Bruce Pennington

The hole you see in the handle should have a bamboo peg (mekugi) that can be puched out. The tsuka (handle) slide right off after it's removed. If there isn't anything in there, then the tsuka is just wedged on because of the missing tsuba/seppa, and can be convinced to come off. The official way is to hold the sword upright in one hand and firmly smack your wrist with your other hand to jar the tsuka loose. I have had mixed results with this method depending upon how tightly rusted or jammed it is. If it doesn't work, tapping with a rubber mallet seems to do the trick.

Neil, The model has all the appearance one would expect of a "late-war", "just so it stabs...", design - yet the brass menugi rather than steel. Wonder why, considering the original intent was to avoid brass? Seems almost out of place! Oh, and you BETTER be working on a book!

Thank you gentlemen!

From an old post on the Arsenal Stamps thread. I'm starting to log RJT star-stamped blades and would appreciate a mei translation on this one. I think the year is 1943, right? Thanks!!! Love you guys!

I just have to laugh every time I see the title of the thread!!! You should get some sort of award for best thread title EVER!!! Ha!

Mike, After getting home and looking at the "95" on my computer, I can see that the blade, and tsuba, are likely officer not NCO but stuck into an NCO saya. But pictures will tell us. Can't wait!

Can you show us the nakago, close-up of the NCO Type 95, and the serial number on the blade? It should have a small inspector stamp along side the number, too. Is is coincidence that the 95 is missing a tsuka, and there is a lone tsuka, though officer, in his collection? Most likely grabbed from a pile to go on the bare blade, but I wonder if the mekugi holes line up when you put the tsuka on the 95? Did I miss the story of your grandfather? Was he in the war and did be personally bring these back?

I just re-checked Nick Komiya's run-down of the Rinji seishiki development. Ordinance 5668, which started it, said "For the time being, no brass is to be used for the exterior fittings...". So, initial production likely only used blackened steel, but after the model caught on, guys started ordering custom, spiffed-up versions. Custom jobs, since they cost extra money, are always more rare than standard production models, whether a car, or clothes, or a sword. If anybody has some with brass menuki it would be Neil or Trystan!

Anxious to see pics of the the nakago, too. I began my collecting when my dad died, and I got his sword. It was missing the tsuba/seppa (hand-guard and spacers) like yours, and parts on the saya (scabbard). It is quite acceptable to buy authentic WWII parts to re-fit your sword. I paid $200 for a complete tsuba/seppa set from a Japanese dealer on ebay. It didn't fit my sword well (too tight) but guys reassured me that it was ok to file the insides of the openings to make them fit. It is, after all, exactly what the fitters did for each sword when they were made during the war. Here's how mine looked originally Then with the newly purchased tsuba & seppa. They wouldn't slide all the way onto the nakago: After filing:

Yours is an inch longer than mine, George (don't go there! Ha!) Your question did prompt me to re-look at my star-stamped Kunitoshi. There are no stamped numbers, just painted ones (that oddly don't match the seppa numbers - 3377 painted, 945 seppa) so, my idea that the stamped numbers had something to do with the RJT is probably wrong. They are likely stamped fitting shop numbers.

What do you think about that ito? It it a modern re-wrap? I realize this whole rig is a total custom job, so I suppose they could have used a custom fabric for the ito, but it's just unusual. I also ask because, as noted on the MONs thread, the mon seems to be that of Akiyama, but it's upside-down if it is, like the person who re-wrapped this (if they did) put the menuki back upside-down.

This one is on an extremely large shingunto-mounted old blade. Found HERE It appears to be the Samurai crest of Akiyama, but isn't it upside-down?

To preserve the pictures: Rock Island will send more pics, if requested. Be nice to see the nakago.

😮

I don't know UK prices. That would be just above the current market price in the US, but if UK prices are higher, it seems reasonable.

This one doesn't seem to have the little swoopy, sculted lines at the edges like I'm used to seeing. Ohmura's site shows that they were made without them. I just haven't seen a real one, that I can remember.

Wow Dave! That's the first time I've seen an officer wearing the tassel as a retention strap. I've seen a couple of NCO pics of them in use that way, but never an officer. Great picture! It puts the purpose of the metal loop back in question, though. I suspect not all officers were inclined to actually use the strap, and would have used the metal loop for their tassel as the whole thing, for many, was a status symbol.

Is it too late to get a clear picture of the tsuba? Also, a clear picture of the hamon, close-up? The painted numbers - 843 - are assembly numbers put there by the shop that does the fittings.

That's a gorgeous piece, Adam! To answer your question, there were private swords donated, some bought by an Army program, and some brought to the war by the owners. This could be any one of those. The fittings are officer fittings, but the leather tassel (missing the fob at the end) is for NCO's . Do you have any provenance about it? Dawson has pictures of NCO's carrying civil re-fitted gunto, but they all retain the civil tsuba and kabutogane. Most of the time, with these, we default to the assumption that the leather tassel was added post-war. But I'm not certain. This one is a good example - why would Bubba put a damaged NCO strap on this sword? Unless the fob was there originally, and has since fallen off. That's possible I suppose. NCOs attending Officer training were allowed to put officer tassels on their NCO swords while a candidate, but I haven't heard of it going the other way around. There are pictures of NCOs carrying private swords as far back as WWI, so who knows?!

Hmmm, probably no way to tell if the other fittings were made by the Iida shop though.

Interesting observation Trystan! Neil, I see yours is made the same way, and they even painted the thickened center the burnt red color as they would the boar's eye seppa. I hate to sidetrack the thread, but wasn't there a thread, Neil, where you explored the purpose of that metal loop? I tried a search but, alas, you know how bad I am at searches. My follow-on question is "Are these loops only found on Iada-made fittings?"

Thank you Thomas! I had one, but this one is a much better picture (plus, while switching them, I noticed I spelled Sadaroku wrong!). Now updated.

Well, if it had been a snake it would have bitten us! I just checked Fuller's picture of it, and it is right there for all to see, as well. I've updated the Stamps doc to reflect this (5.4). Nice work Neil!

I wish it were dated. We have 1 Showa stamped blade from 1935. The rest are 1938 and beyond.

Brian, Does the blade appear to be traditionally made or not? There is a faction that still believe that the Seki Guild stamp was not always one of the Army mandated stamps, but simply a Guild mark. In fact, Ohmura states the guild was using the stamp before the law mandating stamps. This stamp is way more precisely made than any I've seen. Could this blade possibly be one of the pre-mandatory-stamp era and gendaito?