Bruce Pennington

No, only upgrades. So you must be seeing higher quality Type 3’s, eh?

I have read that carrying swords on the airplane was discouraged, some guys did it anyway though.

I’ve never read or heard a reason. They do appear most often on blades that are high-quality gendaito. Usually star stamped RJT blades .

Neil, Your question got lost in the hubbub - I think you're onto something. The lowest rating, Shinteisho, simply states that the mei is original. Kanteisho states the mei is original and the blade is "important" or "quality" work. As we all know, the Mantetsu operation made quality blades and was an important contribution to the resurrection of the katana. What I'm hoping to find out from Chris Bowen is the "charter", so to speak, of the rating societies. Why do they exist? Are they chartered to only evaluate traditionally made nihonto? Or is their mission to evaluate/preserve high-quality Japanese made blades? Are they expanding their mission? Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks to Guy, the rating given on this is: 鑑定書 Kanteisho Which is: “This is the second highest and more commonly seen origami certificate from the NTHK-NPO that offers a generous amount of information on the sword’s characteristics. The certificate will be issued for swords of considerable quality in which the mei (signature) is authentic OR in the case that if sword is mumei (unsigned), the judges will offer their opinion on who the smith or school was that forged the blade.”

Hard to say Matt, both are lighter than the new Navy color. The second is advertised as a “late war” army. This is what they have been know as, but recent discovery indicates these were used by the lance corporal and NCO equivalents in the Gunzuko, or civilian in military service ranks. Read about it here: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/what-were-regulations-army-civilian-employees-carry-swords-701783/

Matt, Yes, the navy used all brown. It was a richer, chocolate, color brown than the all-brown army tassel. Trouble comes from 75 years of aging. I've got a couple that I bought that are indistinquishable from the army tassel color due to fading. But they were sold as "navy" so I have them!

John, Thank you for this blade link! Stories have been told of papered Mantetsu, but this is the first proof we've seen posted, AND it's a blade I didn't have in the study! Over time, some auction pages/picture links become inactive, so I'm posting the full pics here for preservation:

Update to the presentation sword: It's a '38, not '41. Serial number "C 17". More discussion of the meaning of the presentation explained that the blade was likely presented by Mantetsu management to local managers or officials in the 3 cities named.

Getting pretty darn good at the Gifu and Tokyo stamps! Glad they still don't have the sizing, and location right!

Yes, I see now. A shadow between the seppa and the tsuba gave the appearance of the double. Quite a beautiful Rinji, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Trystan! Seems odd for a smith to use a kanji of his name like an inspector stamp. The many variations of individualization seem to have no limit. Thanks for clearing that up.

How interesting Neil, I haven't seen a double boar's eye seppa before.

Fascinating presentation Koa posted by Dale (DGARBUTT) on the Translation Assistance forum: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/28095-mantetsu-blade-with-long-inscription/ It's a Spring '41 Koa (still waiting to get the serial number from Dale!!!) with an added inscription: 贈 吉林 哈爾浜 斉々哈爾 各鉄道局 Presented by the railway companies of Jilin Harbin Qiqihar (Thanks to SteveM for the translation!)

It sure would be interesting to know the story behind this presentation sword!!!! I tried looking up the railways and find nothing on them. There is plenty on the East China Railway, the Trans-Siberian, and South Manchurian Railways, that all ran through these 3 cities. I suppose like most big businesses, there must have been original small railroad companies in each city that were swallowed up by the larger operations. Or could this be from the managers of the rail operations of the large companies based in the cities listed? And of course - Who was it prestented to?!?!

Dale, I can't wait to hear what the inscription reads! And, yes, I would dearly love to have the full serial number on the back edge (nakago mune). It will require removing the habaki, as there is usually a kanji underneath, to get the full number. Thanks!

I would love to see some of the extremes. It's the one that I often call "fake" on, and then it turns out to be legit, so I could use some education on this one.

I'm with Paul. That Tokyo inspector stamp beside it and the contractor stamp are harder to fake and they look right. Steve (Shamsy) says he's seen many variations on this stamp, so as long as the rest of the gunto look right, which it does (so, ok, the Tokyo stamp on the blade by the serial number looks weird) I think you've got a good one there.

I didn't see the need to start a new thread, so I found one on the same topic: I've got 2 kaigunto with really loose seppa, so I ordered some from Crimson Mist. The '43 Sukekuni, seki-stamped blade, would only take 1 seppa. I know it's non-standard but it snugged them up nicely. I like it much better than the really loose feel it had. The other is a koto era blade retrofitted for a kaigunto. The fitters must have been in a rush becuase the wood liner of the tsuka isn't wide enough to let the tsuka slide all the way down to the seppa, leaving a gap. They actually put the mekugi in at a steep angle rather than take the time to fit the liner properly! I tried filing the inside of the liner, but I cant' get it opened up enough to improve the fit, and I'm not going to try unwrapping the tsuka to do the job. SO, I fit a seppa in and snugged it up. Again, non-standard, but the look and feel came out nice. On a sidenote, the inexact fitting of this Tsuka, makes me think it was grabbed by a fitter from a pile of pre-made tsukas rather than custom built for this blade, which could indicate this was one of many blades collected from the public campaign to gather family blades, rather than a guy that showed up with his owm blade to get it refitted. I think a custom job would have fit better.

Geez! I had one of these and didn't realize it until today as I was doing some work on this one! It's on a '43 Sukekuni, Seki stamped Kaigunto. The knot is very well tied with the ends secured inside the knot. After seeing the differing methods of knot tieing, it makes me wonder if they are done in the field by the owners, or was there simply no set standard at the factories for tieing the knots?

Rick, With the single picture you've given us, there's no telling what the "1903" is referencing. There are often assembly numbers painted on the tang, that could be the source of the number. Often, the metal fittings around the handle and hand-guard have numbers stamped on them. But your year of manufacture, like the previous guys said, is in the late '40 to mid-'42 range as that is the roughly 2 year period the Showa stamp was in use.

Thanks Dave! The “navy” version looks like a fit to me. That’s going into my Stamps document.

Just curous why the relative believed Hisao Tani to be the original owner. Do you know?

Could anyone give me some insight to the meaning of the bottom kanji. The top is obviously the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal inspection stamp. I've been told the bottom one is litterally "That One", but I doubt that's the meaning or reason for it. I've been finding some stamps that are the first syllable of a city name where the sword was made. Any chance of this?

Jeremy, There are good examples here: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/ija-type-95-nco-sword-info-228172/ And here: http://ohmura-study.net/957.html