munetoshi 松 451 RS Davidequis NMB 1943, Jan Munetoshi 松 508 Type 98 star Trotter Survey 1943, Mar Akihisa 松 618 RS star Vajo NMB 1943, Mar Akihisa 松 819 RS star Trotter Survey 1943, May Munetoshi 松 1080 RS star Trotter Collection 1943, May Munetoshi 松 1082 RS star baldi1942 NMB 1943, Oct Akihisa 松 1377 RS star Trotter Survey 1943, Nov Munetoshi 松 443 RS star ? NMB 1944 Munetoshi タ2352 Trotter Survey 1944, Feb Munetoshi タ2353 Type 98 star For sale on web