Unknown (Personalized?) Katana Mei Translation Request

[Stevensonbak]

Hello Everyone, 

 

I am a casual collector of military items, including katanas, and I came across a rather battered and unusual looking one recently that I would like to share with you. Any information is greatly appreciated, but I am most interested in finding out roughly where and when it was made if possible based off of what mei inscriptions on the tang translate to.

Here is a link to the gallery for the sword, the mei pictures are towards the end: http://www.imgur.com/a/AwjaL

I received this from a young man who inherited it from his deceased father, but since the son did not even know his father owned the sword nor was there any paperwork regarding the piece left behind, I do not have any other personal history about the katana besides that. 

 

I did the best I could to take detailed pictures of the exposed tang. I would really appreciate translations for the mei inscriptions, that would definitely shine light on the blade's origins. 

 

If you have any other questions or need pictures of a specific part I overlooked, let me know. I know this katana is extremely rough and incomplete, but it still intrigues me nonetheless. 

 

Link To Gallery: http://www.imgur.com/a/AwjaL

 

Thank You!

[Jamie]

If you post upright pics that are a little better of the characters you'll have better luck. You might consider posting them directly to the board as many folks won't click on links. I hope this helps.

Jamie

[Peter Bleed]

November of 1943 was a VERY good moment (for some of us) but I can't see the maker's name

Peter

(Don't call me a Baby Boomer!

[george trotter]

The mei is probably (first kanji hard to see) read as Kanesada. There was a Seki showato smith of this name registered in Sho 14 Oct. 8th.

His family name is Okada Sadao.

The blade is certainly a showato.

Regards,

[Kai-Gunto]

Shingunto type 3

[Stevensonbak]

Thanks a lot for all of your input everyone, and I apologize for the poor pictures of the mei; I do not currently have a macro lens for my DSLR and my phone camera is useless. Based on what you have all told me, I think we can all agree now this is a low quality late-war shingunto, although I am glad to see that it does not seem to be missing any parts besides the mekugi, sageo, and tassel. Thank You George for your input of the swordsmith's name; I thought because this was a rushed model the manufacturer would be more vague.

If I get a proper macro lens, I will retake the mei pictures and post them here and in the gallery in case anyone is still curious.

[Jean]

Steven, no need to have a macro lens. A zoom and a tripod is all you need

[Stevensonbak]

Steven, no need to have a macro lens. A zoom and a tripod is all you need

My lens is actually a 70-300mm telescopic lens, but I admit I don't have a proper tripod. Nevertheless, I borrowed a friend's smartphone with a third-party zoom attachment. Here are higher fidelity pictures of the sai:

[Nobody]

昭和十八年十二月 - Showa 18th year (1943), December

兼定 - Kanesada

[Stevensonbak]

昭和十八年十二月 - Showa 18th year (1943), December

兼定 - Kanesada

Thank you for writing out the kanji in ASCII format, it made it very easy for me to learn the writing structure of dates in the Japanese calendar format. Kanji search databases are fickle because they put a lot of emphasis on stroke order for an accurate search, so you saved me a lot of trouble in this regard.