Bruce Pennington

Marcin, The black army saya is fairly common. At first glance, I often think "Aha! Another souvenir.", when it's really just another army saya. The metal fittings aren't gold gilded.

Yes. He, and/or his forge, had his own kokuin that is seen on his blades, but also on 4 other smiths that must have worked at the forge - Kanemune, Kunimoto, Hidetoshi, and Masafusa And yet, we also have one of his blades with an unknown stamp: And a couple blades with his Retired Servicemen's group, Koa Token Sha, kokuin: All this added to these stamped-mei blades!

Marcin, A mon is a crest, kamon is family crest. We usually just say mon for short. No, the railway emblem is not what we mean when discussing mon. See here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29606-help-identity-our-mon/?do=getNewComment

Thanks, Mal! That one seems to be making the rounds. Found it back in 2022 for sale, then again in Sept '24. Always appreciate the tips, though! Autumn '42 Koa Isshin

Martin, Help me understand your question - Are you asking if presenting swords in high quality cases was a normal practice? Or are you asking if presenting swords to officials, in general, was a normal practice? I personally have not seen them in elaborate cases, but have seen them in plain wooden boxes. I have seen several presentation swords. One in our files was made by the South Manchurian Railway (Mantetsu) and presented to city officials of 3 small towns. Others are found in fancy tachi fittings and were given to railway employees when they reached 25 years of service. Looking forward to seeing the sword and box of your post.

I second that.

The stamped mei were uncommon, but I have a few on file from 4 smiths: Seven blades from Masayuki 9 Naohiro 1 Nobumitsu and now 2 Shigenaga (this one from JSI) We now have 2 Amahide blades with other smith names stamped at the bottom - Shigenaga and Kanemaru.

From Sesko's list: "KANEMARU (金丸), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Nagasaki – “Kanemaru” (金丸), family name Ogawa (小川), ryōkō no jōi (Akihide), Fifth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)"

Ok, thanks, Thomas. I see it's one of those situations where more than one English word can be used for the Japanese word. I'll leave the Stamps doc terminology as is, and use the terms interchangeably in discussions.

Ken, You Tenshozan blade has navy tsuba/seppa (hand guard and spacer) but an army saya (scabbard). Don't know who matched them up that way, but it wouldn't have been that way originally. The second is in army fittings. The wooden saya originally would have had a leather cover. Check the brown tassel for any signs of faded blue or red. If none, then this sword was carried by someone in the Gunzoku, the civilian branch of the army.

Books and time. It will come along. Books won't help much with stamping, though. If you don't have it already, download Stamps of the Japanese Sword, for the latest info.

This is not a WWII blade, Derek. All I recognize is "Masa". Have to wait for the real translators for the rest.

Michael, The majority of the conversation took place via PM. I announced our conclusion and summary of the issue on this post:

The common mistake, perpetuated by years of collector folklore, is that the Showa stamp was an arsenal mark. It was not. It was the inspection mark of the civilian organization Seki Cutlery Industry Association (I've been saying "Manufacturers"; but Thomas has it as "Industry". He's the language expert, so "Industry" it is!). They were asked by sword shops/forges to start running inspections because "poor showato were hurting the industry's reputation." These blades were made for both the civilian and military markets. Yes, the massive majority were bought by the military, but many were sold to private shops.

Here's a first for me - Patent numbers on Type 98 saya:

Well, call me surprised! Never seen patent numbers on saya before!

Chris, I updated the post to add the photo with the star. Was in a hurry originally, and didn't notice I'd left it off.

I'd go with Showa 17, 1942: I have 6 other Munenaga and only one is dated, also 1942:

Close. I have one prior: 1943, Jul Yamagata Akiyoshi (RJT) マ 360 Star Leen, NMB, RS 1943, Oct Yamagata Yoshikane, 吉包 (?) マ 468 Star Tomp, Warrelics, T98 1943, Dec Yamagata Naohisa (RJT) マ 554 Star Pauln93, NMB 1944, Jun Yamagata Sadatomo マ 894 Stephen, NMB 1944, Jul Yamagata Munehide (RJT) マ 870 Yahoo/Kiipu notRS ND Yamagata Munemitsu (RJT) マ 431 Star Cillo, pg 119

Yes, I failed to mention that it is star stamped.

That's a cool find, Conway! I haven't researched where and when the entire gunto were assembled. Maybe Thomas has a feel for that. I know SMR made fittings, and I'm aware that some shops, like Suya, made fittings and sometime the whole sword. But I don't know what went on at the arsenals.

Like I say, I'm not the guy to figure this out. Have to wait for the experts.

While we wait for the real experts, Sesko says of the two: "OKIMITSU (沖光), 1st gen., Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Shimane – “Okimitsu” (沖光), real name Hara Kakutarō (原角太郎), student of Murakami Masatada (村上正忠), it is said that the part “Oki” in his name Okimitsu, a name that was given to him by his master Masatada, alludes to his place of residence which was in Nishinoshima (西ノ島) in the Oki district (隠岐) of Shimane Prefecture, he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō, kihin no retsu (Akihide), Second Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941) (see picture right) OKIMITSU (沖光), 2nd gen., Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Shimane – “Oki no Kuni-jūnin Okimitsu kore o saku” (隠岐国住人沖光作之), “Oki no Kuni-jū Okimitsu saku” (隠岐国 住沖光作), real name Hara Hiroshi (原寛), born September 19th 1928, son of Hara Kakutarō (原角太郎), he succeeded as second generation of that name in 1952 but it is unknown if his father died in that year or just handed him over the forge, maybe the former approach is more likely as Kakutarō was only 24 years old at that time (see picture right)" The mei looks more like the 2nd gen to me.