Some help needed on a Kai-Gunto Wakizashi.

[tbonesullivan]

The mei and nengo on this tang are very "chippy". I looked through both the Naval sword documents, and was not able to find any smiths that end in HISA.  I have considered that it may be 武 久 - TAKE HISA, but the first character doesn't look quite right.

 

The date is also somewhat unclear. I had to use some white cornstarch to make it legible. I am seeing 昭 和 十 八 年 - Showa 18 (1943)

 

As always, any help is appreciated!

[Kiipu]

1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said:

I am seeing 昭 和 十 八 年 - Showa 18 (1943)

 

Yes, 1943 is the date.  The first character is alluding me at the moment so I will have Mal take a look at it.  Can you post an overall picture of the fittings?

@mecox

[tbonesullivan]

3 hours ago, Kiipu said:

 

Yes, 1943 is the date.  The first character is alluding me at the moment so I will have Mal take a look at it.  Can you post an overall picture of the fittings?

@mecox

Sure! Here's the fittings, a bad picture of the hamon, and the entire blade out of the fittings. The blade length is 22 1/2, so it's an O-Wakizashi. The scabbard is only 26 1/2" long. about two inches shorter than the usual. 9 7 is stamped on tsuba, O-seppa, Seppa, Fuchi, end of tsuka, so it's a matched set. The fittings are all non-magnetic. I think the Tsuba is copper plated brass, which was then blackened.

[k morita]

Hi,

 

The mei says Sukehisa 祐久　,not Takehisa.

[MarcoUdin]

I believe there is another post of this smith if you search. Seemed like consensus was it's an unknown showa smith, unless one of guys has some older textbooks? @mecox maybe?

 

By the way does it have any stamps? Picture is out of focus but kind of looks Gendaito

[Kiipu]

Several Sukehisa 祐久 are archived on NMB and some are in naval mounts.  Two of them have a unique white painted subassembly number.  Me thinks Mal will need to revise Japanese Naval Swords, Part 2!

Translation of Katana Mei

Need help identifying mei of 2 Shin Gunto please!

Kai-Gunto Translation Help

Katsuhisa?

[tbonesullivan]

14 hours ago, MarcoUdin said:

By the way does it have any stamps? Picture is out of focus but kind of looks Gendaito

 

No stamps or white numbers anywhere on the blade, just the Mei and Nengo. One side of the blade has some WARE blade wounds, and I'm pretty sure I can see some NIE at the transition to the hamon.

[Alban L]

Good morning,

 

Very nice sword. I have often seen wakizashi or relatively short katana blades on navy mounts. To compare to army swords, I did a little survey on the lengths observed on more than 300 army and navy blades.

Either ancestral blades or war productions, Kai Gunto most often have blades around 24/25'', often shorter, whereas army swords lenghts are more distributed, usually longer, around 26'' and up to 28'' (with all 26.25/26.50'' industrial blades for NCO swords).

 

(Number of swords / blade length)

 

Interesting finding. Trying to explain this notable difference, as sailors were certainly not to be smaller than their army counterparts, it was undoubtedly rather to facilitate movement onboard ships, and naval swords had certainly less chance of being used in combat.

Was there any regulation precising and explaining blade lenghts for both Army and Navy ?

[Bruno]

Nice find David.

 

Original showa era (signed/dated) wakizashi are not so common.

 

Always nice to see one.