type 3 nobumitsu

[phil reid]

Translated this type 3 blade as being Nobumitsu for a chap be he says a female friend (whose also checked the signature and "has parents that live 2hrs away from where most of these swords were made" ).said the 光 looks "wrong " from what I gather means its fake or "new" , ive told him that it was usually some young underling who would be left to do the finishing signing and sometimes the signing wasnt the best ( am i correct?) What i worked it out as is Nobumitsu 信 光as the sword smith ,

with sword date as Showa 19 year 12th month 昭和 十九年十二月 (december 1944) but that was me translating >

Your thoughts to the signature and its authenticity would be appreciated

Regards

Phil

[cisco-san]

Hi Phil,

 

I guess the mei is genuine and I think it is this guy (from Markus´s book):

Nobumitsu (信光), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – „Nobumitsu“ (信光), civilian name „Sakō Shin´ichi“ (佐光信一), born June 24th 1905, student of Kojima Katsumasa (小島勝正), he worked as guntō smith and died July 21st 1993

[Stephen]

http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/index.htm

none match from the data index or Sloughs

 

funny its on the other side as most, could have been cut by anyone.

[phil reid]

This was my question Stephen concerning the signatures on blades as all the signatures in the index seem to have slight to major differences in the execution of the characters 信光 ( have put one from the index and one off my blade as examples ) and the tales of apprentices " signing off " on the blades .Im gathering that the characters are translated correctly but are your comments saying theres something suspect in the signature or where its signed?Just seeking information but should i have listed this item or be asking these questions on the militaria forum where theres possibly greater knowledge and handling of ww2 military blades ?

Regards

Phil

[cabowen]

I don't think there are any issues with the signature on this blade though I would agree that there is almost something Chinese about how it has been cut. This smith was one of hundreds making showa-to in a factory setting in Seki. We see a lot of variation in the signatures of these blades as they were more or less mass produced with many hands involved. I don't think the market for showa-to has reached the point where gimei are being made but it is something to be watchful of going forward.