Kiipu

The following spoiler reflects the views of a serving U. S. infantry officer from 1947 and you are hereby forewarned that the language reflects the times. George, John B. Shots Fired in Anger. Plantersville, South Carolina: Small Arms Technical Publishing Company, 1947. Page 229.

Sandahl Bergman

Rotate the picture 90 degrees clockwise and one will see an Ōsaka 阪 final inspection mark.

Thanks Bruce. Below is a link to the earliest Nagamitsu that I am aware of. It lacks the 阪 final inspection mark before the serial number like the later blades have. Help with inherited Sword

The nakago mune markings of 阪 イ143 are the Ōsaka Army Arsenal final inspection mark followed by the arsenal assigned serial number. In this case, it a 1st イ series and not that of the proceeding 0 (zero) series. These markings are common on Ōsaka swords but are rarely mentioned or photographed. I am unaware of anyone seriously studying these swords like the Mantetsu swords are. I briefly touched upon this subject in the thread below. Stamp Survey

Looks similar to your (イ)一六四四 including the markings. Have you tried comparing the two?

Trystan, these Mantetsu swords appear to be identical. It was initially reported as a 29th series ヤ八七八; but, the pictures posted later on show a 28th series, ク八七八. Can you confirm that the origin is one and the same for both posts? Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey, 2019-10-26 Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey, 2021-02-17

It has taken a long time but I finally located the pictures of V18. In case others would like to see them, below is the link. This is the highest confirmed Mantetsu that has the SMR logo. Tang Translation And Possible Arsenal Stamp

Was the spine serial number ワ三三 [WA-33] by chance on the sword you pictured above? For your information, there is a second Mantetsu wakizashi in the same series. Attention Mantetsu Owners: A Survey, Page 21

Possibly a stylized kanji character such as 示?

Some prefer visual aids so below is a link to Tim's Type 95 tang video. Paul, thanks for sharing pictures of your Type 95. WW2 Japanese Type 95 tang, please read description

Thanks Trystan for the assist. Seems so obvious now that you point it out! For the Japanese pronunciation, you get what is below! 練習生 = = renshūsei = student, trainee, apprentice. 修了 = shūryō = completion. 記念 = kinen = commemoration.

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