george trotter

Thanks for posting the pic of SHIGEKUNI Brian. From the even rust, some people may be tempted to think the sword is older than SHOWA Jidai, but please be assured, it is definitely not earlier. I should also say that my earlier description of the tang as KENGYO should really be called IRIYAMA GATA. I have been doing some study of the later NANKI SHIGEKUNI smiths, Shinshinto era, and this sword's tang, yasuri and mei characteristics match quite accurately. The blade does match some aspects of later NANKI line hada, boshi and hamon but in shape is typical of SHOWA era Gendai swords made for reliable hand to hand fighting. Thank you all for your interst and help...now I wait for the incredibly knowledgeable DR. T (who is he?)... Regards, Geo.

Hi all, Well I managed to make the pic a jpeg and it was too big. So I cropped it and then it hated my pixels ...so I give up. Thanks anyway fellas. george.

Thanks Brian, when my daughter gets home I will ask her to help with the jpg (I'm a techno-trog). It is definitely a modern blade. wide suguba of ko-midare, nice nie line, ko-maru boshi of chu to almost o size kissaki. hada is mostly tight itame with some larger patches in the mono-uchi. Ubu nakago of kengyo style (almost Kaga style) and kessho yasuri. Nicely cut two character katanamei immediately below the single ana. Fittings are standard type 94 WWII with siver wrapped habaki and mon on hilt (missing) so the former owner, a 2nd Lt. Kume of the Kaede Division must have cherished it. The blade is generally in excellent condition, a couple of spots and the usual scratches etc but in good un-abused condition. I probably won't have it polished as I like the WWII sashi komi style polish. I have tried all sources I can think of and no info. Will post a pic as soon as I can. George T.

Dear C. Ascher II, sorry, every time I try to upload the scan (tif) of the mei, it says the file is invalid. The two characters are the most common of SHIGE and KUNI - like all the NANKI Shigekuni's in Hawley. George T.

Oops... I misread the mei, It was done correctly for you Gan Nen, hachi gatsu beggining year, eighth month. My mistake sorry:-( George T.

Hi hermes, I came in late , so please disregard if this is already pointed out - but the character in the date given to you as 8 (ie 8th month) is actually Gan, meaning first, beginning month. So your date is actually 1st month of.... George Trotter

Hi all, I have been collecting, and interested in, Japanese swords for 40 years and I am particularly interested in Gendaito and good Gunto. I picked up a gendaito/gunto yesterday and the maker is not in any book or site - I wonder if anyone out there has seen him before? Two character signature SHIGEKUNI - this is the same mei as all those Nanki Shigekuni smiths in Hawley. this is a good handmade blade - NOT Seki gunto. It has kengyo tang and kessho filemarks. Type 94 gunto mounts and silver wrapped habaki and mon on handle. Blade is wide suguba of ko-midare with long ko-maru tip and tight itame. He is too good to be an unknown smith - but I am surprised he is not listed - maybe Shigekuni is the alternative name used by a smith in certain circumstances? Hope someone can help, George Trotter.