Bruce Pennington

Got another one from this thread: It has standard tsuka hardware, but the roughly made, black painted saya (normally covered by leather). I'd like to add this to the discussion on Warrelics, but cannot find it there. Anyone have the link to that discussion?

Thanks Ray and Steve for the translations!

Posting the survey worksheet for those interested. Getting more Saka blades (4) and 3 of them are Nagamitsu. They are all in Rinji-seishiki fittings. Only the Sadakatsu is star-stamped. One Nagamitsu is in double-release button saya. I now have a kiagunto, mei: Goto Hiromasa, with a large Seki stamp. I know the large ones are out there, and I recall some other kaigunto with the stamp, but it will take some time to dig them out of the previous posts. stamp survey (1).pdf

Ha! I was on the NMB Military Swords forum for YEARS before I even found out there were other forums on NMB! 😳

Looking for a translation on this. I'm afraid I can't remember where I got it. It's an old photo in my stamps files. It appears to be a stamped mei, though it could be something on a nakago mune, hard to tell from the angle. Any help? Thanks guys!

And your civilian blade. Is it short? Can you give us a shot of the whole blade and a length?

That's cool Mike! If you don't get a quick translation of the smith names, take them over to the Translation Assistance forum and they're pretty fast with replies here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/15-translation-assistance/ Your Type 97 kaigunto (navy officer sword) looks like it was made late in the war, likely 1945, by the saya (scabbard). They originally had a leather cover over the black painted wood. Largest Seki stamp I've ever seen! I hope you don't mind, but I'm posting some of the pictures for posterity. Over the years, some of the imgur links disappear.

Bradley, If you're talking about NCO 95s, there is a single screw holding the saya throat in place. Remove the screw and throat and if you're lucky, the liner slide right out. About half of mine came out easily. The stuck ones are often stuck at the top/opening as that is where the majority of the oils get absorbed. I've been able to slide a very thin knife blade between the liner and the saya wall enough to loosen them. Even with that, I've sometimes had to pincer the liner with the knife on one side and a flat screw driver on the other to pry a stubborn ones out. I've had good luck doing it so far. Almost all of my officer saya liners have refused to come out. I've only had success with one and it was a combat saya with leather cover.

Sam, You migh already know this but the three stamps are Gifu (x2) and Seki. Blade date is May 1945. Someone expert on smiths will have to help with your Sukekuni question.

Eric, Could I get pics of the stamp and mei for my survey?

Jeff, Could we get pictures of both sides of the nakago (tang)? I'd like to add your blade to my stamp survey.

Today your first link is working for me. It didn't when you originally posted. The second link doesn't work, though.

Mike, I've wondered about those stains too. I have a number of gunto with them. One guy felt it was tannins coming out of the wooden liner, into the steel. Another thought it was the other direction, something in the steel going into the wood. Either way, it's permanent. I haven't had any success getting it out.

Love it Brian, really nice job! Wondering if we're getting more personal conversation storage? I'm at 86%. Do I need to go through old PM's and delete stuff? Thanks!

Yes, I already figured that out! But here's some pics for the fun of it.

Here ya go John! I've long since lost the little rubber band that was binding the tassel. Maybe you should submit your treatise to the JSSUS newsletter. They're looking for articles.

Updates on the topic from Nick at: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/legally-rebutting-existence-type-3-army-officers-sword-708745/ New info: - Tojo tried to get the model launched in 1941 with a press release and ordered 3,000 per year made. - Appearantly didn't happen, speculating lack of demand due to appearance - 1943, due to shortages of copper/brass, army pushed the Contingency model and production expanded.

Oh! First one (you must know this because you said it's Muromachi) is "A day in August, 1512" I'll step aside for the rest!

There are many great dealers listed on the top of each forum under "Links" here: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/links.html

WOW! Thanks for finding that! I had originally googled to see if the movie was based on any facts, but mistakenly only read the Wiki on the movie, which didn't address the question at all. After watching this, I found a great page about Brunet, which discussed his adventure and gave some more details than the video gives. here: https://allthatsinteresting.com/last-samurai-true-story-jules-brunet#:~:text=Not%20many%20people%20know%20the,use%20modern%20weapons%20and%20tactics.

A good number of unused tassels made it into the collecting world from the war. I recently bought an unused Field grade tassel, still folded, rubber-banded, in it's original box.

Dang, you guys keep trying to make me learn stuff! So, the 95 blade is as hard as it can get, then tempered (by air) to increase flexability while retaining edge hardness, right? But likely no hamon, since no use of clay in the tempering.

David, According to this 1943 War Ministry General Order - "Rikugunshō 陸軍省 [War Ministry]. Rikugun Heiki Gyōsei Honbu 陸軍兵器行政本部 [Army Ordnance Administration Headquarters]. Ken’in oyobi hyōshiki kitei 檢印及標識規定 [Regulations for Inspection Marks and Signs]. General Order 2389. 19 October 1943." - the stamp is of the "阪 saka 大阪陸軍造兵廠監督課 Ōsaka Army Arsenal Supervisory Section" The debate on "acceptance", which would include gendaito/nihonto, vs a mark of non-traditionally made blade is unresolved. I suspect the answer is "BOTH". Like your Gassan example, there are others who know of Showa stamped blades that were papered at shinsa (don't know if the stamp was removed). We can safely say it was an "inspection" stamp. Now if the inspector at Osaka Army Arsenal accepted a donated nihonto (or part of the purchase program) and put his mark on the nakago mune, it's certainly possible. It would be the only way to explain such examples. The stamps on RJT blades seem to be there for the same purpose, for we know Star-stamped RJT blades were gendaito. I've just started my search for Saka stamps, so I'll update what I find as to type of blade, and location on the nakago.

Thanks to Niel (IJASWORDS), we now have a stamp survey done by Malcolm E. Cox, published in a JSSUS newsletter. Master Cox was fortunate enough to survey 425 blades! Half, 213, had stamps. I've added his data to mine and made the following chart. The majority of blades in my survey are signed, but like the Cox survey, most are not dated. Cox didn't discuss smith mei in his report. You can see a small overlap in years 1940/1941 with the Showa and Seki stamps, but the real switch came in 1942 when the Army took centralized control of all sword production, ending the Showa stamp (except the rare 1945 blades!) and moving to the Seki stamp, followed by the Gifu stamp. I've just added the Saka stamp and only have 1 example. Since my interest began in blade stamps, I haven't seen many Saka stamps, but it surprises me as we have recently learned that the Osaka Arsenal was making more blades than Mantetsu as seen in this translated chart from 1944 blade production.

Excellent, thanks guys! It in beat-up Rinji-seishiki fittings, but it's clear they were higher quality originally, for the star-stamped blade. here: https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/ken-jasper-international-militaria-forums/Japanese-militaria-forum/11704944-Japanese-sword-info-who-used-me