Japanese Sword Translation/Identification

[Rick White]

Hi,

I have this nice Japanese Sword and am wondering if someone can help with the translation/Identification/dating? Any help is appreciated!!

Kind regards

Rick

[Stu W]

Hello Rick,

I don't have my sword smith reference cards at hand so cannot give you the translation at the moment but the presence of the Seki stamp above the kanji leads me to think it will be a non traditionally made blade from the WWII period.

Can you show us an overview of the piece?

Regards,
Stu

[Rick White]

here is an overview pic...

[GHP]

FOUND him!

Phew!

[関] 酒向兼茂
[Seki] Sako Kaneshige

Here's another blade of his

And another:


Further Googling reveals that the correct reading of 酒向 is Sako, not "Sakumuke" as Fuller & Gregory record in their book.

--Guy

[GHP]

Another of his HERE

[Rick White]

thanks Guy! So does that make it a wartime manufactured blade? I am a photo/document guy so this is not my specialty
Thanks
Rick

[GHP]

Hi Rick,

Yes, war time. I do not know when the smith was active, but it has the seki "arsenal" stamp, so it's sometime between 1941~1945

...from about 1941 the Seki swordmakers factories banded together in an association and insisted that they put on their own mark, "Seki". This was done...it is technically not an acceptance mark, but an ID mark for showato/gunto quality produced by the Seki Association.

blog source

Cheers!
--Guy