Kokuri Rigun Zōheisō

[David McDonald]

Dear All

 

Not sure if this is the correct area of the board but is a start.

 

Star stamp

Kokuri Rikugun Zōheisō

小倉 陸軍 造兵

 

Showa ni ju nen ni gatsu

昭和二十年二月

 

On mune two katakana – Ri Ri リリ

(maybe two ko 小小with missing stroke?)

 

So is this a gendaito? And who would be the smith?

The blade has been sand papered so can not see much but there is a chu suguha in nioi

With koshiba in the ura side. And I can see one slanted peak in the hamon. The peak goes up about 3 mm above the suguha. Boshi is ko-maru.

 

Any thoughts would be great.

 

thanks

david mcdonald jswords@mcn.net

[Stephen]

http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/riku.jpg

 

something to do with Army officer club?

 

nice find looking forward to learning more about this smith

[David McDonald]

Dear All

 

Just as a note Chris Bowen at

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14628&p=127923&hilit=Kokura+Rikugun+Zoheisho#p127923

has translated Kokuri Rigun Zōheisō as

Kokura Army Armory

for the signature

 

and at

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7146&p=57017&hilit=Kokura+Rikugun+Zoheisho#p57017

George has

Kokura Kosho: Hakuryushi Tadataka, Taira Sadashige, Kanenobu

Do one of these smiths use a chu suguha in nioi and koshiba???

 

And that the from the above, it seems that true gendaito appear with

1. tosho mei and small logo stamp, eg "saka", and "na" etc (eg Ichihara Nagamitsu with "saka").

2. Blades with mei (no date?) and star stamp made "on-site".

3. Blades with mei, date and star-stamp made "off-site" by Rikugun Jumei Tosho .

 

So what is a star stamp that is dated but no tosho mei just Kokuri rigun Zoheiso?????

 

later

david mcdonald jswords@mcn.net

[george trotter]

Hmmm,

As per the RJT rules (see "articles" link) a smith had to sign and date his work.

Of the several RJT swords I have seen with "such and such" Rikugun Zoheisho, they all had a 2 kanji mei at least. See Slough p.135.

This should not exist....I hope someone will comment.

Regards,

[zentsuji2]

I am no expert on this subject but could this be a blade that slipped through the stringent rules of the rjt scheme.

As we know many blades were turned out by these Smiths,and this one has a well cut kokura Rikugen Zoheisho, and date,the inspector could have passed the blade inadvertently.

This is theory only and I can't back it up,but people do miss things.

Has anybody seen this style of cutting on any of the kokura Rikugen Zoheisho nakago before?We know kuniie cut mei for smiths and yakire,hopefully someone may recognise the work on a sword or oshigata of a Krz smith, who signed in this style.

This is just a thought and apart from the lack of mei,it is for all intent and purpose a star stamp, or an attempt to deceive,which I find unlikely.

We are still learning about these swords and anomalies appear from time to time.

I hope it's solved, as usual these interesting swords are giving us more to debate and look into.

Best regards. Ian bellis

[cabowen]

Please notice the date on this sword. It is more than likely that in the last days of the war, things went out in a rather hurried fashion, without all protocols being followed.

[george trotter]

I agree with Ian and Chris,

I don't think this is a modern day attempt to deceive, I think it is just an example of a curious "anomaly"...as they say, never sat never with nihonto. Chris's comments re the date and the rush of late war production seems quite reasonable.

BTW Itend to think the two kana stamps on the mune are indeed "ko" as this is the inspection stamp for Kokura.

Looks like nice RJT blade...any blade pics?

Regards,

[David McDonald]

Dear George

 

Here are some images. Not much to see. The sword had been rusted/pitted. Last owner used a sander on the blade.

Rounded over the shinogi and mune. Left some deep gouges. The sword will need a polisher to set it right.

The hamon is not a straight line suguha but suguha with very small gunome. A few places it looks like a very narrow nioi.

 

The post viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14628&p=127923&hilit=Kokura+Rikugun+Zoheisho#p127923

Has much the same signature but with a 1944 date.

 

We now have two swords signed this way?

 

Might the smith just not like the blade and choice not to put his name on the sword?

 

later

david mcdonald jswords@mcn.net

[george trotter]

Thanks Dave,

Hmmm...two unsigned RJT blades and both from Kokura...I think we'd better call this the "McDonald variation" haha.

Maybe best to wait until someone can ID the work to a known Kokura smith before you spend money on a polish?

Anyway, it has the star stamp so that is a promising sign...maybe, if someone knows the names of the smiths that worked at Kokura (do an on-line search)? we could compare known works to this for nakagojiri, yasurimei and mei kiri characteristics. A mystery worth solving IMHO.

Regards,

[Nihonto Chicken]

Hmmm...two unsigned RJT blades and both from Kokura...I think we'd better call this the "McDonald variation" haha.

 

 

FWIW, link to my thread regarding a third similar example (thx to reeder for flagging this current thread):

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/16353-interesting-late-44-gunto/

 

Seems the missing personal swordsmith mei may not be a one-off inadvertent slip up.

[cabowen]

It is possible that the armory simply put out these as generic work, perhaps made by students. They were Army and could do what they wanted to as far as the stamping is concerned.

 

There were a few good smiths known to have worked at the Kokura Zoheisho but looking at the poor quality of the nakago finish and the almost amateurish way the mei is cut I would say this is not the work of one of the better smiths like Sadashige.