Help needed on sign blade

[Pat84]

Any help please on that sign blade
Thanks

[ghp95134]

関住土岐兼正
Seki-jū Toki Kanemasa
The first kanji on your tang must be an abbreviation for 関 Seki. Seki is the "sword city" in Noshu (Gifu) Prefecture.

From Marcus Sesko's book:
KANEMASA (兼正), Shōwa (昭和, 1926-1989), Gifu – “Kanemasa” (兼正), real name Toki Yoshihira (土岐善平), born November 21st 1897, he worked as a guntō smith and died November 2nd 1980

It does not look like 関 ... I've seen some chopped-up contractions of 関, but if this is 関, it takes the cake!

-- Guy

[ghp95134]

It is ! Found it on a Chinese site with 43 variations of 関
The funny thing is the search engine did not recognize 関, so I had to use the Chinese simplified version.



-- Guy

[Pat84]

Thank you for your search , really helpfull. So it’s a good one traditionally made blade ? That’s what it means IT TAKES THE CAKE ?

[ghp95134]

Thank you for your search , really helpfull. So it’s a good one ? That’s what it means IT TAKES THE CAKE ?

What I mean with "that takes the cake" is: "how unusual that would be;" or "how surprising." The second post I made confirmed what I originally thought was a small probability.

If you show the full, naked, blade and closeups of the temper line, someone who knows a lot more than I will be able to tell you if this is oil-quenched (okay for a combat sword) or water-quenched (for an "art" sword; it's more difficult, less forgiving when placing hot steel in water).

-- Guy

[Pat84]

I have just read an article saying that a lots of fake forgeries were made on those swords , copying the name , dates ect . How can I tell . It’s a gamble and I can’t risk of buying a fantasy item .

[Bruce Pennington]

Pat,

Not many World War II Swords had fake signatures. Like Guy said, we need to see the whole thing, with good pics of the blade, blade tip, and full length to tell you more.

[ghp95134]

Not many World War II Swords had fake signatures. Like Guy said, we need to see the whole thing, with good pics of the blade, blade tip, and full length to tell you more.

Pat,

Bruce is right -- this one definitely is a WW2 blade. This Kanemasa received his license in 1939.

Art name / Civilian name / License granted
兼正 / 土岐善平 / S14.10.25
Kanemasa / Toki Yoshihira / Showa 14 [1939], October 25th

If someone recently put a fake signature on a WW2 sword, it would be of a famous smith. Forging a famous smith on a new sword between 1930-1945 would not have happened. We've seen some Mantetsu blades with recent dedications; but this is not a Mantetsu sword.


-- Guy