John C

Conway: I believe the same' used on souvenirs is a type of celluloid, which they did use on some swords toward the end of the war. John C.

Thank you both very much! John C.

Hello: I recently picked up this cheap (and probably newer) kogatana and would be interested in knowing the theme. Does anyone recognize this? The kozuka is unsigned; the mei on the kogatana is unreadable. Thank you, John C.

Eric: I had one with cosmoline. It had turned a dingy hard yellow. I removed it so I could not only see the blade but also oil it properly. There are some discussions on NMB about removing it (search cosmoline). John C.

Chris: Did you throw in a ringer? Isn't this your safe? John C.

The author was conducting a qualitative study rather than a quantitative one. In a thematic (case) study, the N does not need to be as large as it would need to be to conduct inferential statistics. Indeed, I have seen case studies done with an N of 5. Qualitative analysis software makes the job of pulling out themes a lot easier than it used to be. John C.

Thank you everyone. This is great information. John C

I imagine this is a simple question to those who know, however I have not been able to find an answer through researching threads. Is it simply a friction fit (allowing for replacing the kogatana as it wears out) or were these glued in place? John C.

Larry: It looks legit to me. Here is a site to get you started. http://ohmura-study.net/945.html John C.

Jean: Not interested in buying, just curious whether or not these were maybe Thai or some other southeast asian manufacture. But I agree, whatever they are, 750 is already too high. John C.

Can anyone identify the origin of these swords? The writing does not look like Japanese to me. The kabutogane has what looks like a shamrock design. ??? John C. https://shopgoodwill.com/item/174769386

Steven: It looks like the tsuba has a shop stamp. Do you have a clear picture of it? John C.

Moriyama-san Could this character be the katakana letter GA or is that written differently? John C.

Brandon: Values are not generally discussed because they are so subjective. The individual swordsmith, the year, the style of sword (type 98, mantetsu, gendaito, etc.), all play a part in value. It is a nice example. You can, however, get a sense of value by looking at online auctions for similar swords and smith. Some of the information linked by Ray may help in that. John C.

I don't think the presence of the peaks are too concerning. I believe they are used, when applying the clay, to relieve stress in the edge of the blade to prevent cracking. But why do they look like that? Not sure. Maybe some kind of acid polishing has brought them out that way. John C.

Okay. So the Processing Military Swords doc only applies to RJT. Got it. Makes more sense now when I separate procedures for RJT gendaito from standard military production. Thanks, all. John C.

With a cut that deep, it seems as if that area of the ha had not been hardened appropriately. John C.

I have always wondered about that. Below is an excerpt from the Specifications for Processing Military Swords: 11. The blacksmith (including quenching) and the engraver must be the same person.　　 But it has been noted many times on this forum that shops had mei cutters. Are there any "evidentiary" documents that support the notion of a specified mei cutter? I'm not doubting it, just would like to have a copy of the document. John C.

Bruce: Google app has what you wrote in the title as "last generation." But is this an extra stroke in the first kanji? John C.

Interestingly shaped cut out in the tsuba for the saya cover snap. Also, take care of that tassel (company grade = lieutenant, captain, or warrant officer). It can be worth several hundred by itself in good condition. John C.

Same here. No other websites affected, for FYI. John C.

Steve, again you are the man! Thank you very much! John C.

This is on a kozuka I am interested in. I think the right column starts with Kempo (1830) and the left column might have "nori" as the 4th kanji. Can't figure out the rest. Google app has it as Masaaki mountain snow and Shifuyo???? Thank you, John C.

I think many of the ito wrap on the RS tsuka were lacquered. Is this one? Without cleaning, you might try putting in a box with a humidity packet. I use them to keep my guitars from drying out. John C.

The opposite is also true as noted with this comment: "In addition, "non-standard swords" that greatly deviated from the tolerance range of the dimensional standards indicated by the specifications and drawings, such as being important, deeply warped, or too heavy, were not delivered to the armory, but were sold directly to sword dealers and officers. Of course, these are not stamped with stars or numbers." I think this means there could be gendaito out there sold to officers that were not stamped. John C.