I bought a WW2 Officers sword

[JLOUSMC]

Can someone help me with the Translation of my WW2 Sword I purchased?

[Stephen]

Yoshikuni smith

[JLOUSMC]

Is he famous 

[francois2605]

There is a Yoshikuni in "An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths 1868-1945", just adding the info about him here.

[ROKUJURO]

Joseph,

does your blade have a stamp near the MEKUGI-ANA?

Your blade is signed TACHI-MEI, ESAKA YOSHIKUNI obviously signed KATANA-MEI.
It looks like a late war military blade and not like a SAMURAI weapon, so it was probably not made with traditional techniques but mainly by factory workers. There are only a few swordsmiths of that era who got some reputation after the war. So the question if the smith was 'famous' can not be answered unless we know who he was. In addition to that, we should know if the blade was forged or mass produced in a factory. 

It would probably help if we could see the whole (naked) blade without HABAKI and detail photos.  

[Grey Doffin]

The sword in the book pictured was made by a different Yoshikuni; yours was made by someone without traditional training as a swordsmith.  The date is Showa Ju Hachi Nen Ju Ni Gatsu (Showa 18 year 12 month, December of 1943).

Grey

[Stephen]

The chippy strokes tells us its done most likely by factory workers. It wont be any more than a showato blade.

[Bruce Pennington]

I would also appreciate seeing if there is a stamp higher on the nakago (tang), likely under the metal fittings, you'll have to remove them to see the stamp.

 

Have you read up on this style of gunto?  It was a contingency model, often called a "Type 3" or "Rinji seishiki", designed to be cheaper (officers had to pay for their swords) yet more durable to the rigors of combat.  The style caught on in the latter part of the war and became quite elaborate.  It would be nice to see pics of your rig as well.

 

You can read about them HERE.