Kiipu

The earliest prefix I have recorded is dated May 1943 and the highest is July 1944. @Bruce Pennington might expand on these dates though as I am not always up-to-date. Lowest ホ84　☆ 竹下宏國作之 Takeshita Hirokuni saku kore　皇紀二千六百三年五月日 May 1943. Highest ク705　☆ 継延作 Tsugunobu saku　昭和十九年七月日 July 1944.

It appears 東京第一陸軍造兵廠 Tōkyō 1st Army Arsenal did not use a katakana prefix in the beginning for the prefectures and instead started with just a sequential number for each. At some point, they realized that this was confusing having so many sequential numbers and started adding a katakana prefix to them. I have noted this so far for 秋田縣 Akita Prefecture and 山形縣 Yamagata Prefecture. Yamagata Prefecture　山形縣 166　羽州天童住兵良直次作　Ushū Tendō jū Heiryō Naotsugu saku. マ431　☆　出羽国住月山宗光　Dewa kuni jū Gassan Munemitsu. マ554　☆　羽州住兵良直政作　Ushū jū Heiryō Naomasa saku. マ894　☆　羽州山形住和合貞友作　Ushū Yamagata jū Wagō Sadatomo saku.

The following are the characters that come before the date. I am missing one, denoted by a X, and will need @BANGBANGSAN to take a look at it. A good many of these characters are old style and one will need to convert them to the new style so as to translate or research online. Old Japanese Kanji to New Japanese Kanji Converter 第一四九囘警察官部乙科練習生修X記念. Thanks Victor for your translation help and for tracking down that Mantetsu in Russia.

Shamsy, when you have a few spare Yen, can you order one for my birthday! I always wanted a real Type 95 from Japan. レプリカ 九五式軍刀 日本軍 下士官 サバゲー昭五式 九八式

And judging by the facial expression to the right, they must have lost a game or two too many!

Your new toy is using the prefecture code for Niigata Prefecture 新潟県. The serial number range so far for Niigata is タ1244 (July 1943) to タ2383 (February 1944). Yours is dated a month ahead but with a slightly lower serial number. It just took longer to get caught up in the system. Note the one hole in the tang indicating the fitting shop would drill the second one if needed. When in hand and time permits, can you check the nakago mune for any inspection marks? Do not worry if they are not there though. ☆　昭久 = ☆ Akihisa. 昭和十九年三月　タ2353 = March 1944　TA2374.

The same logo you depict above can also be seen on a sword that was auctioned recently down in Australia. Lot: 729

@Bazza & @george trotter Here is some pictures of one of the Australian contract swords from a recent auction. Lot: 705

Yeah Chris, that is kinda funny. Just do not look at the blade! I remember long ago the Japanese buying these swords for the fittings knowing full well that the blade would need to be cut up into pieces. I could never understand the logic of owning a sword just for the fittings. At that time, the Japanese economy was roaring and they had the money to spend on things like this.

Yes, supply and demand. This is what most Type 95s look like in Japan. I recommend died-in-the-wool collectors not look at the listing. 旧日本陸軍.九五式軍刀拵 @Stegel

The Australian auction was from the Rod Bellars collection. Some of these swords at one time belonged to Donald, of F&G fame. If I am not mistaken, the F&G photo's of his collection were taken by @Bazza. Historic Arms and Militaria Lifetime Collection of Rod Bellars

I think I know what happened. For the 12th series, Mantetsu substituted the katakana character オ "O" for the katakana character ヲ "WO" . Both are pronounced as O and in addition the ヲ is rarely used. See the Wikipedia article about Wo (kana) . In addition, no ヲ "WO" marked Mantetsu blades have been reported. There was one blade that was thought to be a ヲ; however, it turned out to be ヌ433 based upon the date of 昭和庚辰春 1940 spring. The confusion was caused by a poor quality rubbing that can be seen at The presentation sword from Japan to Finland . I would like to hear what others think about this revision to the timeline. Revised 1940 Timeline 5th ホ Series: 昭和己卯冬 1939 Winter to 昭和庚辰春 1940 Spring. 6th ヘ Series: None reported so far. 7th と Series: 昭和庚辰春 1940 Spring [hiragana と character instead of katakanaト ]. 8th チ Series: 昭和庚辰春 1940 Spring. 9th リ Series: 昭和庚辰春 1940 Spring. 10th ヌ Series: 昭和庚辰春 1940 Spring to 昭和庚辰秋 1940 Fall. 11th ル Series: 昭和庚辰秋 1940 Fall. 12th オ Series: 昭和庚辰秋 1940 Fall [Would normally be the 27th character in the iroha poem]. 13th ワ Series: 昭和庚辰秋 1940 Fall to 昭和辛巳春 1941 Spring.

It is the katakana character オ [letter O] and there is no mistaking it. This is the second Mantetsu blade prefixed with オ that is dated Autumn 1940. Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey, Page 9

Correct Trystan, starting with the 45th series モ799, the 連 was used instead. Nan-Man, when they took over, did things differently. Nan-Man Arsenal had the blades inspected locally and then forwarded them to the arsenal for polishing and fitting out. (Prior to this, the swords were sent to Nan-Man Arsenal and then inspected with the 南. From Nan-Man Arsenal, they were forwarded to Japan for fitting out.) This sword confirms that this Type 100 variant, which I refer to as the Nan-Man Type 4, a play on the names of both SMR 南満洲鉄道株式会社 and Nan-Man Arsenal 南滿陸軍造兵廠, was a product of the arsenal and unique to them.

I already have your sword recorded by the student that polished the blade back in 1944! I am not pulling your leg either even though it sounds unbelievable. Compare the serial number on your sword, which is セ一二五一 [SE 1251], to the picture linked below. Thanks for posting these additional pictures as it has made my day. Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey, Page 10

One of the swords that was polished by the student and specifically mentioned in the book has just surfaced. The serial number is セ一二五一. WWII Japanese Sword

I think the eyelet is for a lanyard. It this case, it would go around the wrist.

Stephen, that is one of the rare ones. It was made by Mizuno and only a few were made before production was stopped. Has anyone come across this Stamp before?? @BANGBANGSAN, @Bruce Pennington, @Shamsy, @Stegel

It will not be possible to identify what this marking means unless one can find an old advertisement that depicts it. The character itself can mean center, middle, medium or inside, interior, midway. As one can see, it is a fairly generic character all by itself. It is unlikely to be a logo without some other design element around it.

Ah, I see the mustache is back in the news again! I thought Stegel identified that as being Bruce's logo? More research needs to be done to find out just how old Bruce really is.

濃州住亮信 = Nōshū jū Akinobu (a.k.a. Sukenobu). Mino Province

昭和十八年春 = 1943 Spring.

Your sword was made by the South Manchuria Railway Company (SMR). It is also referred to as a Mantetsu sword. 昭和甲申春 = Spring 1944. 満鐵鍛造之 = SMR forged this. Below is a link to an article about your Mantetsu sword. Mantetsu - South Manchurian Railway

@Lareon Thanks for looking and the lack of nakago mune markings is nothing to worry about. In this case, the star stamp is the one and only final acceptance marking. Cross-Reference A Kanemitus made in the same time frame as the ones under discussion. Kanemitsu

@Lareon Does the 尾州住竹内兼光 marked blade have any markings on the nakago mune?