Bruce Pennington

Fumei, This sword was made in China, attempting to appear Japanese. A few reasons: - 5 digit number on habaki. The only swords used by Japanese with numbers on habaki were Railway swords, and this is not one - One way folding on tsuka wrap. Standard Chinese method. Japanese used alternating twist directions - Fuchi decorations are not Japanese - Biggest tell of all: Damascus steel blade. Damascus steel was not used during WWII by anyone, neither Japan, nor their collaborators in occupied areas. Maybe someone can attempt to translate the mei. I don't read Japanese, nor Chinese, but it doesn't look like a real smith name. Maybe @BANGBANGSAN can help? There were swods made in occupied territories during the war that had poor quality fittings, similar to yours, but none of them would have a Damascus steel blade. I guarantee it.

Sounds logical, thanks Steve. What made me think the 9 was a 5 was the small horizontal line on the top of the kanji. I just assumed the bottom horizontal was incompletely struck. We have seen other late war inscriptions with questionable skill. Your theory is probably spot on.

Ok, not THAT kind of a date! Ha! This kind: It looks like Showa 10 10 5 year 12 month, but that would be December, 1950, which doesn't jibe with a WWII Rinji

I did not, John, thanks! Both are mumei duplicates of named blades of the same numbers. Both 61's have no anchor stamps, strangely.

Thought I'd put this out there, in case one of our guys could pick it up. Not many know this, but there were only about 4,000 of the side-latch 95s made compared to the over 6,000 of the copper handles. So, numberically, the side-latch is more rare than a copper. Auction found here: Centurian Auction - HIBID link

In case anyone else is tracking these. A couple more added to the chart: Mumei, large anchor, #44, standard fittings, nice bag, found at this Mileston Auctions page And a duplicate #6, Toyosuke, finished jiri, small anchor, standard fittings, posted by Highpower3006 on this Gunboards Thread. The other "6" is mumei, large anchor, unfinished jiri - so just speculating, but maybe the finished Toyosuke was in the first batch and the unfinished, mumei was in one of the follow-on batches.

It must be tricks of the lighting, because the color of the saya throat looks different than the rest of the saya. The wear patterns on the saya and belt ring look like wartime use. The color isn't as strange as the original photos made it seem. It's possible this is WWII paint.

Nice, Adam! With the new pics, I'd say the tsuka paint looks original. Metal parts certainly have been buffed. Only 1 shot of the saya throat, but it does look re-painted in that shot. Exceptionally early serial number, too, for the aluminum handle group.

There was some variation, Phil, on how to rig a gunto for shoulder/back carry. So, it wouldn't surprise me if yours had a different method. Here's a couple of threads with other examples: Leather Hanger for Type 95 Unusual Leather Covered Saya Thomas' commentary on Mizuno along with the date provided by Nick Komiya (a few months in 1942) are all we know about the company.

Glad it went to you Conway! An update on observed Mantetsu in MRS fittings. 20 so far: Manchurian Rinji Seishiki (MRS) Fittings Date Serial Number Notes Source 1938 Winter N 156 SMR IJASWORDS, NMB 1942 Spring Unknown Sohei swords/ebay 1944 Spring SE 489 Ren ebay 1944 Spring SE 1029 Ren 1944 Spring SE 1066 Ren 1944 Spring SE 1144 Ren 1944 Spring SE 1251 1944 Spring SE 1310 Ren Leather Saya Cvr 1944 Spring SE 1344 Ren 1944 Spring No serial number Ren Gold Saya Worthpoint 1944 Spring SE 2430 Ren 連工 1944 Spring SE 2575 Ren 連工 1944 Spring SU 10 Ren 連工 1944 Spring ? 199 Ren 連工 1945 I 88 Mumei Conway, NMB 1945 I 142 Unknown Fuller 1945 I 164 Mumei St Croix swords 1945 I 165 Mumei Remilitaria.com 1945 I 285 Mumei ND blade only Steve, NMB 1945 I 1170 Mumei ND

We have discussed WWII gunto getting registration papers before. Still looking for a good link. Here's one from a while back: Working from memory, it has to do with the fact that they are letting people register WWII gunto that have "been discovered" in their homes lately. Shops and antique dealers have some sort of legal right to register swords, too.

The real experts will answer properly, but in my files with the kiku mon, I have 2 - 4 times more blades from him than any other smith.

August 1943

That's a personal decision. The sword was 'free', so the $2,000+ polish plus what you spend on fittings, will put it close to $3,000 invested. You'll not sell it for that much money, so monetarily, it's not "worth" the restoration. But for a family heirloom, the price won't matter, if one has the budget to do so. They are quite beautiful when restored.

Could use closer shots of the stamps and tsuka diamonds, but it looks like legit, with a total repaint. Tassel is either a repro or like Thomas said, from another country. I'd be excited about this one, even with the repaint due to the very early handle design. Note the barrel screw passed through the ito on one side, and the wrap starts against the fuchi on one side and crosses away from it on the other like real ito does. They modified the design a little later. I had one of these a while back, but traded it to Stegel for a kyugunto. I haven't see the fakers use this pattern tsuka.

Thanks Phil, and thanks for the additional photos. The all brown tassel tells us the sword was carried by a Gunzoku, the civilian branch of the Army.

Thought I would update this conversation, as we've since found 3 other smiths with the Matsu stamp - Chikafusa, Kiyokuni, and Tsugunobu; all on 1943 blades: Matsu 1941, July Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 106 (RS ana) Slough 1941, Sep Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 249 Type 98 Trotter Survey, no pics 1941, Sep Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 308 Type 98 Trotter Collection 1941, Dec Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 566 RS Model Windy NMB ? Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 61 RS Trotter Survey, no pics ? Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 97 NMB 1942, Feb Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 542 RS star Trotter Survey, no pics 1942, Apr Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 11 RS Trotter Survey, no pics 1942, Nov Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 422 ? star Trotter Survey, no pics 1942, Nov Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 433 RS star Trotter Survey, no pics 1942, Oct Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 451 RS Davidequis NMB 1942, Dec Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 382 T98 Quest Master W-A 1942, Dec Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 577 RS star MacTheWhopper NMB 1943, Jan Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 508 T98 star Trotter Survey, no pics 1943, Feb Nagano Kiyokuni (RJT) 松 16 Ray Singer, NMB 1943, Feb Nagano Chikafusa (RJT) 松 20 Bangbangsan, NMB 1943, Mar Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 618 RS star Schmucker Collection 1943, Mar Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 819 RS star Vajo, Trotter Survey 1943, Mar Nagano Kiyokuni (RJT) 松 12 Guest Rayhan, NMB 1943, Mar Gunma Tsugunobu (RJT) 松 22 RS Star Bangbangsan, NMB RS 1943, May Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 1080 RS star Trotter Collection, イ403 on fittings 1943, May Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 1082 RS star baldi1942 NMB 1943, Oct Niigata Akihisa (RJT) 松 1377 RS star Trotter Survey, no pics 1943, Nov Niigata Munetoshi (RJT) 松 443 RS star ? NMB

Yes, good eye! The "REN" stamp.

Dang. Don't think I had that one on file. I've messaged him to see if he's got a serial number photo on file.

Phil, A couple of requests, if not too much trouble - Is that tassel all brown, or a faded blue/brown? Also, could I get a photo of the Seki stamp or of the full nakago showing the stamp? I assume no date on the other side?

That's quite unusual! Don't know if it's a stamp or a mark, maybe, of a clamp when they added the bohi? Unusual location if it's a stamp, though. Those are normally seen above the ana or at the jiri.

Good example, Sam. The polished wood work on that one in Dawson's book looks quite like the OP saya wood.

Well, so far, it still appears to be a late war Japanese-made sword. The tsuba (handguard), seppa (spacers), dark same' (rayskin) and small mekugi ana (hole in tang) are all signs of swords made in the last year of the war. Do you not have a scabbard (saya)?

Hello Jpoe. Is that what you go by? We like to have a real first name, or a nickname you go by, for our conversations. We'll need some better photos of the blade to judge it properly. Full length, bare naked blade; full length of the bare tang (nakago) with the brass habaki (collar) removed; a couple of close-ups of the temper line and blade tip. With the limited photos at hand, it mostly looks like a WWII era blade in Japanese officer gunto fittings. It should have a wooden scabbard (saya) with leather cover, but the cover is often missing. You can see photos of complete ones here: 九八式軍刀略式外装 Informality mounting (ohmura-study.net)

Good eye, didn't notice that before! This is the third one I've seen this year mounted that way, though I don't recall what type of fittings the other 2 were. Smith is Yoshiomi, and the Showa stamp should mean the blade was made in '40-41 plus or minus. So if these are late-war fittings, which they seem to be, the blade must have been re-fitted into this. The alternating folds of the tsuka indicate it was Japanese made. Many of the low quality fittings we see from occupied territories have the Chinese style folding, going one direction. I'd guess this was something done in the last year of the war. Working from memory, I believe both Dawson and Fuller have examples of creative variations that this item would fit quite naturally in with.