Japanese short sword.

[Harvey R Lipp]

I purchased this sword from a good friend and he believed it to be a Japanese Navy pilot sword. He is very knoledgable on Japanese swords. I would appreciate any comments on the pilot therory and a translation of the sword kanji.

[Harvey R Lipp]

Navy pilot sword

Photos 3 & 4

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese navy sword

Photos 5 & 6

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese navy sword

Photos 7 & 8

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese Navy pilot sword

Photos 9 & 10

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese Navy pilot sword

Photos 11 & 12

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese Navy Pilot sword

Photos 11 & 12

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese navy pilot sword

Photos 13 & 14

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese Navy Pilot sword

Photos 15 & 16

[Harvey R Lipp]

Japanese Navy Pilot sword

Photos 17 & 18

[gabedamien]

It is signed tachi-mei.

Ura: 奥州宇多郡中村住人 Ōshū Uda-gun Nakamura jūnin (resident of Nakamura, Uda district in Ōshū=Mutsu province). See here.

Omote: ??國正 ?? Kunimasa

Still working on the first two characters of the omote meibun. Sesko lists this smith as the only match:

Kunimasa (国正), Genroku (元禄, 1688-1704), Musashi – „Ōmi no Kami Minamoto Kunimasa“ (近江守源国正), „Ōshū Uda-gun Nakamura-jūnin Kunimasa“ (奥州宇多郡中村住人国正), first name „Bun ́emon“ (文右衛門), he came originally from Ōshū ́s Nakamura (中村) but went later to Edo to study under the 2nd gen. Hidetoki (秀辰), finely forged jigane, chū-suguha, gunome-midare, wazamono

The tsuka, fuchi/kashira, etc. are pre-WWII, though the saya is of the type used to adapt older swords for WWII. The shape of the kissaki is also similar to those of older swords that have been repaired. However, this mei is very sloppy and the feel of the piece is overall more like WWII-era. I have to find oshigata of this smith before I can give a real opinion on gimei (false mei) or not. I am away from most of my books at the moment though. He is listed as chūsaku (medium, lowest of five ranks) by Fujishiro, but not illustrated or commented on. Grey Doffin's literature index does not contain this smith. My initial impression is that this is a gimei wakizashi adapted for WWII use; it is not uncommon to choose a little-known smith for gimei (for some reason), and many antique swords adapted for WWII use were gimei.

Edit: also, photo 5 shows a fukure (blister) which is considered a flaw… this isn't a masterwork. And I can find *nothing* online for this smith in English or Japanese, he's a real unknown. Also, see how the omote meibun begins ABOVE the patina (which, to be frank, looks a little artificial)? Very suspicious. My impression is that someone wanted to move a poor quality mumei wakizashi so they looked in a book for a wazamono-ranked smith nobody had ever heard of and copied the listed signature kanji-for-kanji, with no oshigata as reference.

Of course I could be completely wrong and this is shōshinmei (genuine signature) but even if it is, it isn't good enough to merit Fujishiro chūsaku rank. My two cents.

As to use by pilots, I will leave that to those who focus on militaria and associated koshirae (I study traditional nihontō, both antique and gendai; guntō are not my thing).

Regards,

—G.

[Stu W]

Hello Harvey,

I do not believe that there is anything to support the theory that this is a pilot sword. While it is true that short gunto mounts were available for pilots and tankers they looked like downsized Type 98. I'll attach a photo to illustrate.

Having said that, maybe a pilot chose to carry this one but without some sort of documentation to that effect it cannot be proven in my view as there are no visual clues to it's use.

Regards,
Stu

[GHP]

It is signed tachi-mei.

Ura: 奥州宇多郡中村住人 Ōshū Uda-gun Nakamura jūnin (resident of Nakamura, Uda district in Ōshū=Mutsu province). See here.

Omote: ??國正 ?? Kunimasa

Great job! The omote side looks like this to me:

相馬國正
Sōma Kunimasa

Does that make any sense to you?

--Guy

[gabedamien]

Thanks very much Guy.

Actually that's kind of funny as it arguably supports the gimei theory: Sōma is the name of the modern city that USED to be Nakamura.

However, it is named after the Sōma clan, so it still could theoretically be shōshinmei, if Kunimasa had anything to do with that clan or if Nakamura was sometimes called Sōma even back in the 17th century.

However I still maintain my doubts.

EDIT: ok, so the region was known as the Sōma domain, so it's plausible he could have signed as "Sōma Kunimasa." Like I said though, hard to verify, and not much promising about the blade to merit sinking more money into restoration or shinsa.

[Luis22]

IMO The overall condition of the grip suggest is a new blade (ww ii) there is almost no corrosion on it.....for a blade dating back to 1700s I would expect further damage...