Help needed: yet another Kanemasa?

[Yukihiro]

Hello,

 

I have read that there had been 4 or 6 gunto smiths that went by the name of Kanemasa during WW2. Now I am puzzled because I am confronted - or so it seems - with yet another one of them: should this mei be read Nishihara Kanemasa (西原 兼正) and, if so, was he a Seki swordsmith?

 

Regards,

 

Didier

[mecox]

Was a wartime tosho, but not much information.  may have been in Tokyo not Seki.  Possibly at the Imperial Army's arsenal factory in Akabane, Tokyo (1943-45).

 

東京)西原兼正 作 日本刀 軍刀 61.2cm (bukiya.jp)

 

勇 現代刀 西原兼正 郷義弘写し 二尺一寸五分強 日本刀 刀(刀、太刀)｜売買されたオークション情報、yahooの商品情報をアーカイブ公開 - オークファン（aucfan.com）

 

 

[Yukihiro]

Thank you very much indeed. So I suppose the swords he made were showato rather than gendaito? There is a sword by him I am interested in, but there is no Seki stamp visible on the blade. Besides, if Nishihara Kanemasa was active in Tokyo, that might explain the absence of a Seki stamp.

 

I have found this:

 

XIII.  Tokyo Dai Ichi Rikugun Zoheisho (東京第一陸軍造兵廠)

These smiths made swords at the Imperial Army's arsenal factory
in Akabane, Tokyo (1943-45).  These swords are usually inscribed
'Tokyo Dai Ichi Rikugun Zoheisho'.  Others may have also worked
here on a part-time basis.

     1.  Nobutaka (宣威) 

     2.  Kanemasa (兼正)

     3.  Katsunobu (勝信)

     4.  Morikuni (守国)

[Yukihiro]

There were apparently no less than 8 Kanemasa swordsmiths during Showa, but I could not find any Nishihara...

 

 

[SteveM]

Here is another example of a Nishihara Kanemasa sword, and the site notes that he did not continue making swords after the war. His limited career may be one reason he doesn't show up in these references. 

 

https://kako.nippont...swords2/KT216261.htm

[Yukihiro]

Thank you Steve.

 

This is the translation I get of the accompanying text:

 

Japanese Sword Kanemasa Nishihara (Yoshihiro Gô)

 

This is a very rare and precious sword, as there are very few existing swords made by Nishihara Kanemasa, a swordsmith from the Showa period, who did not revive the art after the war. This sword must have been made to protect the country with one's life. The sword has an imposing figure, and the metal is wonderfully well worked with a small itame grain. The blade is deeply boiled (sic!), and the sword was made with all of Kanemasa's strength, as if it were a sword like this one by Yoshihiro Gô.

 

I got more or less the exact same commercial speech from another such link to one of Kanemasa Nishihara's swords.

 

Does the fact that the term 日本刀 (nihontô) is purposefully used mean that this Kanemasa's swords were (at least partly) gendaitô?

 

That makes me wonder why, if Kanemasa Nishihara was indeed such an outstanding swordsmith, his name was almost obliterated - was he the victim of a damnatio memoriae of some sort?

 

The mei, at any rate, is the same, and it seems to have been carved by the same hand.

 

 

[mecox]

Didier, 

As I noted before Nishihara Kanemasa was not from Seki, and I could not find further information.

Steve notes limited career.....also .in the description of that  sword for sale, Nishihara is referred to as a "first generation" swordsmith.

 

For interest, I have now contacted Chris Bowen in US an expert on Tokyo wartime swordsmiths, his reply:

 

"As for Nishihara Kanemasa, he is a puzzle. He is neither a Seki smith from what I can find, and neither is he the Kanemasa affiliated with the Dai Ichi Rikugun Zoheisho forge run by Yoshihara Kuniie. The Kanemasa affiliated with the Zoheisho is actually a smith working earlier affiliated the Murata blade production. I have found a few examples of Nishihara Kanemasa’s work but none include his place of work. He is not listed in the Meikan, nor in the war era smith lists I found. Seems he managed to escape fame and fortune quite completely!

Sorry I can’t be of more help. From time to time these smiths who slipped through the cracks appear…"

 

Of  course, there have been a number of WW2 tosho who "disappear" from the records because they have enlisted in the army.  Several of these were killed in action.  I know of another one who committed suicide after hearing the Emperor on radio declare a surrender. 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

The blade above looks to be a oil tempered Seki-To and the text a rather florid description for a pretty low quality sword. The reference to Yoshihiro Gô would be more in the vein of the smith's work is rarely seen and the related proverb (one never sees a ghost or a Gô...), the idea that it is of similar quality to a Yoshihiro Gô sword is frankly ludicrous.

[Yukihiro]

That was my own feeling, as the whole speech did look quite commercial.

By the way, I thought the selling of gunto was prohibited in Japan, so how come Kanemasa Nishihara's precious artwork is sold there?

Is it possible for a mere gunto to get a certification paper? Maybe I am mistaken, but it seems to me that I can read Nishihara Kanemasa's name on this one.

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

7 hours ago, Yukihiro said:

Is it possible for a mere gunto to get a certification paper?

I am quite ignorant of the various 'paper' terms, but there are gunto receiving registration papers quite a bit lately, and we have all seen a Mantetsu and another showato (don't remember the smith) with shinsa papers.  So, it is beginning to happen.  There have been several Type 95 NCO gunto being sold from Japan lately.

[SteveM]

9 hours ago, Yukihiro said:

By the way, I thought the selling of gunto was prohibited in Japan,

 

I think it would be more correct to say unregistered swords are prohibited to be carried (or sold) in Japan. And the definition of what swords may be registered has a fair amount of room for interpretation, which is why we occasionally see wartime blades being registered. The law doesn't mention the word "guntō". The law doesn't mention tamahagane, either. However, I can see that some individual prefectures post conflicting information regarding what swords can be registered. Anyway, the ambiguity in the law has allowed more and more "wartime era" blades to be registered, as I suspect is what happened with the Nishihara Kanemasa swords being sold above. The reference to Go Yoshihiro looks like a feedback loop of marketing hyperbola. The descriptor "copy of Go Yoshihiro" attracts many more views than the swordsmith's name, so anyone looking for information on Nishihara Kanemasa is going to enter into an echo chamber of marketing fluff.  

 

I'll look around a bit more today, but I think this thread here has probably the most information on Nishihara Kanemasa that exists on the internet.  

 

 

[Yukihiro]

I have sent a message to Ohmura-san this morning to enquire about Nishihara Kanemasa. Maybe he will know more about him.

This is the Nishihara Kanemasa sword I am ordering: I have no great expectations of it, but it looks like an honest showa-to to me.

 

 

 

[Yukihiro]

I had requested the seller to look for the tell-tale Seki stamp, but he couldn't find any. That does not mean per se that this is anything more than your usual showa-to, but I suppose the fact that Nishihara Kanemasa did not work at Seki is reason enough for the Seki stamp to be absent.

 

 

 

The closest thing to a stamp I have seen on the blade so far is this punch-like hole, but it might as well result from an accident.

 

 

[SteveM]

Cool, it will be interesting to hear what Ohmura-san has to say. 

[Yukihiro]

15 minutes ago, SteveM said:

Cool, it will be interesting to hear what Ohmura-san has to say. 

Hopefully I will get a reply - this is the very first time I am trying to contact him.

[Bruce Pennington]

5 hours ago, Yukihiro said:

 

I had requested the seller to look for the tell-tale Seki stamp, but he couldn't find any. That does not mean per se that this is anything more than your usual showa-to, but I suppose the fact that Nishihara Kanemasa did not work at Seki is reason enough for the Seki stamp to be absent

 

That is true, if you worked outside Seki. There is a huge amount of blades that went through the Tokyo first Arsenal, and they did not stamp their blades at all. Plus you have Smiths that worked for both arsenals, but if they sold the blade on the private market, it did not get stamped.

[Yukihiro]

I have just found yet another instance of a Nishihara Kanemasa sword complete with registration certificate - I assume that the fact that his blades are not Seki-stamped made it easier for their owners to get a certificate, as this one is dated March 2, 2009 : https://aucview.aucf...om/yahoo/s525185855/

 

The sword, which is in kai-gunto koshirae, is termed a gendai-gatana (現代刀).

 

Its mei is again exactly the same as those we have seen before, which leads me to believe that, although Nishihara Kanemasa is among the most obscure of WW2 Japanese swordsmiths, he was by no means the least prolific of them all.

 

 

 

I don't think the sword I have on order is a gendai-to, though: to me, it looks like its blade was oil-quenched.

 

 

I have the definite impression that the blade isn't in its original koshirae: the point where the seppa and the habaki meet shows a gap and the seppa are an uneven number: 7, instead of 6, but I can live with that

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

The gap could mean a missing seppa. So seven instead of eight. Could be that dark seppa on the bottom right is missing from the other side.

[Yukihiro]

7 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

The gap could mean a missing seppa. So seven instead of eight. Could be that dark seppa on the bottom right is missing from the other side.

That makes sense, Bruce. I hadn't thought of that. But what about the copper seppa with two slots in it? My initial thoughts were that whoever re-used the seppa must have cut a second slot to adapt it to the (bigger) lock pin.

 

PS: on second thoughts, maybe the slot was cut on the wrong side of the seppa so that another one had to be cut

 

 

 

 

 

[Yukihiro]

I want to thank Chris (Vajo) for his expertise: I am always amazed at how accurately he can make out the smallest details in a sword.

 

Thank you for your time and your keen eye, Chris!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

8 hours ago, Yukihiro said:

maybe the slot was cut on the wrong side of the seppa so that another one had to be cut

Yes, since the seppa with the 2 holes appears to match the seppa on the opposite side, I'd go with your theory.  Of a similar note, @Stegel had recorded a few tsuba with 2 latch holes on 95s, so it's not unheard of.