Kiipu

Thanks Piers, the phrase is coming from the title of a book. Mori Yoshio 森･良雄. Junsa taiken no rekishi 巡査帯剣の歴史 [The History of Police Wearing a Sword]. 2003. A 72-page monograph with drawings.

How would one render this into English? Is this literally belt knife/belt sword or is the meaning more akin to armed/wearing a sword? The longer phrase is 巡査帯剣.

@Kotetsu1959 Better late than never. The character 廿 simply means twenty. Reverse: 渡島国住人秦国作之 = Oshima-no kuni jūnin Yasukuni saku kore. Obverse: 昭和廿年七月日 = A day in July 1945.

The Teikoku Bijutsu Tenran-Kai 帝国美術展覧会 [Imperial Art Exhibition], or “Teiten” 帝展 for short, was held annually from 1919 to 1934 with the exception of 1923. Japan Fine Arts Exhibition 第1回帝展(大正8年)～第15回帝展(昭和9年) https://nitten.or.jp/vicissitudes

A little information about the 1934 Teiten 帝展 [Imperial Art Exhibition] can be found at the link below. As far as I know, the 1934 exhibition was the only one that had swords. Japanese WWII OFFICER SHIN GUNTO - Tang Kanji and stamp

Hi Mal, we (as in me, myself, and I) think the star stamp in the OP was added at a later date!

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum. Are there any other markings other than what you show? Kikuhide was a swordsmith located in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, and maybe Mal might know more. 菊秀 = Kikuhide (This is the name of the swordsmith). 昭和十九年五月 = May 1944 (Date the blade was made). @mecox

Wow, I think you nailed it down. The date was continued over into the adjacent column and thus the full reading is 安永二巳年春日造 as you indicated.

Not shown in Peter's posts above is the last army exhibition 陸軍々刀技術奨励会, note the name is different than the one in 1943, held at the Gunjin Kaikan 軍人会館. The results were published in the January 1945 issue of 日本刀及日本趣味. 陸軍々刀技術奬勵會 / 城南刀逸 / p10～18. Blade photos attached:Inoue Katsukiyo/Sadakane, Post #10 Ohmura san has the results of this exhibition posted on his website courtesy of @k morita.

The characters 春日造 could possibly be referring to a style of Shintō Shrine. Kasuga-zukuri One possible Chinese meaning of 運者有天　善長者戰 is "the lucky ones are good at fighting with the elders."

The results were published in the magazine Nihontō oyobi Nihon shumi 日本刀及日本趣味 [Japanese Sword and Japanese Hobby]. These issues have been digitized; however, they can only be viewed at the National Diet Libarary (NDL). See the quote from NDL below. Here is an example of the results of the 7th exhibition that was published in the May 1942 issue of 日本刀及日本趣味. 第七回刀展雜記 / 板橋研堂 / p23～28. 第七回新作日本刀展出品成績 / 大日本刀匠協會 / p29～44.

Obverse 安永二巳年 I think this is the year 1773. 運者有天　善長者戟. 春日造. @BANGBANGSAN

My concern is why are they now all of a sudden showing up? Why have the older generation of collectors never seen one before? Why do none have provenance as @PNSSHOGUN likes to say? As for the metalwork, I have seen craftsmen in the Philippines do better work than this. Back in the 1980s, one could stand and watch them work making belt buckles and other items for military personnel.

Another plain version courtesy of @edgartwib can be seen at the NMB thread below. New guy with a type 95 and 98?

Nothing to worry about and it was made by 岐 in case you are wondering.

The standalone marking of 造兵廠 would only appear from 1923 to 1940. Why would you think it was made after 1940? After 1940, it was only used as a suffix, such as Nagoya Army Arsenal 名古屋陸軍造兵廠.

During this period, the 陸軍造兵廠 was the headquarters (HQ) that controlled the arsenals. The American military attache referred to it as the "arsenal directorate," while today it is translated as "army arsenal." It was established in 1923 and was abolished in 1940. At the time of establishment, it controlled the four arsenals 工廠 of Gunpowder 火, Nagoya 名古屋, Ōsaka 大阪, and Tōkyō 東京, and the two ordnance (or weapon) factories 兵器製造所 of Heijō 平壌 and Kokura 小倉. In 1940, the arsenals and supply depots were placed under one command and the "Army Arsenal" was absorbed by the new command. It was at this time that the arsenals 工廠 were renamed as 陸軍造兵廠.

The army sword in the OP would have been made up until about 1934. Afterwards, Japanese army officers would have used the traditional dress sword and the newly adopted Type 94. The arsenals made two types of blades, the officer variant and the military Type 32/95 blades. There are small differences between them. @PNSSHOGUN sold one with these 造兵廠セ markings last year. Early Type 94/98 Zohei-To 造兵厂 Mei.

Before the war, Japanese officers could purchase an arsenal made blade via a sword company. The sword in the OP is an example of this. For those in doubt, attached is a page from the Gunjin Kaikan 軍人会會館 catalog from April 1937. If one looks closely, one can see the kanji characters for an arsenal made blade. 陸軍造兵廠刀身 = Rikugun Zōheishō Tōshin = Army Arsenal Sword Blade.

That logo also shows up on another reproduction. Questions about guntō

The shinobi ana 忍び孔 was frequently added by the fitting shop and not by the swordsmith. It is not unusual to see Type 100 blades with only the mekugi ana 目釘穴. There was a Type 100 which had a shinobi ana drilled right through the Tōkyō 1st Arsenal serial number. This would imply that the serial number was stamped before the hole was drilled. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to Japanese military swords. Shinobi Ana 忍び孔

Shamsy, I remember this thread about a reproduction. Noah, in answer to your question, yes they have been reproduced. Type 32 Ko, strange number and lack of markings. Is it a fake?

法政大學豫科 = Hōsei daigaku yoka = Hōsei University Preparatory Department.

Star stamped swords from Gifu Prefecture usually have two sets of painted numbers on them. As far as I can tell, one is the Nagoya Arsenal production number and the other is the koshirae subassembly number? Regardless of one's personal opinion, there does seem to be a pattern to these painted Nagoya RJT blades. The colors noted so far are red, green, and blue.

There are some booklets by Jan Culbertson about these Chinese swords for those interested. CHINESE SWORDS, Vol. II, Beiyang/Republican & Warlord