Samurai sword ww2

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gravknife
Posts: 1500
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 9:34 pm

Samurai sword ww2

Post by gravknife »

My ww2 samurai sword by yoshihara kuniie.
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Genghis Khan
Posts: 139
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 4:08 am

Re: Samurai sword ww2

Post by Genghis Khan »

Nice hamon.
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natcherly
Connoisseur dei Coltelli
Posts: 6336
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2004 3:59 pm
Location: Baghdad by the Bay

Re: Samurai sword ww2

Post by natcherly »

I gather this is a modern build rather than one actually from WW2. In any case that is a beautiful piece.
gravknife
Posts: 1500
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 9:34 pm

Re: Samurai sword ww2

Post by gravknife »

This sword is Ww2 natcherley, it looks new due to polish.
I should have posted more pics sorry.
Kuniie was a 1.5 M yen smith, his grandson is making swords today, his teacher was shigetsugu (who made a sword for german chancellor Adolf Hitler at the emperors request).Kuniie was the overseer of the rikugen jumei toshu, rjt,(army appointed smith) who were allocated charcoal and tamahagane during the war years to make better swords, these are known as star stamps today, and he was a high grade gendaito maker.
The blade has many marsenite crystals (nie),above, and in the hamon,the sign of a clay tempered water quenched blade, unlike the many swords in ww2 which were oil quenched and machine made.Kuniie won1st place in the cutting test category in the 1941 exhibition, not the best Ww2 smith but he was up there and important to the Japanese war effort training and inspecting handmade swords for officers who wanted true japanese steel that had been rigorously tested on bamboo wrapped with steel and mats of straw.
The sword was from Christies in 2010,it's polished in sashikomi and marked with the polishers mark.
I should have posted pics of the tang and whole sword, it's dated made on a lucky day in august showa 1942, made at Kuniies private forge nihonso,Yoshihara Kuniie saku kore.He was born 1896 and was a blacksmith making tools until smiths were called to help the war effort.
Kuniie died in 1970, getting hard to come by like this now,with all original mounts except added leather cover, there is a japanese mon on the habaki, possibly an officers name but defaced as dishonoured at losing the war. The rank tassle is officer grade.
Thanks for looking,sorry for going on :)
Ian .
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