Arsenal Mark on RJT sword Fittings

[Bruce Pennington]

Date side:

[Bruce Pennington]

For those who follow RJT blades & smiths, I want to clarify currently observed blades by smiths Masayoshi.

@mecox @vajo

 

JSI RJT list shows:

Ryu Masayoshi ???

Takahashi Masayoshi 正良 - Aomori

Kosaka Masayoshi 正美 - Osaka

 

What we have, so far, are these:

Masayoshi 正良, Ittosai - Tokushima (source - Mal Cox Article)

Masayoshi 正吉, Oki – Shimane   Slough said "Oki" while Sesko said "Oku"  Don't know which is accurate.  Mei includes "Yakumo" city?

Masayoshi 正美, Kosaka - Osaka

 

Examples

Ittosai Masayoshi (Cox Article)

 

Oki Masayoshi (Smallsword, ebay)

 

Kosaka Masayoshi, (Vajo, NMB)

 

I post this to see if A. I have this right, B. to see if anyone has insights on "Ryu" and "Takahashi", and C. if anyone else has blades from these smiths, I'd love to get photos!

[BANGBANGSAN]

2 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Masayoshi 正良, Ittosai - Tokushima (source - Mal Cox Article)

Examples

Ittosai Masayoshi (Cox Article)

 

Bruce

The kanji is 正茂

[Bruce Pennington]

53 minutes ago, BANGBANGSAN said:

正茂

I scrolled through Sesko's list of "Masa..." smiths and couldn't find any with that kanji.  What is that saying?  Is it a simplified version of "義"?

[BANGBANGSAN]

7 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I scrolled through Sesko's list of "Masa..." smiths and couldn't find any with that kanji.  What is that saying?  Is it a simplified version of "義"?

東神正茂　Tojin Masashige 。The implified version of "義" is 义

[Bruce Pennington]

Compared to other Masashige on file, and while that "shige" has slight problems (maybe done by an apprentice?) it does match the mei of this Masashige:

 

@mecox

And he's one of those star-stamped smiths not found on the RJT list.

[george trotter]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

 (maybe done by an apprentice?)

RJT rules say RJT smiths had to sign and date their swords themselves.

 

[Conway S]

Anyone seen this stamp before? Looks like 山 and is encircled like the matsu stamp. Also resembles モ since it appears the top two strokes (as currently oriented) extend toward the nakago mune. It’s on a star stamped sword by the Niigata smith Uemura Sadakiyo. I tried searching “yama” but kept getting results for the “w” stamp. 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

34 minutes ago, Conway S said:

a star stamped sword by the Niigata smith Uemura Sadakiyo

Conway,

Could I get shots of the nakago mei and date for my files?

 

We'll have to see what the experts say on the stamp.  @BANGBANGSAN @Kiipu @SteveM, but generally speaking, numbers on RJT blades tend (not always) to be read with the blade horizontal, while logo and other emblems tend to be observed blade tip up.

[Conway S]

Here you go @Bruce Pennington. The number on the nakago is 828. No stamps on the mune. Fittings are marked ホ 91. 

 

It’s signed 越後住上村貞清 Echigo ju Uemura Sadakiyo* 

And dated 昭和十八年三月日

 

*Me thinks it could actually be Uemura Sadatoshi...

 

[Kiipu]

On 6/27/2025 at 5:07 AM, Conway S said:

Anyone seen this stamp before?

 

No, I have not seen this stamp before.  It looks like an encircled katakana MO.

㋲ = encircled katakana モ.

[Bruce Pennington]

16 hours ago, Conway S said:

Me thinks it could actually be Uemura Sadatoshi.

Thanks, Conway!  Who did the translation and said Sadakiyo?

After looking at them both in Sesko's list, I'd lean more to Sadatoshi, too.  Interesting that he was the son of Sadakiyo:

 

"SADATOSHI (貞寿), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Niigata – “Sadatoshi” (貞寿), real name Uemura Jirō (上村二郎), born 1916, he studied under his father Sadakiyo (貞清) and worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō, jōko no jōi (Akihide), Fourth Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)"

 

I only have 2 Sadakiyo on file and both use standard writing rather than this 'cursive' (or rather a mix of both in this case) on yours.  I don't have any Sadatoshi on file for comparison.  Have you searched for other Sadatoshi examples?

 

[Conway S]

I was the original translator…. I checked Sesko’s “Identifying Japanese Cursive Script” this morning and confirmed 壽- toshi. I’ve only found one example of Sadatoshi below. I’ll keep searching for examples. 
 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

6 minutes ago, Conway S said:

I checked Sesko’s “Identifying Japanese Cursive Script” this morning and confirmed 壽- toshi

That's great!  First one from him in the RJT chart.  I'll post it that way.

[Kiipu]

Interesting twist we have here.  I have been looking for some more examples of Sadatoshi's work and there does not appear to be many to compare to.  It could very well be Sadatoshi using a cursive style 壽 and not Sadakiyo.

Old vs New Characters

壽 vs 寿

 

Conway, can you post a picture just of the 上村貞壽 characters?

 

Links to Sadakiyo 貞清 signatures.

$2100 Rare Gendai-To By Echigo Sadakiyo in New Polish

Katana for comments

越後住貞清 昭和十八年十月吉日

 

[Bruce Pennington]

4 hours ago, Kiipu said:

Sadakiyo 貞清 and attached is the page

The Sadakiyo I have on file match those, too, and are unlike the one in question.  

[Conway S]

Here are the requested pics.  I only found one link to an old AOI Japan listing, but was unable to view the listing. Maybe someone else will have better luck trying to recover the original content:

 

https://www.facebook.com/aoijapan.jp/posts/1883721261789054/

 

 

 

 

 

[Kiipu]

Sorry, unable to recover the Aoi sword with the order number of AS20447.

 

However, the bottom portion of 壽 matches Sesko's Nihonto Compendium.  I am going to record 828 as made by Sadatoshi 貞壽 for the time being.