WWII (or earlier) officer's nihonto translation/identification request

[Patinamax]

Hello all, I have posted here a couple times and am always excited to share things I find through my store - this time I have a customer who has an appraisal request (mainly I want to get him the information, era, location etc so he can properly decide what to do with it) of a sword he inherited when a house was passed on to him. It appears to be military (from my extremely limited experience) with a copper saya. I did my best picturing the boshi, but it is difficult to show the nearly invisible line in the light I had available. He is going to bring it back to have a more thorough look later in the day, but I pictured the signature, and the boshi as if I recall, that is the first thing to photograph to check here. That said, I would appreciate any information you can help with, and may need to post more of the pictures in replies to this thread. If you want to request more pictures to get a more detailed look, please let me know. The length from tip to tip is approximately 39 inches, if this helps. 

Thank you all in advance!

[Ray Singer]

This is a WWII era blade signed Noshu Seki ju Okada Kaneyoshi saku kore. 

濃州関住岡田兼義作之

[Patinamax]

6 minutes ago, Ray Singer said:

This is a WWII era blade signed Noshu Seki ju Okada Kaneyoshi saku kore. 

濃州関住岡田兼義作之

Thank you Ray! Very concise, I appreciate the punctuality. 

[When Necessary]

Alas, it is not made by strictly traditional methods, as is indicated by the small stamp above the signature (the character 'SHO' inside a cherry blossom).

There is a whole thread on these stamps and @Bruce Pennington is the expert to ask for more info.

[PNSSHOGUN]

The mounts look to be of the better quality sort, can you please share any further images of the Koshirae? 

[mecox]

@Patinamax   Lance as noted by Ray it is Okada Kaneyoshi.  He was well experienced and a good. smith.  This is an early war sword and looks to be a well made Showato.  The long kissaki is interesting.  This could be a custom work.   Please show koshirae as John requested.

There were quite a few Kaneyoshi in Seki, but his details are listed in NMB Download:

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Shame there's no date on the other side.  But 3/4 of the blades with the Showa stamp are undated.  Thanks Dee!

 

Lance, this is a WWII Japanese officer sword, either a Type 94 or 98.  Fittings shot might help tell the difference.  If in Type 94 fittings, the blade could have been made between 1935 and 1938, as that is when this model came out.  Most blades with the stamp, that have dates, were made in 1940-41.

[Patinamax]

Thank you all for the info! I will try to get some pictures of the fittings disassembled when there is time (my store is constantly busy). For now, here are some more updated pictures that will hopefully help identify if it is a type 94 or 98 and more information overall. 

[Patinamax]

On 9/19/2025 at 6:18 PM, PNSSHOGUN said:

The mounts look to be of the better quality sort, can you please share any further images of the Koshirae? 

Updated with more pictures, will try for more when I am able!

[Bryce]

G'day Lance,

It is a nice type 94 koshirae with the rare pinned kabutogane. If you search the site you will find a thread on "pinned kabutogane".

Cheers,

Bryce

[Rawa]

Show us crest! Other attached picture just to show samegawa damage [dunno if done by centered chuso]