tbonesullivan

It's mumei. There's not a single marking on it, and I went up and down with a magnifying glass to see if anything was on the spine of the tang. It's got a pretty nice temper line, and the BO-HI, so I was expecting a signature.

Oh nice! I wish I'd known what to look for with all the Shin-Gunto I've had to look at. Originally we would just say "signed" and never bothered to identify the dates, makers, and keep track of the Arsenal stamps. I can say that overall Seki and Showa are the two most common ones I have seen first hand. Now if only I could reliably identify Kanji besides numbers, MASA, KANE, MITSU, and ISHI.

Sure! It's pretty typical Shin-Gunto, though the scabbard has a gloss finish, not matte. Also the Tsuba is perforated / skeletal.

I only the blade was as interesting as the fittings! It does have a Bo-Hi, and a temper line, but the blade is definitely Showato and the tang is unmarked. Not even an arsenal marking. It's also got some edge damage, hopefully from service during wwii.

Whoa! thanks! Shoulda searched the kanji "右正心" before posting. I'm wondering why it was cut down. Seems to have been refit once or twice maybe. It's in standard textbook Type 98 Shin-gunto fittings with an Aluminum scabbard.

So, this is a blade from a Type 98 Shin gunto setting. The blade is actually in pretty good polish. The tang was cut down, but it also doesn't look very old, so I'm thinking the blade is definitely Showa Era. The mei is a bit strange. The first two characters are 石 正 ISHI MASA, and the last one, as far as I can tell, is 心 SHIN. I've been looking can't cant find anything, so I'm wondering if my translation is correct and/or incomplete. Maybe there was another character that got cut? off? Any help would be appreciated!

It weighs 1.65lbs according to my scale, and it's 26 inches long with a 21 1/4 inch blade. Nice substantial feel, but not as heavy as say a U.S. Civil War Artillery short sword. Those are pretty beastly. I've also seen that with some Swiss and Italian bayonets for the Vetterli rifles. I've always wondered how well it worked out over all in terms of durability. I've seen various "bolo" machetes used by the U.S. that also have the blades ground from only one side.

AHH... Man my google skills have gotten weak. Now I'm finding things.

Well, this is definitely a weird one. At first I thought it was some type of WWI/WWII era Chinese Jian, and it's dated on the blade. However, after looking through Chinese era dates fruitlessly, I though the era date looked familiar. Well, it should, as this sword, real or not, has a Meiji Date on it. It's dated right to left, but it definitely reads 明 治 十 九 年 or Meiji 19 = 1886. This would be well after the Satsuma rebellion and into the "modernization" of Japan. Has anyone seen one of these before? The blade is flat on one side, and fullered on the other, and honestly looks like a Western style artillery short sword. Google is failing me. Was Japan making export swords at the time? It definitely is well made, but also definitely machine made.

Oh wow, I never thought there'd be any information about him. Is there any meaning to the Mon other than the link to many famous Samurai families? I've seen the same mon on various other Shin-Gunto swords.

Well, this is a Shin-Gunto with what looks to be a Maruni chigai takanoha (丸に違鷹羽) Mon on the Kabuto-gane. It also has 4 Characters on the Fuchi, which are giving my rudimentary Japanese skills fits. The one farthest to the right looks like 近, but it seems to have an extra stroke. I checked the list of 8 stroke kanji I have, but couldn't find anything. The others I have no clue on.

I could see 兼隆 KANETAKA.

This is giving me a bit of trouble. From what I can tell it reads 兼 俊 之 作 - KANE TOSHI KORE SAKU. But, It doesn't look like any oshigata I can find. I also thought maybe the second character was 隆 TAKA, but that doesn't look right either. Kanetoki? This one looked easy at first. HAH.

Thanks!!! I'm still not used to the script way of writing. I actually was watching a Japanese series yesterday, and someone wrote a note in Japanese script, and none of the younger people could read it.

This is my first time looking at a sword by Asano Kanezane, and it definitely appears that there are many different ways these blades can be signed. I checked out the on the Japanese sword index, and this sword seems to use signature pattern "C" C. Noshu ju Asano Kanesane saku kore , with the Kokuin and the Showa Stamp. http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/kanezane.htm I guess my question is regarding the second kanji in the mei. Is Noshu written 濃州 or 濃刕 in this case? I am assuming the entire mei is 濃州住浅野兼眞作之, but the Kanji for Shu doesn't look much like 州. For the hamon I'm going to go with Choji Midare. Thanks for any help you can give! It's a nice sword!

Thanks!!! Also just found these pages: http://meiboku.info/guide/form/hamon/index.htm https://www.yaegaki-kai.be/iaido/katana-parts/hamon/ Gyaku (Oblique) Choji maybe? Seems to be the same as Saka (slanted) Choji. Nokogiri-ba (Sawtooth)? So many different types.

So, this is from a tanto that has a VERY faint hamon. Definitely in need of a finish polish, and it's only really visible on one side. it's almost like an angled sawtooth. I thought maybe some variant of GUNOME? YAHAZU? Getting pictures of this was not easy, but my iPhone was up to the task. Using a scanner showed zip, and originally I thought it didn't have one.

DING DING DING! Found it!

Here's a photo with the habaki off. I tried to get more detail but failed unfortunately. I did notice that the middle number was kinda 'overstamped'. I had a bit of trouble at first. I have included a picture of the handle as well, which definitely has got to be real, so I'm fairly certain this blade is not a fake. Looking at it now, I think it may in fact bee a ク KU or a ワ WA instead.

Well, that's a bit disconcerting. Just got my first chance to look at a Mantetsu. I'll have to take some more pictures. This one is numbered on the spine with ウ 四 六 六 - U 4 6 6 . Dated: 昭 和 壬 午 秋 - Showa Mizunoe-Uma Aki - Fall of 1942

This is, thankfully not one I need help translating. It's more of a question regarding how the blade has been signed. Is it normal for some smiths to put their FULL real name before their name as a smith? Most of the MEI I can find are just 高崎金繁 TAKASAKI KANESHIGE or the full 関住高崎金繁作 SEKI JU TAKASAKI KANESHIGE SAKU.

Well, I managed to find this via google:

That could make sense. I did see that listed in the oshigata, but it was a bit different. Maybe they were in a rush?

Yeah, I would NOT want to live with something like that, or anything of exceeding value, uniqueness etc. As Indiana Jones would say "That belongs in a museum!". The proper care, treatment, respect, etc would drive me insane. This also reminds me of a company that bought what was, at the time, the most expensive bottle of wine EVER sold at auction. They displayed it. Under hot lights. It became then the most expensive bottle of vinegar in the world.

Yep, another Type 98 Shin-gunto I spent way too much time staring at. The first character looks familiar to me, but the closest I could find was 奥 , which is OKU or would usually be part of 奥州 OSHU The second character however is definitely not 州, but looks to be either 心 (SHIN) or possibly 必 , but the second doesn't seem to be used in MEI The only character I'm (relatively) sure on is that the fourth one is 金 (KANE or KIN) From what I can find regarding showa smiths, I found references to 金丸 Kanemaru and 金 近 Kanechika, but that second character doesn't look like either.