Bruce Pennington

Linking 2 similar 32s over at Gunboards: Type 32 Japanese Sword Question Type 32 Sword and Type 30 Bayonet - Paint?

Kurt, Both of your pics of the habaki are slightly blurred. Any chance of getting a clear shot of that? Wanting to see the fine detail inside each hexagon.

Also, @Kyle68 - could I get a clear, closeup of that number on the end, please?

"W" stamped for those tracking them. @Kiipu

I know there are 1 or 2 guys who collect things like this, but not many, so your responses may be slow in coming. We've seen several come through over the years. Are you are just looking for guys that own them to post?

Lun @Suci Any small stamps near the top, or on the back edge?

Wow, never seen anything like it. Thought maybe Plimpton would have it, but I don't see it there. In the back of Dawson, he has several highly customized swords of all kinds (not yours, unfortunately). I suspect your is, too. He states the 3-5-3 is found on Sonin-level Court and Diplomatic swords.

Maybe Brian did a typo, then? because this is Sadakatsu: The one Brian posted above is Sadakazu, but he said "Sadakatsu"

Brian, I have blades by this smith filed under the name SadaKAZU. Is SadaKATSU just another way to pronounce the same name/kanji?

It's the date - 1941. No photos of the other side?

Thanks Steve, I've amended my post above. Slough has no reference to Nobutoshi or Nobutake. I had mislabeled a file of mine from the JSI. Sorry for the mix up, but your answer is still good the see.

deleted Note: I had mistakenly filed the JSI oshigata, labeled Nobutoshi, as a Slough reference, and asked Steve for his opinion. I deleted that original post when I realized the photo came from JSI not Slough.

Excellent Gerry! Thanks! Note my correction to my first post. I believe the smith is Nobutake, not Nobutoshi. We now have 3 of his numbered blades - 205, 218, and 283 - star stamped.

Looks like it's one of those unlisted RJT smiths UPDATE: Sesko has no "Nobutoshi" listed, but he does have a Nobutake, with these kanji, and Nobutake is listed on the RJT list. I think the Japaneseswordindex has mislabled this smith and it's actually Nobutake.

@Gerry Thanks for the photo! Can we get a link so I can download more photos, like the date side and some overall shots? Sounds like you are familiar with the Type 95 stamps. This one is different. It is the Army's stamp indicating that the steel was provided to the smith by the Army, under the RJT system, and so it's tamahagane and the blade is gendaito. You can read some about the RJT program on this thread: And some about the star stamp in my Stamps of the Japanese Sword article free download.

Eric, I haven't seen this design before, but I don't follow tsuba as a collector. You are sure to get some expert opinions on this forum, though. I would say the circled plant in the center is a family mon (crest). I suspect the other surrounding images have some meaning, but the other guys will have to chime in for that, too. Very interesting tsuba.

I'm surprised at how many are chiseled out of the steel vs cut into the blade. I don't follow the craft, so maybe it's common. @Jim Manley - don't want to sidetrack the thread, but could you PM me a couple of good photos of that habaki for the Habaki Art thread, or you are certainly welcome to post it yourself there.

There is a slight chance of this being a Mantetsu blade. Show him this video. It's extremely easy to remove the tsuka. They were made for easy removal. https://youtu.be/oFT5OMQr2vw

Good to see you, John! Yes, a mystery. I speculate that the signed ones were war surplus, while the unsigned were made post-war. Another option is that the signed ones were made post war by experienced smiths and the unsigned by the staff of laborers trained by those smiths, similar to what happened with SMR. They had a couple or 3 actual smiths get the factory going, and trained the SMR team of workers to make blades. Some were signed by those smiths, while the rest went unsigned. But I just guessing.

Nothing to worry about with the black paint. You can see several other gunto painted black on this thread: No one knows who was doing it or why, but the general consensus is that it was done during the war. The identifiable stamps are the stacked cannon balls of the Kokura Army Arsenal and the "KO" of their supervisory unit.

Oops! Thanks Mal, files corrected.

Wow, what a super inscription, thanks Moriyama-san!

We need a dedicated Zoheito thread. I looked for one, with no luck. This one has the Kokura cannon balls and "Ko" stamps, and it's got a stamped "58" at the end of the nakago, blade tip down. It's in a quite unique Type 94, with "Imperial Gift" marked on the habaki. Being sold by St. Croix Blades HERE. Oh, also had the cheveron saurte (posted already on John's thread) and tsuba marked with the Suya Shoten shop logo: @mecox @BANGBANGSAN @Kiipu @PNSSHOGUN

Here's a nice one, John. On a an "Imperial Gift" Type 94, with zoheito blade, being sold by St. Croix Blades HERE. The tsuba (assume all the fittings) are Suya Shoten:

Found this on the mune of a Kanemitsu blade, for sale on this eBay page. It's actually quite a unique blade (assuming it's legit!) as the mei has a Kakihan. It's the first time I've seen a Kanemitsu kakihan. Here's the mune: Just for future searches, here's the mei and date: