Type 3 1944-45 Shin Gunto

[John John]

I have this type 3 Shin Gunto, and I am hoping that someone can interpret the marking on the tang please. I beleve it may be from 1945 and made by the railways from spring steel. 

 

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Hi Ian,

The date says Feb 1944.  Maybe @SteveM can give us the smith.  Kuni-somone

There are poorly struck Seki and Na stamps of the Nagoya Army Arsenal.  I have not seen those attempted by fakers, so the blade seems legit.

Can you post a clear photo of the writing on the saya (scabbard)?

 

It looks to have started it's life as a Contingency model (Type 3), but someone really re-did the fittings.  

[Conway]

The smith is Kunihiro. Can you post additional photos of the blade? 

[John John]

1 hour ago, Conway said:

The smith is Kunihiro. Can you post additional photos of the blade? 

Thank you for the info.

[John John]

9 minutes ago, John John said:

Thank you for the info.

The blade is 26 inches.

[John John]

1 hour ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Hi Ian,

The date says Feb 1944.  Maybe @SteveM can give us the smith.  Kuni-somone

There are poorly struck Seki and Na stamps of the Nagoya Army Arsenal.  I have not seen those attempted by fakers, so the blade seems legit.

Can you post a clear photo of the writing on the saya (scabbard)?

 

It looks to have started it's life as a Contingency model (Type 3), but someone really re-did the fittings.  

Thanks Bruce. I will take more photos tomorrow.

[John John]

32 minutes ago, John John said:

Thanks Bruce. I will take more photos tomorrow.

 

34 minutes ago, John John said:

Thanks Bruce. I will take more photos tomorrow.

 

[John John]

2 hours ago, Conway said:

The smith is Kunihiro. Can you post additional photos of the blade? 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I have heard it said that many of the late war blades were one-piece steel with artificially applied hamon, but I was skeptical of the theory, until now.  Yours seems to fit the description.

I was also leary of the writing style of the date, but after checking my files, he really did write his dates that way.  Here's another example:

 

@Kiipu or @SteveM or @BANGBANGSAN - Care to have a go at the saya writing?

[John John]

41 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I have heard it said that many of the late war blades were one-piece steel with artificially applied hamon, but I was skeptical of the theory, until now.  Yours seems to fit the description.

I was also leary of the writing style of the date, but after checking my files, he really did write his dates that way.  Here's another example:

 

@Kiipu or @SteveM or @BANGBANGSAN - Care to have a go at the saya writing?

I think mine has had a makeover, and it came with leather spacers as well as the steel ones. I think it says 1945 on the sheath. I have only seen a straight hamon on the type 3 apart from mine.

[Conway]

I agree with the makeover assessment. The late war Type 3 had artificially applied “Suguha.”  This looks like a post-war job on the hamon. 

[SteveM]

The writing on the saya is probably a post-war addition, written by a GI who copied some Japanese letters from a book. 

 

From top

カタナ       = Katana (sword)

三五           = 3, 5 (or maybe meant to be "35", who knows?)

three stars and two bars... presumably some US military meaning. 

一九四五　=　1945 (a date not likely written by a Japanese person)

勇気           = bravery (again, a random word not likely written by a native Japanese-speaking person)

 

It very much looks like an attempt to "japanize" the scabbard. 

 

[John John]

5 hours ago, SteveM said:

The writing on the saya is probably a post-war addition, written by a GI who copied some Japanese letters from a book. 

 

From top

カタナ       = Katana (sword)

三五           = 3, 5 (or maybe meant to be "35", who knows?)

three stars and two bars... presumably some US military meaning. 

一九四五　=　1945 (a date not likely written by a Japanese person)

勇気           = bravery (again, a random word not likely written by a native Japanese-speaking person)

 

It very much looks like an attempt to "japanize" the scabbard. 

 

 

. I got it from a woman that told me her late husbund picked it up at an oction. She mentioned 1945 and said it was from New Guinea.

[John John]

14 hours ago, Conway said:

The smith is Kunihiro. Can you post additional photos of the blade? 

Thanks Conway, Is the Smith an sawdsmith or an Blacksmith making swords just for the war time.

[John C]

19 hours ago, John John said:

Is the Smith an sawdsmith or an Blacksmith making swords just for the war time.

Don't mean to jump Conway's answer but I have a question:

Do you mean registered swordsmith? I ask because all swordsmiths are blacksmiths, however not all blacksmiths are swordsmiths. (Deep, right?)

I just mean that once a smith develops the skills to make a quality sword, he is by definition a swordsmith. Now whether or not he is a registered smith for the military is another matter.

 

John C.

p.s. when swordsmtihs weren't making swords, they made other items like kanna planes, knives, and scissors.

[Conway]

Ian, 

 

Sorry for the delayed response. I am not 100% sure, but I did find that the following smith, who was registered in Seki.  Please see the below reference from Markus Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan:

 

KUNIHIRO (国広), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kunihiro” (国広), real name Kataoka Itoshi (片岡愛), born am April 1st 1895, he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died December 2nd 1965, ryōkō no retsu (Akihide). 

 

There were a few smiths who used the swordsmith name Kunihiro during WW2. 

 

 

 

 

[John John]

3 hours ago, Conway said:

Ian, 

 

Sorry for the delayed response. I am not 100% sure, but I did find that the following smith, who was registered in Seki.  Please see the below reference from Markus Sesko’s Swordsmiths of Japan:

 

KUNIHIRO (国広), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kunihiro” (国広), real name Kataoka Itoshi (片岡愛), born am April 1st 1895, he worked as rikugun-jumei-tōshō and died December 2nd 1965, ryōkō no retsu (Akihide). 

 

There were a few smiths who used the swordsmith name Kunihiro during WW2. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Con, I will look into that. I believe many apprentices were helping as well.