Bruce Pennington

Showa stamp at top. Safe to say no date on the other side?

A great mon on a Navy kyugunto, seller says blade signed by "Yasutomo", can't confirm as they failed to post nakago. Found at this Online Auction

Not a gunto, but served in the war - really worn red urushi on this old blade: found at this Carl Watson's Orange Coast Auction

Not that I know of, John. Just checked the blades stamped with Seki and they span the whole alphabet.

This is really going to come down to your own tastes. That is a fine sword. Older sword re-fitted for the war. I don't think it's mumei. You can faintly see a mei under the corrosion.

天明 is 1781, so either way you're looking at 1787 or 1785

FYI - that's the earliest Masahide, with Kao, I have on file.

PLEASE DO!!!

I don't know anything about civil tsuba, so those guys will have to comment, but if it were on a WWII gunto, I'd say it's a poor copy.

Thanks Thomas, good ones! That's correct, all Gifu. As I think about it, the Showa and Seki stamps were originated because Seki area smiths & shops were bothered by poor showato on the market. I've never checked the blades with these stamps to see if they are all Gifu/Seki smiths. It would be logical, but I don't know it for a fact. The dated blades (all 3 of them) seem to parallel the dated use of the large Seki stamp 1941 increasing to 1942. Don't know what that means, but an observation none the less. Latest Chart Tan 1941, Aug Kanetsune – Gifu Yahoo Auction 1942 Sadatsugu – Gifu Hxv, NMB 1942, Jan Kanetada – Gifu David Price, NMB ND Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu Cillo, pg 37 ND Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu Military trader, W-A ND Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu G584, NMB ND Kanekuni – Gifu Zook, NMB, kaigunto ND Kanekuni, Ogawa – Gifu F & G, Swordmiths, pg 78 ND Kanenaga, Amichi 包永 – Gifu Waljamanda, NMB ND Kanesumi, Sato (RJT) – Gifu Sksguide, NMB ND Kanetoshi – Gifu Slough, pg 122 ND Kanetoshi – Gifu GregD, NMB ND Kiyonobu, Nagamura - Gifu Cillo, pg 85 ND Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Beater, NMB ND Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Aukshunshuset.com ND Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Nic, NMB

Like Adam said, he has my thoughts already. My main concern would be buying any sword without more information, unless the price is so cheap that it wouldn't matter how they actually turn out. For the record, I do like #2 because of the saya color and Field grade tassel. #3 is nice looking too.

Hi Kurt! I don't mind chatting via email, but I think other guys from Europe might be able to help you more, as I don't know the best options for buying swords over there. One thing I can tell you is the NMB For Sale or Trade: Swords and Edged Weapons forum is a good place to start. I've bought half my collection from dealers, and the other half on ebay. Dealers will cost you more money, but are more trustworthy. Ebay is a minefield full of fakes and sometimes shaky sellers.

Thomas, I posted on the other thread, a duplicate, about the 94 possibly being a Java (Sumatra) sword, but had reservations. Can you take a look at the other thread?

Ah, I see this was a duplicate post, and Thomas commented on the other already.

Hi JJ! Got some good news and some bad news. Bad news is that the Type 95 NCO sword (metal handle) is a reproduction. Don't know if it's Chinese, Polish, or Indian, but it's fake. Good news, maybe, is the officer Type 94 could be what we call a Java sword. There were swords made in Sumatra, Java, and can be identified by the writing on the nakago (tang). I say "could be" because I've never seen one with a single line of writing (usually 2) and whoever wrote it was a bad speller. The 2 strokes on the top kana are in the wrong direction, and the kana on the bottom is the wrong one. Now, I give it benefit of the doubt because maybe they used a new guy in Sumatra that didn't exactly know how to spell in Japanese very well. Also, I can't imagine the standard Faker Industry trying to fake a Java sword. Let's see what @BANGBANGSAN and @Kiipu think about this one. While we wait for them, I'll post yours next to one we know is legit for comparison:

@Mark S. @Mikaveli Gentlemen - can you tell me anything about the Zenjo/Yoshisada Ha? Edit: After reading a few threads, I see the school has been around for quite some time. Do we know if it was operating during WWII? I'm trying to track down a few WWII smiths whose blades were stamped with the "TAN" stamp. They were all from Gifu, and one, Ogawa Kanekuni, was said to be from the "Zenjo school". The others with the stamp were: Kanetsune – Gifu Sadatsugu – Gifu Kanetada – Gifu Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu Kaneaki (RJT) – Gifu Kanekuni – Gifu Kanekuni, Ogawa – Gifu Kanesumi, Sato (RJT) – Gifu Kanetoshi – Gifu Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu Kiyonobu, Nagamura – Gifu

This is all Sesko has on him. Father and son, so possibly the son? "KANEKUNI (兼国), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Nōshū Seki-jū Kanekuni saku” (濃州関住兼国作), “Kanekuni” (兼国), real name Ogawa Sentarō (小川仙太郎), he was born in the twelfth month of the sixth year of Meiji (明治, 1873) and studied under Kosaka Kaneyoshi (小坂兼吉), after the death of his master in 1914 he took over his training site Tōken Tanren Jo (刀剣鍛錬所), he died on July 14th 1939 KANEKUNI (兼国), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanekuni” (兼国), real name Ogawa Ichirō (小川一郎), born May 15th 1910, son of Ogawa Sentarō Kanekuni, he also studied under Kosaka Kaneyoshi (小坂兼吉) and was after his father also in charge of the training site Tōken Tanren Jo (刀剣鍛錬所), he died July 24th 1977" Also found a discussion on this Terukado thread where it was stated that the Zenjo Ha was the Yoshisada Ha, of Seki.

Another here:

Here's one, from this discussion:

Interesting. A puzzle. Made in 1943, it was likely made for the 98 fittings, which would have been the top hole in your first picture. Even if it were made for Rinji (Type 3) fittings, there would have been just 2 holes. The middle hole is the mystery. Blades were sold to the civil market, even during the war, and many WWII era blades are found in civil fittings, but even those usually only used 1 hole. Hm.

Don't recall how many of these we've actually seen. A search of the forums might reveal some. Ohmura documents several styles, of which is yours - 3rd down, right side. So, not common, but not unheard of. Would have been an upgrade at increased cost. The scabbard, a spring clip and a tassel for new Guntōes (ohmura-study.net)

The screenshots didn't work. Sometimes the 'drag and drop' doesn't work and you have to use the 'choose files'.

Update Asked Akira Komiya about the linked site and the kana on the medals. He said page 2 of that site shows one of the kana to be the first character of the shop name that made the medal. There were many shops making these medals and the kana are most likely an abbreviation of each shop name. In a way, this supports our idea that the kana on naval blades are an abbreviation of the forge where they were made.

George, I think this came from another book, not Slough. Anyone recognize the page/style?

Thanks Mich! Both are the large Seki stamp, likely date range for you blade is 1941-43, '42 most likely.