Kai Gunto Mei

[ChrisAWilson]

I purchased one of the Kai’s from Micheal, by far my nicest Gunto and I’ve always wanted a nice Navy! I’m hoping someone can translate the Mei for me. It’s hard to to make out so put a little chalk on to help and broke it up into two pics. Thanks

Chris 

[SteveM]

濃州関住服部正廣作

Nōshū Seki-jū Hattori Masahiro saku

 

It means: HATTORI Masahiro, of the town of Seki in Nōshū Province, made this. This is a well-known WW2 swordsmith. 

[ChrisAWilson]

Thank you Steven!

[Kolekt-To]

Congrats on the acquisition Chris! Very nice. I acquired a Hattori Masahiro Kai Gunto about a month ago and it's currently in the hands of one of my Koshirae restoration guys. In my case, the Ito was torn and it needed a re-wrap, so I brought it over to Randy's house in Phoenix and he's doing the work. I should have it back sometime next month. Randy has an excellent reputation, has been doing Koshirae restoration work on Nihonto and Gunto for over 30 years (it's his full-time job), and he receives swords from all over the world to restore (he stays very busy!). Regarding Hattori Masahiro, from what I have read, he did work for the Takayama Tanrenjo (which made swords mostly for the Navy) and was a well-regarded swordsmith. I know I feel fortunate to have one of his examples in my collection, especially since I've been on this Type 97 mission for a few months now. Something about those Navy swords.