Kiipu

Information about Mizuno can be found via the link below. Has anyone come across this Stamp before??

I think a repaint as you suggest. The sword knot could be from some other country? Note the metal rivet on one end. I do not recall the Japanese ones having a rivet.

BaZZa, that is a slightly different dictionary than the one I have. However, there is a bit of a backstory to your "American Edition" dictionary. I posted a little missive about the matter over at WRF. Privateering versus Pirating Japanese Dictionaries

The same shop also has this little solar-powered plastic monk. Not sure what the purpose of tapping/drumming is, but am curious as to the meaning of the Chinese characters around the base.

United States. War Department. Japanese-English Technical Terms Dictionary. TM 30-482. November 1946. Green hardcover, 7 x 10.25 inches, 1,041 pages. Soviet reprint of a Japanese reprint that came out of an East German library. Has a couple of library stamps but otherwise no writing or highlighting. This was the hardest dictionary to acquire of them all. It was not until the collapse of the Berlin Wall that I could acquire one. I have never seen an original American edition in my entire life. They must exist but where did they go? Price is US$90 including shipping within States.

United States. War Department. Japanese Military Dictionary. TM 30-541. 29 August 1944. Beige softcover, 4.5 x 6.75 inches, 618 pages, no pictures or illustrations. Dictionary has two parts; Japanese-English and English-Japanese. The top 1.75 inches of the front cover have separated from the spine. See picture. No missing pages, no writing or highlighting. No tears other than the front cover. A good working dictionary. United States. Army Service Forces. Office of the Chief of Ordnance. Translation of Japanese Ordnance Markings. August 1945. Blue softcover, staple bound, 5.25 x 7 inches, 78 pages. No writing or highlighting. Reprint from the mid-1990s. Price for both is $70 with shipping included within the United States.

Same character, just old versus new. 廣 = 広

Is there an inspection mark and/or serial number on the nakago mune?

The yamagata "M" stamped swords are for an army contract. See below for some more information about the swords marked like this. The Mysterious "w" Stamp!

He made economy swords for the war effort. The blades would be machine made and then finished by hand.

Maybe an attempt at Masahiro? 三？正広 ?? Masahiro

Toine, how long has the sword been in the family? These swords only seem to show up in the Netherlands. The character that you see is 治. This is only the fourth sword that I am aware of. WOII Katana. Help discovering if Authentic and what type

Ran across this today while doing some research on machetes. Does anyone know the Japanese name for this tool? Japanese machete question

All of these railway bureaus were a part of Manchukuo National Railway 滿洲國有鐵道. Manchukuo National Railway

And cross-reference to the Mantetsu sword it is attached to. Looking for information

I was asked by the proprietor of a donut shop what is written on this plastic dragon. It was given to her recently and is probably related to the recent Chinese new year, which is the year of the dragon 龙. Hopefully Trystan can divine what the hidden meaning of the characters are. @BANGBANGSAN

Should have serial number between 1 and 7000: High serial number for a Pattern 1 is 6561. Should have thick brass tsuba with top latch: To be precise, 11 millimeters thick. Should have clear stamps on fuchi: Arsenal logo and company trademark sometimes reversed. Type of drag on saya: A brass plug usually, there are variations of these though. So the scabbard end will be rounded with no protrusions. Color(s) of saya: The scabbard color will usually be green with a gray primer coat underneath. The exception is a gold scabbard color that occasionally shows up.

中野栄三 Nakano Eizō. Nakano is the family name or last name while Eizō is the first name.

中野Ｘ三 Not sure on the third character.

The first white painted character could be the katakana character NE ネ? ネ八一九 = NE 819

Hi Chris Yes, that photo was only to indicate the part I need and thank you Chris for responding and the rest, I will look at one of the sites I saw here, thanks, if I have found one I will let you know know Gr Ed Courtesy of Google Translate via Dutch to English. Google Translate

昭和十八年 1943. 兼継 Kanetsugu. See for example the link below. Translation Request

As already stated above, it is kosher but repainted. Made by Seki in about 1941.

I no not recall ever running across section 11 第十一條 of Heiki saiyō kensa kitei 兵器採用検査規程.

Hi Peter, not sure if any of this 1937 information helps, but better safe than sorry. Thanks for posting that interesting photograph. 1937 氏名 Full Name:　小宮･四郎 Komiya Shirō. 刻銘 Inscription:　小宮四郎國光　Komiya Shirō Kunimitsu. 住所 Address:　大牟田市東新町二ノ六 Ōmuta-shi Higashishin-machi 2-6. 徒弟ノ数 Number of Apprentices:　一 (１). 製造能力 Manufacturing Capacity:　一ケ月 五 5 per month.