Kanenori (KAN 1929) was born Kojima Taro in Meiji 40 (1907) and was the younger brother of Kanemichi. He studied swordsmithing at the Token Tanrensho in Seki. This was founded in 1907 by Kaneyoshi, a decendant of the koto Mino Zenjou school. Many gendai smiths were students of the Token Tanrensho.
Kanenori went on to win First Seat at the 1941 Exhibition. He was an Rikugun Jumei Tosho (Army Certified Swordsmith) during WW2. To become Rikugun Jumei Tosho, a swordsmith had to pass tests and examination of his blades. Once accepted as a Rikugun Jumei Tosho, the smith was given a regular allocation of tamehagane with which to make sword blades. A complete list of Rikugun Jumei Tosho swordsmiths was published in Showa 17 as "Rikugun Jumei Tosho Meibo". The NBTHK is on record as passing and papering star stamped gendaito.
In addition to swords made under the Army Certified Smith programme, Kanenori also made gendaito without star stamps and non-traditional swords. His work can be seen with star stamps, no stamps, sho stamps and Seki stamps.
Nagoya arsenal stamps are seen on gendaito, both star stamped and otherwise. They indicate that the sword was forged by the smith at the arsenal, rather than at his private forge. In short, the stamp just indicates where the sword entered the military supply chain, in this case at Nagoya. A non-traditional sword of this date would have an additional stamp, such as a Seki or Gifu stamp.
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