Dad's Mantetsu Koa Issin

[Bruce Pennington]

Three years ago, my dad passed away and I got his WWII Japanese officer sword. It was missing parts, so I've spent the last 3 years fixing it up, and have just had it polished. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to tell the story, as much as I have.

It was made in Spring 1941, by the Mantetsu factory in Manchuria, and carrries the "Koa Issin" slogan. Don't know anything about it's path in the war, but by the look of the blade it did some duty in the field. My dad lied about his age (16 at the time) and joined the Marines in 1950. They kicked him out when Korea started, but he rejoined in 1956 and served 7 years and seperated as a Staff Sgt. Somewhere along that time, he picked up the Mantetsu. I wish I had asked him how he got it, but as a kid, it never occured to me. He did say that the missing parts were stolen buy guys "looking for jewels."

When I got it in 2014, it was missing sarute, rank tassel, tsuba/seppa, semegane, ishizuke, and mekugi. I found a nice tsuba/seppa set from a Japanese seller online, and ordered the mekugi online. Then I found someone selling a tsuka that had the same cloth sarute, which I swapped out to Dad's tsuka. When looking for rank tassels, most Field grade tassels were in the $500 range where the Comapany grade tassels were around $150, so I decided Dad's mantetsu could be a Captain's sword! I later found a semegane. Had to file the inside of it to get it up the saya far enough! And the last piece, the ishizuke, came from another Mantetsu saya from The Ozzy Samurai on one of the forums.

After a 2 year wait, my turn came up for the polish. I highly recommend David Hofhine. He did a fabulous job! I really debated about the polish. The blade was stained and scratched and showed that it had a bit of history. So I almost kept it that way. But in the end, it was Dad's and I wanted it to look top-notch, so I went ahead with it, and I'm glad I did. It's quite beautiful.

[ghp95134]

Well done, Bruce. I'm certain your father approves!

That's a very elegant sori on the blade, and she polished up beautifully.

Kudos!

--Guy

[Mathieu C]

Hello

Impressive restoration, well done Bruce, nice tribute to tour father. The result of the polishing is well worth too !

Congratulations,
Mat.

[MAP]

Isn't it so satisfying having the blade come back. I did it to mine and it was a true ugly duckling to Swan story.

Nice job! Your Dad would be proud.

[wizardman]

Nice job mate!

[Bruce Pennington]

Isn't it so satisfying having the blade come back. I did it to mine and it was a true ugly duckling to Swan story.

Nice job! Your Dad would be proud.

Yes, it was! I felt like an expactant dad waiting for the delivery! It's like having a brand new, custom made sword in your hands!

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks for the positive comments, guys! It was exciting to see it finished and I thought it would be nice to share it.

[AZPhil]

OH OH Bruce , I'm drooling. I have followed Davids work for more than 10 years on numerous Nihonto sites. He creates some awesome Tsuba's. That man has some serious talent in the old way craftsmanship. I got one that is So-koto but with a blade having a sori just over 36" long has had me on a cliff of "Does it really need a polish" I can still see myself when I praise the blade . But being from a time that is during the war years and not and art sword and to add to that it was a Nagamori from Bungo(1441), Leaves it up to my own personal pleasure. But $100+ an inch has me always putting it back in my display case.

It looks awesome and he did a fantastic job that reassures me of my thought of "who to do it?"

Your dad was a Devil Dog For some reason I have always respected your input on what you posted. And now I know why!!!

That is a beauty and I'm glad you honored your father by doing that!!!

Good Deal on that!!
Semper Fi
Phil

[Geoff Ward]

What a great tribute I am sure he would be well pleased! Nice job! Regards,Geoff