The directive was aimed at saving material, so it's natural that they would continue to use up any existing stock of ornamental parts. And introducing the change so late at the 11th hour, the war may well have ended before actual production finally completed the transformation to this Plain Jane type.
Heres a kaigunto without the sakura and leafs on the fittings
Nick, some guys at NMB just came up with some examples of the last ditch Navy Rinji-seishiki you described. Amazing! Here's the discussion: last ditch naval rinji? - Military Swords of Japan - Nihonto Message Board
Here are some pics:
Here's a good example Kiipu found. The blade and nakago look striking similar to the blades found in the souvenir sword. Adds a bit of support to the possibility that the souvenirs were made using unused blades at war's end, or at least some of them might have been.
Back to the original topic of what turned out to be a souvenir sword made by Tenzoshan after the war: Thomas (Kiipu on NMB and Warrelics) has uncovered more documents showing the Army's investigation and resolution of the Tenzoshan complaint. Turns out they made 8,747 of these souvenirs (and 1,200 dirks) for the PX. I've attached the documents to an amended "The Mysterious Naval Landing Sword" article.
The article is too big for upload. You can PM me with an email if you'd like a copy. I'll post screenshots of the applicable new pages here.
I think the plot thickens more and more every day. Besides swords, Bruce has uncovered the fact that 天照山鍛錬場作 [Tenshōzan] delivered 1,200 daggers to the Army Exchange during 1945 to 1946. Could these daggers be one and the same as the dirks Tenshōzan made during the war? Besides Ohmura's website, does anyone else own a Tenshōzan marked 天照山作 dirk?by Bruce Pennington
Mikasa-dirk "Hideaki", Tenshōzansaku & Seven sorts of dirks
OOoooohhhhh ..... Hideaki!! This was Horii Hideaki . Those long-time denizens of War Relics and WAF will remember that my wife's family is somehow related to the Horii smiths. The current Horii wrote a book about his family and spent two pages talking about my wife's grandfather.
Copied from Markus Sesko's book, Japanese Swordsmiths:
TOSHIHIDE (俊秀), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Hokkaidō – “Ōmi no Kuni Shiga Tarō Minamoto Hideaki” (近江国志賀太郎源秀明), “Minamoto Toshihide” (源俊秀), “Zuisen Horii Toshihide” (瑞泉堀井俊秀), real name Horii Kaneyoshi (堀井兼吉), he was born on the second day of the third month Meiji 19 (明治, 1886) in the village of Shimosaka (下坂) in Shiga Prefecture, 1905 he entered an apprenticeship under Horii Taneaki (堀井胤明), he signed in early years with Hideaki (秀明), a name that was granted to him in 1913 by the NBTHK, 1911 he married the daughter of Taneaki and was adopted into the Horii family, thereupon he changed his name to Shiga Tarō (志賀太郎), the name change of the smith name to Toshihide took place in December 1933 with the birth of emperor Akihito (明仁) because he refrained out of respect from using the same character of “Aki” (明), he died in 1943, shinpin no retsu (Akihide), Special Honor Seat at the 6th Shinsaku Nihontō Denrankai (新作日本刀展覧会, 1941)
From the examples of those post-war production swords, they are not marked 天照山鍛錬場作 or 天照山作. Maybe the lack of proper marking is a sign of the post-war production swords and dirks. Another trait is the mix of army and navy fittings. For that, have we ever seen a dagger with both the army and navy features? I haven't.
It's a shame we have a mixed topic going - the post-war souvenir and the late-war Navy gunto - but here's another possible late-war Navy gunto: Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums
It's made in June 1944 and has one haikan, no gold gilding, and plain painted wooden saya.
And another one from David (DWMC at NMB):
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