cabowen

My first thoughts when I saw these pictures was mantetsu-to.... The story I was told about the Kunimori signed blades is as follows: They were made of western steel in large quantities, many/most/all (?) were made by Mitsukoshi and all were signed by Miyaguchi with the Kunimori mei. Miyaguchi would receive them in large bundles and sign them in large batches. The fact that they were made with western steel is even noted in Fujishiro's Shinto Hen as I recall... The source of this story was Miyaguchi's son, himself a smith, who held the blades while his father signed them. Of course Miyaguchi was making his own blades for special order, he wasn't doing nothing...He was good at horimono and did this as well. As I recall his son thought that his father made some of these as well but he was much clearer on signing large bundles with his father that came from Mitsukoshi. He used both the Yasuhiro and Toshihiro mei at the Okura Tanren Jo.... Swordmaking was a big business during the war and no doubt Miyaguchi was an enterprising smith. The Baron, well, he was a Baron....The less cynical might say that these were produced out of a patriotic duty to outfit the soldiers with well made gunto...The mei Kunimori (国護) means, after all, "protect the country"... These blades are not gendaito or nihon-to. Many people try to get big money for them claiming that they are Yasukuni-to, etc. In truth, they are in that grey area-handmade using non-traditional material. They are not gi-mei, many would seem to be daisaku.... Hope this sheds some light on the issue....

If it has a showa stamp, it is a showa-to.....It may have been forged but was not traditional in either the materials, process, or both....

Gendaito Meisaku Zuikan, K. Sato: I think this a large format book with maybe 30 or so post war gendaito oshigata/pictures by the better smiths of the day. If you are interested in war era smiths it isn't much help....

It bears keeping in mind that a mei is the easiest part to fake....

hard to say from the photos but in all likelihood the signature is gimei and it a late shinshinto or later fake....What is going on above the hi-that large black area???

suishinshi masahide (kao) not shinto....

According to the Meikan, there were three Ietada signing kashu ju fujiwara ietada. You will need to compare the signature to that in a reference like Fujishiro's Shinto Hen. Kaga blades are generally not given much respect but this appears to a well made blade with a nicely cut mei. It would be a fine addition to your collection!

Wow, those are really rare! You have an excellent library! Do you have the books by Naruse? (戦ふ日本刀) ,(随筆 日本刀), (実戦刀譚) They are very interesting... Also very helpful are the monthly magazines published by Kurihara Akihide, "Nihonto Oyobi Nihon Shumi" (日本刀及日本趣味). They are like a diary of all the events pertaining to nihonto from the mid thirties to the end of the war....I have been collecting these for a long time. I have most of them but the search continues... One other question Morita san...Have you seen the movie "Nihon-to Monogatari" from 1957? Tsukamoto Okimasa is in the movie forging swords....I would love to see this but can't find it anywhere....

You are most welcome... I should add that the import shinsa process is extremely location and shinsa team member variable. The shinsa in Tokyo is up to speed on WWII era star stamped blades, at least they were a few years ago when I imported some of them. The shinsa that take place outside of Tokyo are another story. I argued for hours one time with the Ministry of Education rep who has supervising the team in Shizuoka when he told them they couldn't license a blade I was importing because it had a showa date. That, according to him, made it a Showa-to. I had to pull out the import shinsa law text that states that blades are to be judged on workmanship irregardless of time period. That satisfied the judges and while it made him look bad, I really needed to get the blade into Japan and had no choice...He knew nothing about swords and should have been piloting a desk somewhere else....You will run into that often outside of Tokyo...

For those interested in learning more about the Jumei Tosho, the following book is the best I have found for detail and insight into the program: 軍刀組合始末　(Gunto Kumiai Shimatsu) (Gunto Association Management) subtitled: —陸軍受命刀匠の周辺— (Rikugun Jumei Tosho no Shuen) (The World of the Rikugun Jumei Tosho) Published by the Aizu Bunkazai Chosa Kenkyu Kai There are numerous period records reproduced detailing the amounts of tamahagane, charcoal, etc., received and used by the smiths in this group, along with detailed records of the number and type of swords produced. There is also complete information on the testing and shinsa process conducted by the military. I was given this book several years ago by the nephew of Tsukamoto Okimasa. He is a togi living in Fukushima Prefecture and wrote a portion of the book. The Tsukamoto family was from Fukushima and several members of the Tsukamoto family worked as smiths in Fukushima during the war. They made good swords.... The book is of course in Japanese....Hopefully that won't stop the more inquisitive among you....

I received the document cited by Morita san which addresses the manufacturing requirements specified by the army to contract smiths (Jumei Tosho) for making commissioned officer's gunto. Thank you very much Morita san.... I do not have the time to translate this document verbatim as it is written in the older style Japanese which is very difficult for me to read. I have enough trouble with the modern language! I summarized the main points however and share them below. First, though, let me say that this Jumei Tosho program was launched by the military in Showa 17 as a way to standardize and quality control the gunto made for commissioned officers. Prior to this programs there were all types of swords being made, from fully traditional to western steel/oil quenched Showa-to to mantetsu-to, yasuki-tetsu-to, murata-to, denki-tetsu-to, etc. This was an attempt to organize, standardize, and provide a uniform level of quality. Concepts dear to the hearts of Japanese bureaucrats.... Key Points From the Article "Commissioned Officer's Gunto Manufacturing Specifications" The blade was to be made with tamahagane and hochogane using charcoal. The smiths were required to use their best skill in forging and hardening the blades such that they would be tough and strong. They should cut well and be especially strong against blows from the side and to the mune. The carbon content of the hagane and shingane was specified to be in the following range: hagane: 0.5-0.7% carbon; shingane: 0.05-0.25% carbon. The shape and dimensions of all parts of the sword blade were specified and a drawing/blueprint existed (not in the original article) which illustrated these dimensions. The sori, mihaba, size of the kissaki, mei, nakago length, weight, etc. were all specified. The shape of the hamon was left up to the smith but was not suppose to be more than medium width. The nakago was to be properly finished with a mei and date inscribed. The blade was to be flat with moderate hamaguri. Shinogi-zukuri with tori-zori. Swords were made in three length and weight catagories, all with a nakago of 7 sun in length. small:2.0〜2.1尺　　731.25〜768.75 grams medium:2.1〜2.2尺　　768.75〜806.25 grams　 large:2.2〜2.3尺　　806.25〜843.75 grams Latitude was given as far as the shape and length of the blade but the weight specification was strictly enforced. When the blades were received by the arsenal, they were tested and visually inspected: The blades were struck forcefully from the side with an 80 mm steel pipe. They should bent less than 60 degrees and not break. The also tested the cutting ability on two 10 cm diameter bundles of straw and a mild steel plate that was 2mm thick, 1 cm wide. The blade should not show a kirikomi more than 2 cm, and should not have hakobore or bend. The appearance of the blade was inspected. The blade should, in general, be well balanced with the length, shape, and weight within the tolerances of the regulation. The blade should not have hakobore, kizu in the ji, or breaks in the hamon or other harmful kizu. A few personal comments: My understanding was that these tests were done to the two test blades which a smith would submit in application to become a Jumei Tosho. I do not think they tested every blade made afterwards under contract.... The article makes no mention of the star stamp but I have heard from several Jumei Tosho that the star stamp was placed on their blades when they were accepted by the army. All star stamp blades I have seen were made by smiths in the Jumei Tosho program... Swords made by Jumei Tosho that do not have a star stamp were made for private sale by the smith. I hope this helps to understand the star stamp and the Jumei Tosho system. Thank you very much to Morita san for sending the scan of the article.

I did a quick search and could not find it....it would help if you could point me to it... Thanks...

it is hard to say without seeing the sword but it would be helpful to see more pictures, including the nakago... It may also be the case that it is forged but not made of tamahagane....

I have been looking for that book for a long time....still haven't found a copy for sale! Thanks for sharing...

That's it...I was wrong-I need to be more careful with these kinko artists!

echizen no kami sukehiro kaneaki kazutoshi (kao) (this is one pronounciation of the kanji- the artist may have used a different version)

kanetsugu saku showa 16 (hard to read due to rust) nen

Maybe just the photo but the mei looks like it was cut yesterday....

Thank you. I believe I have that filed away....If it isn't too much trouble, please email me a scan of the relevant pages and I will see what I can do with translating it.....

Could you please tell us name of the publication that contains this information and the year it was published? Thank you....

The Yamagami brothers were professional smiths who trained at the Denshujo and/or the Nihonto Gakuin (both run by Kurihara Akihide). They made traditional swords. What the matsu stamp you refer to means, I do not know. It could have been used as a workshop stamp, a local acceptance stamp, a stamp indicating a non-traditional blade, or traditional blade, or ....???? I do think it is local as I have not seen it elsewhere.

Seki and Showa stamped swords can be left for the martial artists, amateur polishers and WWII memorabilia collectors as they are not nihon-to ...anyone looking to learn about nihon-to will be wasting their time with them.... To those that have studied they are similar in shape only. The Seki/Showa-to lack the handmade artistry in the ji-ba. Not all imperial army personnel, or all Japanese, for that matter, are sword experts, and were able to tell the difference. They are only similar to those that do not know the difference. Hopefully, collectors of nihon-to are either able to tell the difference or are striving toward that goal.....

Seems I have been called out.....My boy is taking his nap and I have some time so here's a bit of what I have learned on the stamp topic...and yes, I do not comment specifically on items at auction, so I will make these "general" comments. You can connect the dots.... First of all, there are many different stamps seen on WWII era military issue blades. They have different meanings, uses, and histories. It would take much more time than I have at the moment to address the full story so what follows is the abridged version....I have assumed that full source citations are not necessary, but they can be provided if there is any doubt in what I will relate.... The showa stamp was used to indicate a non-traditionally made blade. Period. When you see a blade with this stamp, it means it is not a traditionally made blade. The government ordered that this stamp be used because some non-traditionally made blades were becoming difficult to tell apart from those made the traditional way. If anyone has seen a papered showa stamped blade, it speaks more to the shinsa team than the blade. Seki stamps were placed to identify the blade as manufactured in Seki and may have also served as a local acceptance stamp. The bulk of the gunto made in WWII came from Seki. There was a veritable gunto cooperative where this business was conducted. 99% of all gunto made were not traditionally made in Seki. There may be the odd ball seki stamped blade that is traditionally made but it would be extremely rare. Some people in Japan tell me the Seki stamp was the same as the Showa stamp, others say it is not certain. Personally, outside of two Seki smiths, I ignore them all as too few are worth the time to worry about it.... The Star stamp was used by the military as an acceptance stamp on blades made by the Rikugun Jumei Tosho for the military. These smiths had to pass a rigorous test to be accepted into the contract program. They received tamahagane from the military (which, as a strategic resource, was controlled by the military) and charcoal from the prefectural governor. This is documented fact. Therefore, in theory, all star stamped blades were made traditionally with tamahagane. In practice, who is to say that some smith(s) weren't hording it and passing off western steel blades??? Well, there are two good reasons why this was probably very rare: first, the blades, as I said, were inspected. Yoshihara Kuniie, a prominent smith of the time, worked as an inspector. You aren't going to fool him and risk being tossed out of the program. Second, people were patriotic. They were making the best blades they could for their soldiers. It may have happened, but it was most likely rare....Safe bet to say that star stamped blades are traditionally made. I have never seen a showa or Seki stamped blade pass an NBTHK shinsa. I have seen Star stamped blades pass and have owned at least one that I recall submitting just to see what would happen after someone made all kinds of noise about how the NBTHK wouldn't paper one....it indeed passed. Why is there so much confusion about stamps? Because nearly all Japanese collectors have shunned WWII era blades, records were destroyed, many Japanese don't much like to talk about WWII related topics, and the experts have never bothered to really research these blades because...see above. I have spent many pleasurable hours talking with several WWII era Rikugun Jumei Tosho about their experiences, spent many hours at the Diet Library digging up old records and period literature (which is difficult to get into-being a university professor made it easy), and sought out many books and papers that most people would never bother to hunt down even if they had heard of them. I also have handled hundreds, if not thousands, of WWII era blades in the past 35 years. As I result, I feel very comfortable with the above statements. As a result, my recommendation to any budding collector is to consider star stamped blades. I have never seen a bad one. They are, on average, pretty decent. Some are better than others, but you can hardly go wrong with them. Conversely, they are not on the same level as the smith's custom or private work and as such are not the best you will find, but they are honest, traditional swords that a new collector can buy with some confidence. Seki and Showa stamped swords can be left for the martial artists, amateur polishers and WWII memorabilia collectors as they are not nihon-to ...anyone looking to learn about nihon-to will be wasting their time with them....

That is very impressive work......

I am in the sw corner of WI and have given thought to starting such a group once I am finished with my house...well, at least living there! I would be interested in such a group....I know of several people in the state that would be interested. The problem is everyone is so scattered...