SwordGuyJoe Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 All, I recently purchased the Kai-Gunto listed earlier by Dr. Barrett (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5613). It is signed Hirata Hidemitsu. I have been able to find a papered Hirata Hidemitsu for sale on WorldofSamura (http://www.worldofsamurai.com/catalog/d ... ame=Katana) although the site seems to be down. I found Fujimoto Akira listed on Dr. Stein's Gendai Toko Meikan page (http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/gtmindex.htm) and he is listed as (if I am reading it right) as signing Hidemitsu. Can anyone help with indentifying whether these people are one in the same? If it helps, I have uploaded some photos of the blade to my site: http://web.me.com/joseph.kraninger/Joes ... mitsu.html Thank you in advance. Quote
george trotter Posted July 16, 2009 Report Posted July 16, 2009 Hi Joe, Sorry, Fujimoto Akira (Hidemitsu) and Hirata Hidemitsu are not the same man. The two pics you give of Hirata Hidemitsu signatures are the same...Your Hidemitsu was a Seki Tosho in WWII. He began working on 3rd March 1943. Most of his work would have a Seki stamp on it but he may also have done private work without the stamp (yours may be one of these). Such work may have elements of handcrafting, but most likely using western steel. I'm not sure of the reading of the kanji but his real name appears to be Hirata Hideo. Hope this helps, George Trotter Quote
SwordGuyJoe Posted July 16, 2009 Author Report Posted July 16, 2009 Thanks George, I appreciate it. It's tough to piece all of this together since I didn't find any other info on Akira. Quote
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