NLF Gunto Discussion

[Kiipu]

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.

Do you by chance know the title of this book and it is just about the swordsmithing line? Does it contain any information about the life of 堀井･俊秀 Horii Toshihide?

[ghp95134]

Do you by chance know the title of this book and it is just about the swordsmithing line? Does it contain any information about the life of 堀井･俊秀 Horii Toshihide?

Hi Kiipu,

I can't find my book! I lent it to my wife .... so it's somewhere around the house...... or at my office -- haven't been there since COVID!! I thought it was by the current Horii, but it's written in 1996 by Horii Tanetsugu.

Here's a link, but it's sold out.

Enishi: Katanakaji Horii Ke Hyaku Go Ju Nen no Rekishi

1996. Clothbound with slipcase, 7 1/2 x 10 1/2", 357 pages in Japanese. This is the 150 year history of the Horii family of swordsmiths. Most of the book is text, with a sprinkling of black & white photos. The book is inscribed inside the cover to a former owner by Horii Shigekatsu (if I read that correctly).

The words, Horii Toshihide, Kaneaki, and Hideaki, have been written in pencil on the slipcase and there is a very faint odor of tobacco. All else about the book is like new. 2 pounds. $50.

[Kiipu]

Great information Guy! I think I found you another family history book that may be of interest.
Info search on gendai smith, Post #6

The following two books are the most important for research of the Horii family.
(1) The book title [Enishi] (えにし) (The Relationship in Japanese), the Horii family's history.
(2) The book title [The Japan Steel Works, Ltd and Zuisen sword making workshop] (日本製鋼所と瑞泉鍛刀所) printed by The Japan Steel Works, Ltd in 1974.

[Kiipu]

Souvenir Sword Cross-Reference
WW2 Japanese Naval Officer's Kai Gunto, Sold

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Kiipu! Interesting one, in that it has an extra seppa, and the numbers don't match (has numbers at all). It made me browse though the files. The 'standard' souvenir has the bonded fuchi/seppa on the tsuka side, and one brass seppa on the blade side. Although, I did find a few with more seppa. One with 4! A few with dai-seppa, but not normally.

[Kiipu]

was there another military sword that had a fuchi with an integral seppa?

The sword linked to below, which is also pictured above in post #24, looks to have one of those combination fuchi/seppa. In this case, it looks undecorated or plain. Also, is that the style of tsuba used on the souvenir swords too? So, is this a late war or a postwar made sword?
Late war IJN sword.

[Bruce Pennington]

Transferring some photos for the discussion. I have 3 others like this on file. All the same bland all-navy fittings, thin tsuba, single haikan, considerable wear & tear. I think they were late war kaigunto inline with the late-war reg change Nick Komiya uncovered which reduced the standards for late war weapons. You can see, though, that the tsuba and fuchi style were clearly what Tenshozan used in making the souvenir.

[Kiipu]

WRF postwar PX swords
An encircled anchor with a subassembly number of 四.
new japanese navy sword

Two of them can be seen below. A Toyosuke 豊佐 with a subassembly number of 八七 and an anchor in circle with number 五〇.
Help needed to decide on WW2 Japanese Naval Kai Gunto sword

A Masahiro 正廣 with subassembly number 八七.
Need help! Private Collection Museum

[Bruce Pennington]

An added update. We have been tracking the painted numbers on these souvenir blades. So, far we have only 2 digit numbers with 8 numbers being duplicates, and one #87 in triplicate. I was expecting to see numbers in the hundreds and thousands, since there were over 8.000 made, but it's starting to look like they started their numbering over before getting into the hundreds.

I'm unable to upload a Word file, but you can see a fairly current copy of the Charted blades and numbers on this NMB post:
Nlf Gunto Discussion - Page 14 - Military Swords of Japan - Nihonto Message Board

[Kiipu]

A Mitsunaga 光永 with no subassembly number.
Griffin militaria and gunto/nihonto(?) help