tbonesullivan

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.

Do Wakizashi use different shaped Nakago than Katanas? Or is it just because of the two mekugi ana? I dealt with an O-wakizashi with a nagasa of 22 1/4" or 56.5cm, and the sugata was pretty much identical to a katana.

Yeah, that is a bit rough. I've seen a lot of Shin Gunto, but usually not with the type of deep rust I see on the tang of this sword and the one you have. Worst one I had seen up until now was an example that used Cellulose Nitrate faux Ray skin. It outgassed and degraded, and turned the wrapping RED and it would disintegrate as it was touched. It also caused the entire tang to become rusted solid to the tsuka.

Well I feel dumb now. I assumed "no there's no way that's a ROKU character". Had I checked, the only one listed in the Gendaito page is Imai Sadaroku. Thanks again! I should have looked at the province Kanji for longer than i did.

These are the best pictures I could get. The Hamon is a very slow NOTARE shape. I was not able to get it at all, as the lighting I have is totally sub optimal.

So, this sword has a few rust issues on the tang, though I can still mostly make out the characters, though I'm having trouble with the second one especially. From what I can see, the first character should be 城 for part of YOSHU, or YOSHU NO KUNI, but I can't tell if the 州 character is under that rust. Searching through Mei hasn't really gotten me anywhere. I've had this second issue before, trying to decide if the character is a 國 or a 国 . From what I see, it's almost always 國, but some list the other form. After that, as best I can tell, it reads 有? 大 作 The NENGO is also a bit strange, as instead of the character for year, it just has a big circle.: 昭 和 十 八 〇 二 月 - Showa 18 (1943) 2nd Month (February)

Thanks! I really need to pick up some of the reference books once things calm down.

This is the tang of a Kai-Gunto with a blade that was refitted, and also had the tang "cleaned" apparently. There isn't much left of the yasurime. So, after staring at this for a while, I can tell that it's signed佐 光 信 光. Should there be more to the mei? From searching I can see it should be read SA KO NOBU MITSU, but usually there would be a province or Seki mark in front of it. I also don't really think it's that much older than the fittings, but it does look to have been remounted.

The blade on this example is MUMEI, and doesn't look to Showato due to the condition of the tang. However i can see a clear HAMON and HADA in the JI. There also looks to be crystallization along the hamon. I've attached pictures that show this, so would this be a higher end special order Type 98 Shin Gunto?

So, I've seen a lot of Shin-Gunto during my time writing up stuff for work, but I've never seen one with a SAYA like this. It has all the usual fittings on a Type 94/98 scabbard. However isn't metal over wood construction. Instead, it's wood with some type of textured fabric over it. Is this some type of synthetic shagreen? I looked for what the technical term is, or for other examples, and I wasn't able to find any. I've attached pictures showing the texture and also where it has worn through to the underlying fabric. There doesn't seem to be any seam though, so it looks like it was applied directly to the fabric wrapped over the wood?

With the condition the blade is in, you wouldn't really be able to tell. Oof.

I was just going to add that I thought the first might be 兼 KANE, compared to other tangs I have looked at in the past. I'll have to look out for that Mune looking like Kyo. Now I just need to figure out why someone cut it.

This looks to be a somewhat interesting regular grade Shin-gunto, however it's a bit odd, and I can't make out the first character of the Mei, or if it even is a signature, or something else. As far as I can see, the second Kanji is definitely 京 KYO, but I can't find any listing of a Showa era smith signing blades using that character. The other side of the tang is 昭 和 十 六 年 九 月 - Showa 16 (1941) 9th Month, though the Roku is missing the right leg. The tang itself also definitely is quite short and looks like it got cut or broken off at some point. Haven't seen that before. Any ideas on whether that is the name of the smith? I checked under the alternate readings of 京 as well.

Is there any good quick reference for Zodiac dates by year, or is it easier to just figure it out? It's a 60 year cycle involving the 12 animals and 5 elements, right?

Thanks! After looking at it for a while, I was feeling more and more like it was masanori.

I thought I had gotten pretty good at reading mei, but this one is giving me trouble. It's from a 1944 dated blade, so it's late war, and the mei looks somewhat rushed. I am reading it as 包 則 - KANE NORI It doesn't match any of the Oshigata I have found, as they usually use the 兼 character for KANE. I could also be mis reading the first kanji entirely. My second choice would be 正 則 - MASANORI Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

Oh dang! That definitely took lots of hours to do. Lovely!

The matching numbers are interesting, and sometimes they mix together Japanese and Western numbers, just like with dates on other WWII Military Items. Most of the pretty much "unissued" late war Kai Gunto i have seen have no signature, just the Anchor Stamp, and a painted number. They also tend to have black lacquered scabbards, not "shagreen", with oil cloth in the handle.

平 can be read as Hira, Taira, or Hei. Most of the smith names in the lists have it as "Hira". "Taira" is a clan name. So, it would be 平 俊 作 . I've seen Toyokawa arsenal marked blades that have no signature, or that do. I also have seen them with or without the matching number for the Koshirae. There isn't any hard and fast rule. In fact, the minority that I have handled had stamped western matching numbers. Most were painted on with Japanese numerals.

Well, I think the one thing that is clear is that it's not clear what it is. I hopefully will be able to bring it to the NY Token Kai meeting at the end of the month, and hopefully get some people to look at it first hand. There is definitely chattoyancy in the Hamon. I managed to take some photos with my phone and a 16X lighted magnifier. The hamon is definitely not just someone going wild with hadori.

Is it real ray skin or synthetic? You can always get it re-wrapped with fresh new ray skin, and you know it'll fit. That's probably the most cost effective solution to get the end result you desire.

There is no Kikumon on the tang, or any trace I can see. The reverse of the tang is completely blank. There are some traces of the Yasuri-Me , which stops just above the signature, slanting in the same direction as the examples I've seen. Also, that link you posted is to a different page with the exact same sword I linked to. I have found two others: This one has straight horizontal strokes, but is not papered. I make a crappy comparison photo. http://kako.nipponto.co.jp/swords2/KT219262.htm This one has the more curved horizontal strokes, and is papered. https://www.k-sword.com/goods.php?id=872

I was comparing it to this papered example a lot. Note now the relationship between the third character and the mekugi-ana http://www.rdzxw.net/goods.php?id=3066

Sure! The blade length is 28 inches / 71.1 cm. The nakago is 8.86inches / 22.5cm long. The end of the nakago is straight across, so I think it's been cut down a bit, maybe 2 inches or so. The last 1-2mm of the Kissaki are missing, but I Think that could be fixed by a polisher due to the wide hamon. Near the tip the hamon even goes onto the Shinogi-Ji. Just trying to figure out possibilities. Not sure whether the tsuka is too far gone to be worth re-wrapping. The Menuki are very nice, oxen pulling rice carts.

Well, this is one that literally walked in the door, and it's really got one of the most amazing HAMON that I have seen. However I can't quite decide what to call it. It looks CHOUJI at some spots, but HAKO in other places. It's definitely quite striking, and takes up a large part of the JI. The tang is signed 山 城 守 藤 原 國 次 - YAMASHIRO NO KAMI FUJIWARA KUNITSUGU, which I found three times in the nihonto club index. I'm not sure exactly which Kunitsugu it is, and don't know if there is any definitive way to tell. The Koshirae are somewhat beat up. It has a nice Tsuba, but the wrapping on the tsuka is partly gone, and someone replaced it with some type of cheap cord. Is there anywhere the Tsuka could be sent to get re-wrapped? It also is missing the KASHIRA. The saya has also seen better days, and I don't know if there's somewhere I can send that for repair.