Kiipu

Nice sword and ditto what Stegel and Rob said above. As you are in the States, start with Dawson's book first. A beginner only needs 1 or 2 books to get started with military swords, either F&G and/or Dawson's. Dawson, Jim. Swords of Imperial Japan, 1868–1945. Cyclopedia ed. Newnan, Ga.: Stenger-Scott Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9719127-2-4.

Trystan, it is an English language thing. The problem is how can a "Japanese sword" be made in China and still be called a Japanese sword. The English language can be a bugbear at times as I imagine you are well aware of by now!

Actually, it is a three digit serial number. The third digit can be partially seen above the shinobi to the left. The shinobi was probably drilled by the fitting shop and it took out the third digit. Some Niigata Prefecture RJT blades did not use the encircled 松 stamp and this is one of them. Niigata Prefecture Timeline 615 Akitaka January 1943. 松819 Akihisa March 1943. 86? Kiyokatsu March 1943. 松1080 Munetoshi May 1943.

Found you another one to compare to. ☆　濃州兼久作 = ☆ Nōshū Kanehisa saku. 昭和十八年四月 = April 1943. Type 3 1944 Pattern Shin Gunto Sword Pictorial: Show us your Type 3, Post #49

Cross-Reference Bruce Pennington the name is Kikuhide

A Seki swordsmith that I do not see listed in the guild list or in Sesko's book. I found another Kanemasa though with a 関 stamp. Takehito

Rob, what is the serial number of the blade that this marking is coming from? Are there any other markings on the tang? In regards to the nakago marking, I think it could be the number 十五? You will need to rotate the picture around 90 degrees to see it though.

@BANGBANGSAN may have identified the maker of that sword in another thread. Japanese Swords Made In China During World War II, Post #3

@Shamsy Probably not relevant to the above but the thickness of the large seppa was changed in 1938 when the crossguard was made thinner. Short Development History of Type 95 Gunto, Post #91 @Bruce Pennington I assume the handguard is 11 millimeters (mm) thick and not 9 mm thick?

Mal Cox has updated his digital book on the swordsmiths of Kaga Province 加賀国, which is now part of modern day Ishikawa Prefecture 石川県. This book will be of interest to both Nihontō & gendaitō collectors. Cox, Malcolm E. Kaga no Kuni: Swordsmiths 加賀國. Updated. 2022. 224 pages. Kaga No Kuni: Swordsmiths

The picture is kinda deceiving from the UK auction site as it does look like a large seppa. However, I learned from Stegel to download all the pictures for future reference. (For you old buzzards, right click on the picture and a menu will appear with the "Save Image As..." option.) When the image was enlarged, a small seppa was clearly visible. Going back to your original question, several "copper" handled swords have the small & large seppa reversed. In every case, they were either reworked or tampered with. For example, Detective Chief Inspector Stegel unearthed this copper that was "enhanced" for resale. Note the seppa position in the first photograph. copper-handle NCO sword questions, Post #18 FYI, this was not something I was aware of until you brought it up.

The large seppa 大切羽 is between the scabbard 𩋡 and crossguard 鍔. The small seppa 小切羽 is between the crossguard 鍔 and ferrule 柄環. The reason for the large seppa is that it butts up against the scabbard and needs to make full contact with it. If you use the small seppa, it will leave a gap where the latch 駐爪 passes through. This is the arrangement used on the Patterns 1 & 2. As for the other patterns, I will let someone else comment on that.

Me thinks Rob has good eyes! The seppa on 4735東 are reversed in the photographs above and one seppa is small and the other is large. As this sword was reworked at some point in time, the reversal could have happened at this time. However, at a later date someone corrected the order and the small seppa 小切羽 was moved to the back of the crossguard while the large seppa 大切羽 was moved to the front of the crossguard. Copper type 95 sword knot: Real or replica?

Sorry Jean, I should have stated that it was a Chinese reproduction. The Chinese will "borrow" current Japanese names and engrave them. I find it interesting what they come up with at times. How they found poor old Sadanaga's real name is anyone's guess though.

小林力夫 = Kobayashi Rikio. That is the personal name of Sadanaga 貞永, a modern day swordsmith. Katana signed Unshu-ju SADANAGA kore-wo tsukuru

In regards to the scabbard, what color is it and what is the serial number?

Thanks Piers! I knew you would have the answer. A little digging in some old dictionaries yielded the translation as armoury (UK) or armory (US). Buko. 武庫 An Armoury. Source: Churchill, A. G. A Dictionary of Military Terms and Expressions: English—Japanese and Japanese—English. 1902. Arthur Gillespie Churchill (1860–1940).

I see your weapon was registered during the early years of Meiji 明治. 壬申 = 1872-02-09 to 1873-01-28. 九百六十一番 = No. 961 or 961st. 武庫 = Muko. Maybe this area 武庫郡. 司 = means official? Maybe Piers can figure this one out. I found another matchlock that was registered in the same area as yours. 壬申二百五十九番武庫司 Take care BaZZa and hope this helps with the quest.

☆　八雲正清作 = ☆ Yakumo Masakiyo saku. 昭和十九年六月 = June 1944. Trystan, thanks for the above and below is another one for you to look at. 八雲正清作　昭和二十年三月

Thanks Trystan! Niigata Prefecture was really churning them out during the war. 越後住貞清　タ１５１８ = Echigo jū Sadakiyo TA-1518. 昭和十八年十月吉日 = A lucky day in October 1943. 越後住貞清 昭和十八年十月吉日

ホ一二五 = HO-125. Can you post a picture of the RA 766 as they should be dated 1942.

Thanks for the pictures Tony. Now that I compare yours to the one over at GriffinMilitaria.com, I can see that both have a faint M inspection mark. These two are the last ones known coming from Yoshiharu 義治. 200 1944 Autumn, M inspection mark. 250 Undated, M inspection mark. Below is a list showing the overall view of the M inspection mark. You can now add 1944 Autumn to the Yoshiharu column. The Mysterious "w" Stamp!, Page 4

I have been working on this one for awhile and today I finally closed the books on it. The maker is Yoshitada 義忠 and I think he hails from Gifu Prefecture. I base this on one that has a small Seki 関 stamp that is for sale on eBay. WWII Japanese Army officer's samurai sword shin gunto Untouched Mint WW2 @mecox

Ditto! Trystan, stop reading anime アニメ and start reading something like this instead. Tokushima Swordsmiths And another one to compare to. Help with Star stamped shingunto please. @mecox

Thanks Tony. Even though yours is undated, based upon the number, I think it was made at or after Autumn 1944. This is based upon the link you provided to the one over at GriffinMilitaria.com. This is an interesting development as it would seem Yoshiharu was no longer under contract with the army. 200 1944 Autumn, no M inspection marks. 250 Mumei, M unknown.