Officer's shin gunto kanji help please...

[Milton]

Hello folks. Fresh into the shop today from a local estate I picked up a WWII officer's Shin gunto. Nothing too elaborate, standard fittings, and an interesting wooden sheath w/ brown lacquer (most definitely NOT for the field...). The tang has a single hole and the markings are pretty clear, so I'm hoping someone can translate it for me? There is a decent temper line on the blade, and it's in overall very good shape. A few pix below, and thanks in advance for any help.

[Milton]

2

[gunto]

It once had a leather leather cover , there is room for a leather look clip thru the tsuba.
Something wrong with the seppas , looks mismatch.

Gassan Sadamitsu?

[Milton]

Yes, I believe there's a small conglomeration of washers in addition to the ones that originally came w/ the sword...who knows when or why they were added. This had been sitting in a closet for many moons according to its previous owner. Safe to assume that the blade dates to the war and not any earlier going by the Kanji on the tang? Thank you.

[GHP]

[Seki stamp] 助川 貞光

Looks like Sukegawa Sadamitsu; I can't find a Google reference in Japanese, but found one using romaji.

--Guy

[Milton]

Thank you. So it IS WWII period? Is this particular smith of any importance? Thanks again!

[GHP]

World War II vintage. The "seki" stamp [関] indicates it was made during the war. I am not a sword expert and do not know if he is highly regarded or not.

Regards,
--Guy