Pattern 1944 Type 3 Rinji Seikishi Shin‑Gunto Sword - Difficult Script

[Fusilier]

G'day, I've just got my hands on a pretty large collection of WW2 Shin-Gunto, which I'll get around to photographing and posting on the board.  I'm having trouble translating the script on both sides of the Nakago on this one which appears to me to be more stylized than usual, although I'm clear that may just be me.  Its marked on both the Nakago, the Mune-Machi and the Tsuba with the stamp that Bruce claissified as the ‘Gi’ stamp in his excellent reference. I'd really appreciate some help.  Its also production numbered in red as you'll see in the photos.

[Conway S]

Should be Nobumitsu  信光 dated November 1944. 

[John C]

David:

I'll take the easy one - the stamp is the Gifu (Gi in sakura).

 

John C.

[mecox]

@Fusilier  David, as noted smith signed Nobumitsu  信光   on tachi-mei,  and date is Showa ju kyu nen ju ichi gatsu    昭和十九年十一月    Showa 19 (1944) November.    Late war mounts as noted.  Rather quick/rough signature, maybe was left-handed.  But an arsenal product and Gi in sakura shows he was from Seki (Gifu) but could be working in Nagoya Arsenal.   Its likely the suguha hamon is artificial.  There was a Seki smith Sako Shinichi Nobumitsu, born Meiji 38 (1905) June 24, living in Seki,  and registered as a WW2 Seki smith on Showa 14 (1939) October 26.   He produced some quite good work ,, not sure if him. but towards end of war they were mass producing in arsenals.    The painted numbers are 541 which are assembly numbers  for the different parts. 

[Fusilier]

Thanks Guys, I really appreciate that, I was finding it particularly hard to make out the signature and only confused myself further when I had the brilliant idea of asking Microsofts CoPilot AI. It told me the smith was Kanesune which just goes to show that it may be 'Artificial' but its not necessarily 'Inteligent' 

 

Mal, really appreciate the detail.  I'll get the rest of the swords photographed and posted as soon as I get some time.

 

Happy New Year Every one

 

[eternal_newbie]

When it comes to subjects that are relatively obscure (such as Japanese swords) and especially that involve languages you don't know, stay away from AI. At best, you'll have a correct answer that will take a lot of work to verify, and at worst, you'll have an incorrect answer you have no way to verify.

[Fusilier]

Sound advice Rohan, it'll be interesting to see how accurate it actually gets over time.  Quite a useful metric to apply to AI though; 'can you accurately translate the mei on this nakago?'.

[Bruce Pennington]

Both Conway and Mal did, above:

 Nobumitsu  信光   on tachi-mei,

 and date is Showa ju kyu nen ju ichi gatsu    昭和十九年十一月    Showa 19 (1944) November.