Kiipu

Another oldie but goodie from 2017 about Type 95 Military Swords dressed in white. Hope Shamsy does not mind a link about white in a thread about black! Winter Is Coming...

Another one for @mecox to add to Japanese Naval Swords and for @Bruce Pennington to ponder a large Seki stamp on a 1944 dated blade. Good luck to you both! 関 = Seki (stamp). 大道 =Daidō. Red paint: 二八六七 = 2867. 昭和一九年 = 1944. Green paint: イ四二 = I 42 (I as in the letter i). @Eds, does any of the parts have a stamped number on them that match the above two numbers?

Never heard of the guy! All of the 七生刀鍛錬道場 swords with the exception of one have been made by Masanaga. The sole exception is a Masakatsu 正勝. Masanaga = 正永. (Or Masunaga if your name is Trystan!) Masakatsu = 正勝. It is actually dated March 1944 and not March 1943. It is the only Seven Lives Type 100 with the 阪 final inspection mark instead of a "star" stamp. The 阪 final inspection mark is between the characters 生 and 刀. The 阪 final inspection mark is lightly struck and is large in size. The link below says Masakatsu's 正勝 real name is 中村･勝. Katana[Nakamura_Masakatsu]

@Jon MB If still at hand, does your Masanaga 正永 have any markings on the nakago mune? This matter of serialization has just recently come to the forefront. Translation help on Additional Kanji on Masanaga Gendaito 爲小泉氏 = Tame Koizumi-shi = Made for Mister Koizumi. 七生刀鍛錬道場　正永作之 = Masanaga made this. 昭和廿年二月吉日 = A lucky day in February 1945.

After looking at all the others, I think the serial number could be 41. Can you double check that for me? The other serials that I have are 21, 60, and 94 ranging from September 1943 to March 1944. Production at the dōjō would have stopped either in March 1945 or June 1945 because of bombing.

Matt, your sword is an army contract sword made by the Seven Lives Sword Forging Dōjō. If you look carefully, usually between the characters 生 and 刀, you will find a faint "star" stamp or a 阪 final inspection mark. One or the other marking has been reported on all Type 100s made so far by this dōjō. To date, only these Type 100s have been reported to have a serial number on the nakago mune. Besides the army contract, this dōjō undertook custom work. For example, see the Masanaga 正永 swords depicted at the links below. Minatogawa 1945 MINATOGAWA SHRINE SWORDS The oldest reference I have run across so far is the description over at RiceCracker.com. Katana - Masanaga (Ito Masakiyo)

七生刀鍛錬道場 Shichishō Katana Tanrendōjō By Nick Komiya 刀 [katana] is a prefix for 鍛錬 [tanren]. So it is read シチショウ　カタナ　タンレンドウジョウ (Shichishō Katana Tanrendōjō). 道場 [dōjō] is a place where you practice and learn all forms of ドウ [dō], not only martial arts, but also calligraphy (ショドウ shodō), flower arrangement (カドウ kadō) or tea ceremony (サドウ sadō) are all categorized as an art form of ドウ [dō]. ドウジョウ [dōjō] can also be a training course that is very intensive, used like 日本語道場 [Nihongo dōjō]. In this case of 刀鍛錬道場, the ドウジョウ (dōjō) is being described as a place or training course to practice タンレンドウ (tanrendō).

I asked Nick Komiya whether the character 刀 is a suffix of 七生-刀 or if it is a prefix for 刀-鍛錬. In addition, I was confused by the use of the term dōjō 道場 which I associate with a place for martial arts training and not sword production. Nick's reply can be seen in the post below. I have added the rōmaji pronunciation for the kanji in brackets and the kana characters in parentheses so as to avoid others having to look it up. I realize it is a bit unsightly and detracts from the flow; but, it gets the job done.

Ed, the tang reads 山川秀夫 Yamakawa Hideo and it has been seen before. Tang Inscription Translation

Nick just started a thread on the 12th about this subject matter. A little technical but worthy of a look. The “B&W in Color” Fallacy

昭和十八年十月日 = A day in October 1943.

Since posting, I ran across this 2008 post by @hemi-man that can be seen above after editing. The reference to shichisei is just another way of saying shichishō 七生.

@k morita I sent you a private message in Japanese 日本語 about this topic.

Hi Matt, I have not looked into these nor made a file folder for them. It does seem they are serialized on the nakago mune. See the Masanaga 正永, serial 21, at the link below. 北武备-三式七生 正永（极特殊） @BANGBANGSAN Does the Chinese text have anything to say about 七生刀鍛錬道場? These swords seems to have some sort of association with Kusunoki Masashige 楠木正成 and the Minatogawa Shrine 湊川神社. There is a monograph on the Minatogawa Shrine swords; alas, I do not own a copy. Maybe someone reading this will have a copy and can take a look to see if 七生刀鍛錬道場 is mentioned or not. Wallinga, Herman A. Gendaito Made at the Minatogawa Shrine. 2000. [35 pages.] 七生 = Shichishō = 7 lives [possibly related to 七生報國 by Kusunoki Masashige] @SteveM is that the right rōmaji ローマ字?

Thanks for the prompt reply Chris. I asked as I could not find the small screw 小ねじ that holds the koiguchi 鯉口 on. In hand, is the scabbard color red or burgundy? It is hard to tell from the pictures. FYI, the late Barnes san recorded 名83725. This is one digit higher than the one you depict above!

It is a Type 95 Military Sword that was used by the lower ranks. @Shamsy or @Stegel will need to look at the scabbard color to determine if it is kosher or not. Do you have a picture of the scabbard mouth showing the serial number? Below is a little primer for your friend to get him started on what he has. IJA Type 95 NCO Sword Info

七生刀鍛錬道場. Matt, I have run into this marking before on a Masakatsu 正勝. Katana [Nakamura Masakatsu] Edit: I remember now that the Masakatsu had Arabic numbers stamped on the nakago mune. Another Masakatsu had a faint 阪 final inspection mark on it. Does your 正永 have a number stamped on the nakago mune or a 阪 inspection mark? Sword Forge At Inari Shrine Kyoto A Study: Minatogawa-to @Bruce Pennington

I asked Nick Komiya over at WRF to take a look at this and above is his reply.

Cheers mate!

David S., after March 1945, anything is possible in regards to Japanese swords. Starting in the last year of the war, all kinds of patriotic sword production took place. Type 98 sword with unusual mark on tang Wartime Japanese Radio Broadcasts Related To Swords

The wrong order of characters my friend. In this case, 觀耕台 means "viewing platform" while I think the characters would more likely be in the order of 耕觀? Me thinks Trystan has been imbibing on 烧酒 shāojiǔ!

The top row is PHOTO and the second row appears to be a sequence of numbers. I think the photograph is probably coming from an archive, news agency, or collection. Scrap the studio and date comment above. This just goes to show you what happens when I think drink too much!

Yes, C96 to be exact and commonly called the "broomhandle" by collectors. The Japanese acquired so many from the Chinese that they adopted it as the ｢モ｣式大型拳銃 in 1939! Good to see Mal branching out into the heavy artillery! Mauser C96

Ditto what Shamsy said. Note the name of the photographic studio and date in the lower left corner?

Here are the characters for Nagayama Kōkan 永山･光幹 courtesy of the NDL. Unlikely this inscription is referring to him.