Sato Shigenori.

[boyd_glin]

Hi everyone.

 

My grandfather passed away recently and as we were sorting out his belongings I came upon and old ratty looking towel wrapped around something stuffed way back. In one of the closets.

 

As I unwrapped it i was surprised to find a WWII Era katana which my grandfather had obviously brought home when he returned from the war.

 

It was pretty rough with some surface rust on the blade and many scratches. The handle is all but gone but the tsuba and everything are still there.

 

I didn't think much of it just thinking it to be a generic run of the mill sword pumped out of a factory to pass on to soldiers.

 

However upon closer inspection. I found the signature and began to do some research. As far as i can tell the swordsmith was sato shigenori and it seems to be quite genuine.

 

The more I research the more interested I become but i seem to have hit a wall regarding this sword smith.

 

Would love it if anybody could shed some more light on the subject or even share a few pictures of other shigenori swords.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Hi, Boyd, & welcome to the forum. There are lots of us who would be happy to help out, but without good photos, we'd just be guessing. Reading sword mei is NOT a straightforward process, & even people who can read modern Kanji just fine can't make out many older signatures. So please take a couple of good, in-focus, closeup shots of the mei, along with at least one shot of the entire blade, & those will help us identify what other photos we need.

 

Ken

 

[boyd_glin]

 

 

 

MEI side ^^^^^^^^

 

[k morita]

Hi,
 
Sato Shigenori(佐藤重則) was a swordsmith who lived in Akita prefecture in Japan.

[boyd_glin]

thank you very much that has made the kanji much clearer for me

[boyd_glin]

Is there any light that anybody could shed on sato shigenori. Or any opinions on what sort of value I may be looking at.

 

I would never sell this sword but am just curious to know

[Brian]

 

SHIGENORI (重則), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Akita – “Shigenori” (重則), “Nishimonai-jū Shigenori kore o kinsaku” (西馬音内住重則謹作之), real name Satō Gorō (佐藤五郎), he was born in Meiji nine (明治, 1876) and studied from 1929 under Shibata Ka (柴田果), he became independent in 1940 and died 1951, jōkō no retsu (Akihide)

 

Markus Sesko - Index of Japanese Swordsmiths.

 

Value...difficult in that condition. Maybe around $1500?

[george trotter]

Here is an oshigata of a Sato shigenori that I owned...dated Showa 16. He was a good smith, won 3rd Seat in 1841 Ehib. of new-made swords.

Hope this helps.

[george trotter]

oops, posted twice.

[boyd_glin]

oops, posted twice.

That is awesome George thank you very much.

 

I'm still trying to decipher some of the kanji on mine. As far as i can tell it says "showa, 15th year, second month, then simply says day"

 

The inscription next to that is proving difficult for me though.

[boyd_glin]

This is a long shot because I am struggling with these kanji. But I think the other inscription may say " ? ? Had this sword forged for her husband kazuo kariya"

 

Could that be correct.

[jason_mazzy]

wish I stumbled across it accidentally in a closet. nice score.

[Greg F]

Nice score indeed! Maybe restore it and keep as a memento of your Grandfather. Congrats and all the best.

 

Greg

[george trotter]

Hi Greg, You have done well. The inscription translates as "Made In answer to a request by Kariya Kazuo".

So you not only know the name of your grandfather who brought it back, but also of the Japanese officer who had it made.

It is hard to tell from the pics of course, but I think it would be appropriate to check out having it polished. It is a nice family keepsake.

 

I have only ever seen the one Sato Shigenori blade, but it was good work. Yours looks like it has promise also.

Good luck.

Regards,

PS...I notice that I said Shigenori won 3rd Seat in 1841...of course it was 1941...sorry...duhh!

[Stephen]

I think a polish and shirasaya would show great honor to all parties connected history.  

[Shugyosha]

This is a long shot because I am struggling with these kanji. But I think the other inscription may say " ? ? Had this sword forged for her husband kazuo kariya"

 

Could that be correct.

 

Hi Boyd, 

 

I got the following: 應需刈谷和夫造之

 

I think that the character for husband is part of the name of the person commissioning the blade: your Kazuo Kariya.

 

The first two characters translate roughly as "reply" and "necessity" and the last two "made this" but I'm having difficulty in coming up with a sensible sentence in English that incorporates everything: "Made in response to the needs of Kazuo Kariya" doesn't seem to quite do it justice...

 

But it definitely seems to be a made to order sword which would normally be the smith's best work, so a nice pick-up.

 

Best,

John

[boyd_glin]

Hi Greg, You have done well. The inscription translates as "Made In answer to a request by Kariya Kazuo".

So you not only know the name of your grandfather who brought it back, but also of the Japanese officer who had it made.

It is hard to tell from the pics of course, but I think it would be appropriate to check out having it polished. It is a nice family keepsake.

 

I have only ever seen the one Sato Shigenori blade, but it was good work. Yours looks like it has promise also.

Good luck.

Regards,

PS...I notice that I said Shigenori won 3rd Seat in 1841...of course it was 1941...sorry...duhh!

If im not mistaken the date of this sword is the 15th year of showa. I think that puts it at 1941. Im new to this so it's probably wrong but good to know he was doing good work around the time this sword was made

[boyd_glin]

Oh and another question. If i was to just give it a polish with some standard metal polish would that hurt it at all. I don't expect to get a proper finish on it at all. Was just hoping to clean it up so i could have a better look at what I have got?

[kissakai]

I'm surprised someone didn't answer this within minutes

 

Do not polish the blade!!!!!!!!

 

There are many posts on the NMB about sword care so have a read

As you are in Australia it may help if you stated the area you live and maybe there is someone close to you that you can show it to for further advice

 

 

Grev UK

[Brian]

I find on something VERY out of polish, something like Nevr Dull can't harm the blade, and will take off a lot of black and rust. But use sparingly. And if in doubt, rather don't use it at all.

Never use even the finest abrasive paper.

As Grev said, the advice is to never polish a sword yourself. Cleaning with uchiko or ethyl alcohol is usually the most that should be done.

[boyd_glin]

Ok I will just leave it as is until I have the money to get it done properly. I suppose I should just oil it in the meantime

[ggil]

For sure! I would put some oil on it. If it was polished you will want to be liberal with the oil so you don't attract dust, deposit on the inner surface of the saya, and scratch the blade's finish; but for now, it won't hurt to add oil to the blade to limit further corrosion. The blade you have looks to be very nicely made. The geometry/lines/foundation polish look to be high quality especially for the war era, but the signature (made to order status)confirms that the piece was well made (if it isn't fake). The years of neglect have been rough to it, as the tang makes it look like it's 150 years old in the picture. It also appears to have some damage to the blade's edge toward the tip, as if somebody was chopping something or someone, and struck something hard enough to chip it a couple places(maybe it is the pictures though). The corrosion on the blade is also centered around the area toward the tip (last 12 inches maybe). seems like before the last time it was used was the last time it was oiled. There are streaks of corrosion that appear to be left by whatever the blade was cutting. I wonder if it is a good candidate for polish, if I am correct and there are some decent sized chips out of the end of the blade edge? I have a similar blade (with chips out of the edge) and have assumed that it wasn't fit for polish because of all the metal to be removed, but maybe there is a method of filling a chip (but I doubt it would be a completely acceptable weapon at that point, with some filler material for a part of the edge - that ought to be carbon steel). If you want to clean it up a little, maybe you can find a trained polisher to visit (or find one at a sword show) and discuss them training you a little. Maybe you will find one that will walk you through some techniques. Who knows? It may be a terrific blade (likely it is) and you wouldn't want to hurt it, even if the edge is chipped up. Anyway, just wanted to encourage the oil use (I am an over-oiler myself), point out the chips on the cutting edge incase that changes anyone's opinion of polishing, and congratulate you on finding something valuable, sentimental, and incredibly cool looking!

-Grant

[Shamsy]

A cotton patch, oil and a little hard work scrubbing should tidy up and preserve the blade. Sewing machine oil is a very fine, odorless oil and would do the job nicely

 

I'm quite familiar with the mass produced gunto that show up still reasonably often, but there are a few good swords still undiscovered it seems. A nice thought.