Arabic Numerals on sword tang.

[A Dunne]

I have next to no knowledge on Japanese swords so I thought I'd ask here. What could this 4 4 stamping on a blade tang mean? There's no signature; the other side is also blank. Sorry about the rubbish picture quality, I'm stuck with my phone.

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Adrian,

Do you have fittings, or just the blade?  If fittings, please check the metal pieces - tsuba, seppa, fuchi, etc for a a stamped number.  If there, they might match the 44 on your blade.

I have a number of blades with stamped numbers.  When oriented like yours, vertical numbers, blade tip up, they are dated in the 1943-44 years.  Don't know the significance.  I suspect these were put there by the fittings shop to keep matching parts together.  But we don't actually know.  They could be contract numbers, or something else.  

 

I might also add that the other blades around your 44 number are blades made by Yoshiharu and the file marks look the same as yours.  Although the nakago jiri (tips) are shaped different.  Here's a Yoshiharu, though, with a similar tip, made in 1944, #200

 

[Brian]

I honestly believe they are always assembly numbers. Someone would be working on the fittings, the blade goes off to polishing, somehow someone needs to be able to put all the right parts back together. They aren't interchangeable. So you mark the blade with a number. Maybe the parts are in a bin with the same number or stamped too. Either way, this is to put the blade together with the saya or other parts imho.

[A Dunne]

There are markings on the tsuba, but they don't match the blade. I didn't think to check the rest, so I'll have to have a look. I'll snap anything I find. The "3 3"looks engraved, whereas the characters under the spine of the blade look much smoother-edged and not cut into the surface. Thanks for the help!

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Adrian.  Any chance of getting a straight-on, clear shot of the shop stamp at the top of your tsuba?  I don't recognize that one.

[A Dunne]

On 6/18/2026 at 2:54 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Thanks Adrian.  Any chance of getting a straight-on, clear shot of the shop stamp at the top of your tsuba?  I don't recognize that one.

I was wrong about there being two non-matching 3s. One of them is a 2, and I was looking at it upside down.

I'm not sure if that stamp at the back of the blade is a 4 - but a different style - or something else.

 

 

[Scogg]

カ = “Ka”, perhaps?

I have never seen that one on a gunto tsuba. Very interesting.

-Sam

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Adrian!

Yes, that "KA" is in the location where we see shop logo.  So, I would say we are seeing an unidentified shop that made these fittings, or at least the tsuba.  

 

So, the "23" of your fittings doesn't match the "44" of your blade.  A couple of options:

1.  The "44" is from the original fittings shop, but the blade saw a fittings change either during the war or after.

2.  The "44" was put there by the smith or the arsenal, and the fittings shop used their own numbering system, not caring what was on the blade.

 

We see plenty like this and there is no way to know the significance.  Thanks again for the photos!

[A Dunne]

The mystery remains. The sword was either well-maintained or never used because, barring one ding, it's in really nice condition. The blade is quite shiny, although it doesn't have a particularly sharp edge. If it were one of the European blades I'm more used to seeing, I'd say it was never in the field.