Bruce Pennington

Was this mounted in WWII fittings, or with a leather cover? The hash marks are normally seen on WWII gunto, and will match stamped numbers on the rest of the fittings. Yours is a bit unusual as it looks like "5 4 10".

Personally, I just carefully use some gorilla glue or liquid steel.

I agree, never seen one like that! Custom tsuba, too

Welcome, Shaun! Now that you've dipped your toe in the Japanese sword world, do you plan to start collecting?

Sesko's list shows 21 Norimitsu using 則光. You'd have to post the full blade for evaluation on the Nihonto forum to get some speculation as to which one yours was.

Full discussion of the black painting, but the guys above have already summarized what we know

Latest one posted by @Bloodaxe924 here:

Hi Charles! I think a lot of us would appreciate seeing shots of the nakago. Is that possible? Yes, it is legit. Commonly called the Type 3 in the collector world. It was designed in 1938 and hit the streets in 1940. Didn't seem to become popular until '43/'44 and later, though, hence the impression is was late war sword. You can read all about them in these articles: Real Significance of the Type 3 - Nick Komiya, Warrelics Unveiling the Rinjiseishiki Sword in 1940 - Nick Komiya, Warrelics

Found out I have 2 of his with Showa stamps, and as with the Seki stamped blades, even these 2 mei are different! Don't know if this helps:

I have 3 on file and all 3 have different mei. One is close to this one (and is just as hard to read!) This is the other that begins with "Seki" but the mei kanji are different:

Nice, Chris, thanks!

Hi Marcin, Not out of place at all. I only have 3 of his on file, this one being one of them. I see what you mean. There is an extra stroke on the kakihan and Mitsu that are not on the other one. However, the extra stroke on the kakihan is seen on this third example, though, not on the Mitsu. He was one of the smiths that signed with another name - Teruhide. JSI has a page about him Ishido Teruhide; Japaneseswordindex.com, with some mei for comparison. In this case, though, the kaigunto comes with a nice kamon, and has a stamped number - 20 - on the mune as does his other blades on file. So, I'd write this one off as a student mei cutter, or a rush job, or a bad Monday after a fun weekend. It also is made worse looking because of the poor powder job from the seller.

Interesting Tony! My light-weight gunto has a chrome plated blade as well and has a fuller, though the kissaki is standard shape.

I saw that, too, but realized that it is the shop we are recognizing. The shop would easily have gotten blades made by different smiths/forges.

Anyone look at current asking prices for Type 95s? Just scanned ebay and they are going through the roof! $1,200 is the low end with several above $1,500 up to $2,200 USD!!!! Sure, that is asking price and the actual sale may go lower, but my point is the asking prices are way up.

Difference in fittings could be due to customer requests? Note the same late-war coating under the ito, instead of same':

Maybe a self-portrait? Ha! Seriously, Jim, that's a great looking habaki! Thanks for posting.

Said to be true gendaito, though each blade must be considered on it's own. Also popular among many collectors because of his unique story.

You can see the kanji on this page: Dating Japanese Swords - Japaneseswordindex.com

Garrett, You can contact any of the dealers on the NMB dealer forum: Dealer Showcase. And there is always ebay. The other guys will have to opine on age and value. Hopefully someone can help you.

Rob, You've done everything you can short of paying for a polish. You can try uchiko powder, but I've had little to no success with it on rust and spots.

Yeah, that's going to be a judgement call on your part Troy. I think just about all of us have our fake or poor quality sword we bought at the beginning of our collecting years. If money is tight, you might opt for the return. If you have plenty for future purchases, then keep it as a lesson-learned.

Sesko's list doesn't show a Toyomaru, however there are many late-war smiths we have been coming across that are not in his book. Anything is possible in the world of WWII gunto. As with the fuchi, that kabutogane has some nice workmanship. Not what we normally see from fakers.

DOH!!!

Thank you, Adam, that is a very nice example! And you are getting quite a nice collection, too! I only had 2 other Kanetoshi with the kokuin. Now I have 3.