Bruce Pennington

Unless you follow Nick Komiya, at Warrelics, you probably haven't EVER heard this before! Nick has translated a regulation change, dated August 1940, that specified the all-brown tassel for use by the enlisted equivalent of the Gunsoku, civilian officials, both the Ko-in (lance corporal) and Hanin-ko (NCO). This is in conflict with the info in Dawson's book which called it a "Late war" IJA officer tassel; however Dawson doesn't cite his source. I've used the email published in his book to ask about this, but it's an email sponsored by the publisher. Anyone have contact info for Jim Dawson so we can pursue this? Further discussion on the page is chasing the idea that the Army all-brown tassel is 51cm long, compared to the Navy all-brown, which is 37cm long! Pictures in the original commissioning of the Type 97 gunto seem to confirm this. Both Dawson & Komiya affirm that civilian officials were authorized to carry standard Type 98 gunto, so according to Nick, an authintic vet bring-back 98 with all brown tassel was one carried by a Civilian official, NOT an IJA officer. The conversation is happening here: www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/what-were-regulations-army-civilian-employees-carry-swords-701783/ Thoughts?

Guy spotted the typo. Where would we be without him?!

Pictures of the blade and tang (nakago) help in assessing age.

Update 1: page 16, “Kisusi” should be “Kikusui”. Dang autocorrect!!!

Barry, thanks for that link! Excellent! I've bookmarked it for future conversations like this.

Thanks Brian. I’m not sure if I have your email. Could you PM it to me?

I've just completed a document compiling all the info I could glean from various sources about sword and koshirae stamps. I got tired of jumping from books to various websites when I needed to look up a stamp. It's in .pdf format, so I'm going to try uploading. I've also converted it into .jpg (for facebook) but it's in a Zip file which also will not upload, I believe, or 37 individual photos!) Otherwise, PM me and I'll send it to interested collectors via email. Enjoy! Stamps.pdf

Thanks George! With observed ranges like that (103 - 2353) it does seem to be more likely that it was tracking their overall work for the IJA. Individual special orders wouldn't have such a range, I wouldn't think. Thanks for sharing with us!

That’s actually the face of the hand guard with the blade and seppa remover!

Thanks Stephen! Can’t get any more detailed than that.

Michael, Is the writing only on one side? Dates are usually on the other side from the smith name. If made in '39 or anytime during the war, it wasn't a "family" sword. Those are much older. The leather on the scabbard is simply leather. It's called a combat scabbard. The weekends tend to be slower around the forum, so if you don't get a confirmation on the smith name soon, someone with chime in by Monday, ususally.

Michael, I can't translate, someone will come along. But I can tell you this is a Type 98 Officer sword in combat scabbard. Japanese smiths sign the tangs with the blade tip pointed up, so I flipped your pics for readability.

George, regarding "contract numbers" - does this mean each number was tied to a custom contract with an individual, or does it refer to the smith's contract with the army; and/or are the numbers representative of how many blades he's made for the army under contract?

Klaus, As I understand the history of the star stamp, it didn't really get into widespread use until after 1942 (trial runs began in 1940, so some dated between '40 and '42 are around). So, it's possible your smith was making swords before and after the star stamp was established. BTW, is there no date on the other side? If not, it simply means the blade was made "off-site" at a non-arsenal forge.

Beautiful Type 98, dated April 1943.

Thanks Joe! So my record is still perfect - 0/10!

Augusto, I'm not skilled at this, so take this for what it's worth (at least until the real experts step in!) Looks like "Kanefumi" http://japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kanefumi.jpg Fukuda Kanefumi Things are usually slow on the weekends. Someone who knows better will chime in on Monday, hopefully!

Yes, Toyokawa Navy Arsenal. Many of the navy blades were made of an “anti-rust” steel. A forrunner of out modern stainless steel.

Looks nice. 1943 is all I can tell you.

us... can we have a first name to talk to? We LIKE pictures. It's the best way to live vicariously through other peoples' aquisitions! So bring on the pictures of your other sword too! I would say the majority of WWII swords were signed. Plenty weren't but I'd say most were. The smiths had several appretices that could sign for him, and also, sometimes the polisher could affix the smith's signature. With a better picture of the anchor stamp I can tell you which one it is. There were only 2, and yours seems it was the Toyokawa Navy Arsenal stamp, but a better pic will tell.

Rusty, also, the stamp on the throat of the saya is faint, but appears to be that of the: Shoheikan Gunso Kabushiki Gaisha This company made army and navy koshirae. They also advertise a wood saya gunto koshirae. The company was located in Tokyo and owned by Mr. Saito. You can see the logo here: http://japaneseswordindex.com/logo/logo.htm

For the "what it's worth" category, the mon is similar to the "Asano" Samurai family crest here: http://www.samurai-archives.com/crest1.html Though, Nick Komiya, at Warrelics, points out that by WWII any family could have a crest. Families without a crest could modify an original one very slightly to make it their own. I have also read somewhere, that gunto shops sometimes had a book of mons and an officer could simply choose one! But it's fun to imagine the possibility that a gunto, in hand, COULD have been owned by someone with actual Samurai heritage!

Nice example Augusto!

Hoanh, It only took me 2 years to get to you on this! But both are arsenal inspector marks. Top on is "Na" of Nagoya arsenal, and "Ho" of Kokura 1st Arsenal Bottom is "Ko" of Kokura, and "Ho" of Kokura 1st Arsenal

Stephen, don't know how I missed it, but this hot stamp is actaully listed in Fuller & Gregory's kokuin chart - as a Matsuda Kanetaka stamp! (item iv)