Kiipu

I double checked the characters and this is what I am seeing. 日本砂鐵鋼業株式會社 = Nihon Satetsu Kōgyō KK. The last four characters seem to be 以精X鋼; but, the second to last character is unclear at the moment.

My source is a police document form 1937 that came via another forum. It is hard for me to tell if 来國房 and 藤原来國房 are one and the same. I found two 藤原来國房 swords on NMB and the signatures differ significantly from each other. type 94 gunto smith translation FUJIWARA RAI KUNIFUSA, request details on this sword smith, Post #7

There was a Tōkyō area swordsmith by the name of 大島･房木郎 that signed as 藤原来國房 [Fujiwara Rai Kunifusa]. In 1937 his monthly output was five (5) swords and he had no apprentices. Possibly this was the swordsmith that made the sword?

I ran across a picture of the above temple that depicted some of the swords that they had while reading Markus Sesko's blog. I thought others would be interested in seeing the picture and possibly reading the blog as well. In addition, I thought IJASwords would also enjoy seeing some really old crossguard molds! Cast Sword Fittings

This is the phrase the Japanese use when referring to both branches of the armed forces. It is one word and I usually translate this as "army and navy." 陸海軍 = rikukaigun = army and navy.

Brian, thank you for the prompt reply. The marking is just a final inspection mark used by Nagoya Arsenal. For a detailed listing of such marks, see the link below. Stamps of the Japanese Sword

Winchester, by the mekugi-ana on the obverse side which has the signature, there is a small marking. It looks like a 名 stamp such as appears on the reverse side of the tang above the date. Can you confirm this is indeed the case?

Below is a link to an older, but nevertheless informative, GBF thread about the Type 95 black scabbard. Imperial Japanese Type 95 NCO Gunto Question

The katakana characters タ TA, オ O, ク KU, マ MA, フ FU, and ア A, appear to be a numbering system used by an association (or arsenal) that had jurisdiction over northern and central Honshu. I notice that no prefectures in the southern part of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, make an appearance.

I ran across this 2011 GBF thread about a suggested online dagger book by Dawson and thought I would pass it along for informational purposes only. It would appear to be water under the bridge at this point in time. Japanese Dagger book on the Internet?

A Wakase company logo and two patent stamps make an appearance on this dress sword. The patent was issued in December 1942. 特許 154432 = Patent 154432. Police Sword?

This 和 stamp is depicted in F&G. It does show up on a variety of Japanese style swords. The fittings on some could have even been made in Japan. Below is a link to one such sword. Unfortunately, BangBangSan did not chime in or it would have really gotten interesting! Please help with translating the writing on sword

The character on the tang is 和 and it is associated with swords made in China during Word War 2 and not after Word War 2.

Another one for the forum to ponder. I have translated it and it says to let Bruce worry about it! 正光 = Masamitsu. strange mei on new katana

Paul, once again, many thanks for the additional pictures. The subassembly method of your sword is similar to another Shinbu-Tō that is linked to below. One obvious difference that I can see is that the reverse tang on yours is marked 振武 while the other sword is marked 振武刀. Unfortunately, the nakago mune markings on this second sword do not appear to be noted or pictured. It is thus not possible to determine which marking precedes the other at this time. For your information and that of others, this is the same sword that is illustrated over at Ohmura's website. Hefty WW II Era Katana with High End Mounts Nakago Reverse: 振武刀 = shinbu-tō Nakago Obverse: 東洋刃物株式会社作 = Tōyō Hamono Kabushiki Kaisha saku = Made by Tōyō Knife Company., Limited. As an aside, 振武 is spelled as shinbu but should be pronounced as shimbu. N (kana)

Thanks Paul for the nakago mune picture. Cross-reference to more pictures of 510. Celluloid Same of WWII...and Type 3 mon., Post #37

Paul, if you still own this sword, what is the serial number on the nakago mune? Does anyone know if this is normal for these to be serialized like this? The markings on the nakago are as follows. Nakago Reverse 振武 = shinbu Nakago Obverse 東洋刃物株式会社作 = Tōyō Hamono Kabushiki Kaisha saku = Made by Tōyō Knife Co., Ltd.

In Japan, this is as close as you get to owning a Type 95, unless you do not mind having the blade cut into pieces. Shamsy, it has a Suya scabbard, serial number 9563, that is painted black. It is awaiting your expert analysis!

The document that you inquired about can be found over at JACAR. Go to https://www.jacar.go.jp/english/ and cut and paste the following letter and eleven digits C15010630300 or the following kanji characters 歩兵第１６３連隊残留隊　私物移譲兵器連名簿綴 into the search box. If all went to plan, you should be looking at the document that BangBangSan posted above.

BangBangSan never ceases to amaze. He can spot a kanji character a mile away. No details on the Mantetsu other than the name and rank of the owner as stated by BangBangSan in post #10. The information can be found in the fourth column from the right, the preceding columns being related to the table header. The kanji characters can be seen below.

For a change of pace, lets look at the 1917 Tsingtao uniform regulations. 青島守備軍民政部職員服制ヲ定ム 青島 = Chintao = Tsingtao = Qingdao.

There was indeed a gendaitō 現代刀 swordsmith with the name of 西山･勝進 [Nishiyama Katsuyuki] who signed his blades with 肥前國西光 [Hizen no kuni Saikō]. He lived in 長崎県北高来郡森山村 [Nagasaki-ken Kitatakaki-gun Moriyama-mura] as of 1937. Many thanks for sharing pictures of your sword.

On my end, the source for the characters 陸軍受命刀匠名簿 seems to be 日本刀銘鑑 [Nihontō meikan]. The English language source for "Rikugun Jumei Tosho Meibo" seems to backtrack to Jinsoo Kim's website at www.jp-sword.com.

Mal & Co., Ltd, have published a series of monographs on various gendaitō 現代刀 swordsmiths. The monographs focus on a specific swordsmith and his apprentices. I have found these monographs to be well researched and thorough. They make a great supplement to the books that cover gendaitō. Most, if not all, can be downloaded in the "Downloads" section of this forum. Below is a listing of the monographs that came out in 2020. Any mistakes in transcribing are mine and not that of the author(s). Cox, Malcolm E. Ichimonji Minamoto Amahide 一文字 源 天秀 and Seki Nihonto Tanren Jo 関日本刀鍛錬所; Fukumoto Koichi Kanemune (福本小市兼宗), Ido Toshimi Hidetoshi (井戸俊X三秀俊), Mouri Kazuo Kunimoto (毛利 一男圀元). 2020. 42 pages. Cox, Malcolm E., and Neil G. Freeland. Kojima Tokijiro Kanemichi 小島 時次郎 兼道 and Kojima Tosho Family; Kanetoki 兼時, Kanenori 兼則, Katsumasa 勝正: Seki, Japan. 2020. 75 pages. Cox, Malcolm E., and Kunihiko Toki. Seki Toki Swordsmiths: Toki Zenpei Kanemasa 土岐 兼平 兼正 and Toki Yuichi Sukenobu 土岐 雄一 亮信. 2020. 46 pages. Cox, Malcolm E. Taguchi Kiichi (田口喜一) Masatsugu (正次) and Hakuryushi Tadataka (白竜子 忠孝): Hizen Swordsmiths. 2020. 46 pages.

"reeder" posted a picture of one back in February of last year in this thread. Arsenal Stamps., Post #490 The logo consists of the outline of the character 兵 with a star centered in the middle.