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Posted
On 11/6/2025 at 10:49 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

Brandon,

Can you check this sword's seppa to see if there is a small star with a number?

Sword is long gone. I don’t even remember what blade it had. Maybe Kawano Sadashige, but maybe another I got in that bunch. 🤷‍♂️

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted (edited)
On 11/24/2025 at 7:07 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

John,

I haven't been tracking then (I know, what a shocker! Ha!) Maybe @Kiipu or @BANGBANGSAN

 

What I find very interesting, is the Type 94 with offset chuso (Yes, John @PNSSHOGUN has pointed this out) and the Type 98 with centered chuso:

Screenshot2025-11-23220437.png.b8676342ad17481a9658e9fc1d2d0127.png

Mekugi ana are made in similar spot so theory that chuso position depends on it isn’t reliable. Still boston’s murata-to is in T94 but without second hanger [if original to blade?]

Edited by Rawa
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Posted
On 6/11/2024 at 9:13 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

I wanted to add my ongoing thoughts about the Gifu stamp in Sakura

GIfu(2).jpg.e89b716790e34fc6952db3b5be9d2610.jpg

 

Its source, so far, is unknown.  I made the mistake of speculating in previous Stamps of the Japanese Sword that it is possibly the stamp created by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association after the Nagoya Army Arsenal absconded with their SEKI stamp.  Appearance of the stamp in the dateline would fit the theory.  But recent data coming from the WWII Military Mei - Tachi then Katana thread reveals that the stamp is more likely an Army stamp.

 

Once I got pointed back in that direction, I realized, too, it appears on officer blades in 1943 and runs through '45 just like all the other area specific stamps do.  It's more logical that a blade with the Gifu, and sometimes the NA & Gifu, and Gifu & small Seki are all Nagoya inspectors.  It now seems illogical to think a blade would have a civil stamp from the Association plus an Army stamp.

 

I'll revise the discussion of this stamp in the next revision of the Stamps doc.


 

I was given this tsuba over the weekend along with some loose type 95 and 98 parts. It has the Gifu in Sakura stamp on one side, and a partial seki stamp on the other 

 

 

IMG_7872.jpeg

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Posted
10 hours ago, John C said:

ko stamp on the nakago

Thanks John!  I have 4 other Masayasu with the same stamp, now 5.

 

I have a few other smiths with the Ko on the nakago, but they are either on the mune or if on the face, it is together with the stacked cannon ball stamp.  Masayasu seems to be the only one that had the Ko marked in this fashion.

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Posted

There are a few other examples of this stamp recorded in Mal Cox’s Showa Swordsmiths of Aichi Prefecture (Owari and Mikawa) found in the download section. 

 

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