David Flynn

Mr Moss, As an Australian, if find this most irreverent and distasteful. This also borders on immaturity. I suppose that's why I like it.

G'day Raul, welcome to the forum.

Lack of Hada could be from low end wartime polish, or oxidisation. Careful examination of the Habuchi maybe more indicative.

Nagoya arsenal used a W stamp.

There is a Showa period Kane Uji who signed nijimei on page 74 of John Sloughs Book. John points to the way the signature is written as possibly done by Kanezane. John also says he made Showato. Now here's the thing, maybe this smith was illiterate and had othes sign for him. Amahide either had his son, Kanemune or Ido Hidetoshi sign for him. Next point, does this sword have an arsenal stamp? If it doesn't, that doesn't mean its not a Showa to. However, I think this sword may need further research to see if its hand made. In Japanese swords there are always exceptions. Some very good Gendaito were made during the war by "Hobby," smiths. Some Gendaito were made by Smiths who were predominantly makers of Showa to. Welcome aboard Tsugio.

It was supposed to be a pun on stephens post where he uses a pun on Apocalypse now. I love the smell of Napalm in the morning, .....smells like victory.

This is a world war 2 sword

It smells like crap

High grade Camelia oil is an accepted oil for Nihonto and has the advantage of not smelling like cloves.

oops

problem with soaking is, they are usualy fragile. Many,( unless the mount is in very good condition), fall apart upon removing

Welcome Jaimie, beware of catching the bug

Generaly termed as Lay priest.

Buffed blades may be polished. However, one should consider them like a rusted blade. Is the actual blade worth being polished? Fortunately, the buffed blades I have seen, have mostly been Showato.

The past is gone and can't be changed. The future hasn't arrived, so we have no control over it. There is only now.

Welcome Jason, I hope you enjoy this forum.

By the signature, this looks like a Showato?

This one is not Ichi hara Nagamitsu. Ichihara never signed Seki. If he used a provence, it was, Bizen (no) Kuni.

Looks like Kanetsugu? Blue/brown are company grade, Leiutenant/captain.

Welcome Florian, and good luck with your endeavours.

Namu Amida Butsu.

George maybe they were made before they were appointed RJT?

George, this particular Kanenobu wasn't RJT, I believe he died just before the war. The reason I mentioned this sword, was because many collectors tend to ignore Gendaito. Also, none of the other swords had Star stamps either. Although I'm pricniply a Gendai collector, :D I don't own one with a Star stamp. In fact, I have personaly steered clear of Star stamps, due to the conjecture. As well, we checked with the NTHK Yoshikawa grp. before the Sydney shinsa if Star stamps were acceptable and were told they were. Unfortunately none were submitted. Just another note on the quality of many Gendaito, I took one(Kanestune) to the NY Shinsa in 2006 and it recieved 75pts and was in top few of the whole shinsa.

Just another little tangent on Gendaito as a Whole. At the Sydney shinsa I entered 5 Gendaito. All passed and one, a first Generation Kanenobu (Niwa Kanenobus'Dad), was chosen as one of the best swords in the Show. At the end of the Show, Dr Gordon Robson, gave a talk on a few swords that the Team had considered, the best swords in the shinsa. It was said of my Kanenobu, that on a whole, Gordon did not like Gendai, but here was a good reason to collect Gendaito.

Eric, Peter is right about the Habuchi. When looked at closely, a "True", Habuchi shows individual crystals, whilst an oil Tempered habuchi looks like a long smudge. Also, this particular style of hamon is quite common on Seki made Showa, non gendai swords.