Rikugun Jumei Tosho (RJT) Star Stamped Blades - Documentation?
Article about: I'm hoping a document can be discovered that specifies the use of the "star" stamp on RJT approved blades. We have a document that lays out RJT qualification for blades and says th
Rikugun Jumei Tosho (RJT) Star Stamped Blades - Documentation?
I'm hoping a document can be discovered that specifies the use of the "star" stamp on RJT approved blades. We have a document that lays out RJT qualification for blades and says that qualified smiths will be provided tamahagane and the proper charcoal (there's a word for that) to make the blades traditionally. But I don't believe it says anything about the stamping with Star on approved blades. Maybe Nick or Kiipu can check this document and see if it's there and was simply missed by the guy that first translated it?
If it doesn't discuss the stamp, I'd like to put a request, at your convenience Nick, to keep an eye out for such a document. In fact, I'm seriously wanting to see a government or Army document that started the whole stamping requirement of blades in general. It is rumored that a "law" was passed around 1938 requiring the stamping of blades that were not traditionally made. But as of yet, I cannot find anyone that knows of the actual date for sure, or could produce the law. As for the star-stamping requirement of RJT approved blades, the only source for that is Ohmura, and he does not cite his source for that discussion on his webpage.
Any help in these matters would be significant to our WWII gunto collectors!
Thanks for confirming that the document we have doesn't mention stamping. The star stamp we're working on is found ONLY on RJT accepted blades. The smiths that wanted to be part of the program had to submit 2 blades fittings the regulatory requirements. If they passed, they would be supplied with tamahagane and charcoal. I have records of 40 blades with star and every one was made by an RJT listed smith.
There has always been a small current in the collector world that wants to say the star stamp is to be treated like all the other stamps - it says "Non-traditionally made" - and another element that says it's simply an acceptance stamp by the army and says nothing about whether the blade is traditionally made or not.
Ohmura's page claims that all RJT qualified blades (and we know from this reg that RJT blades are traditionally made) will get the star stamp; all known blades with the star are from RJT smiths; but we still don't have a document that states outright that RJT approved blades get the star. With overwhelming evidence that star-stamped blades are traditional, it would still be great to have the order or reg in hand.
If that's what you meant, you already have the documentation you need with full translation above.
The star stamp is an interim process stamp related to material inspection. It was not the Jyumei Tosho that was denoted by the star, but it certified that the material used was army issued Tamahagane. Army issued bullet-proof steel also got this stamp on the final product.
I think this was required when another factory other than that of the final product was contracted to the army as a subsidiary supplier for the material.
If a product is later found to be made of a wrong kind of steel, a star stamp freed the end-producer from liability, laying the blame on the army. On the other hand, factories that bought their own steel supply did not use this stamp, but was held responsible for their output lock, stock and barrel.
To be held responsible also for the material meant you were allowed to make profit on the material cost, so the army had to pay more in the end.
Instead, the star stamp would normally mean that the material was bought directly in bulk by the army and supplied FOC to the end producer. Thus the smith only got paid for his work and made no profit on material cost.
This is common manufacturing practice even today. Toyota supplies its engines to a body-making subsidiary on a FOC basis and buys back the finished vehicle.
Shown below is the same stamp on a Type 98 Army Shovel (photo courtesy RussM), which also needed to be made out of special bulletproof steel. Such materials needed additional material inspection, and the star served as a hallmark for the real McCoy.
It stood for the material quality and not for who made it.
There goes another myth, or are we now going to claim that the army only let top sword smiths make infantry shovels?
I should also add that this is probably the reason behind the late production start of the Rinjiseishiki sword.
In order to make the sword affordable within the upward spiral of an impossibly surging market demand, they belatedly realized that they first needed to establish a business structure for a system in which the army bought up the scarce Tamahagane to fully exercise economies of scale and issue it free to qualified smiths. Smiths no longer had to bid against each other for the scarce supply and was assured steady business without the risk of material supply disruptions.
It took time to build this business structure that was a Win-Win to both the army and the smiths.
All these years, this is what I had suspected, based on my own background, and now I have seen enough circumstantial evidence to mention it with some conviction.
This is what I meant by knowing how to think like the IJA, but it vexes me that such acuity is described only with such demeaning words as "It takes a thief to catch a thief. (English)" or "It takes a snake to know the way of a snake. (Japanese)".
Last edited by Nick Komiya; 03-23-2021 at 02:46 PM.
If that's what you meant, you already have the documentation you need with full translation above.
The star stamp is an interim process stamp related to material inspection. It was not the Jyumei Tosho that was denoted by the star, but it certified that the material used was army issued Tamahagane. Army issued bullet-proof steel also got this stamp on the final product.
It stood for the material quality and not for who made it.
I should also add that this is probably the reason behind the late production start of the Rinjiseishiki sword.
In order to make the sword affordable within the upward spiral of an impossibly surging market demand, they belatedly realized that they first needed to establish a business structure for a system in which the army bought up the scarce Tamahagane to fully exercise economies of scale and issue it free to qualified smiths. Smiths no longer had to bid against each other for the scarce supply and was assured steady business without the risk of unsteady material supply.
It took time to build this business structure that was a Win-Win to both the army and the smiths.
This is good stuff Nick. We had been tightly focused on swords and that the star represented the RJT program. I see now that it was much bigger than that. Your discussion of the acquisition and distribution of tamahagane, and the star stamp being a MATERIAL inspection/approval makes sense and is, like you say, the answer we were searching for.
So, the reason we don't see the star on other smiths' blades (smiths' not listed in the RJT program) is that the Army wasn't distributing tamahagane to swordmakers through any other venue. If a shop or smith wanted Army tamahagane, they had to qualify via the RJT rules. Shops and smiths were free to get their own tamahagane, if they wished, and blades made that way for the war would have received whatever arsenal inspector stamp that took in their work, or possibly no stamp at all since blades made the traditionally way need not be stamped. (I wish we had that law/regulation!)
As it relates to the Rinji seishiki - this might explain why we see so many star-stamped blades in RS fittings. Obviously not all RS gunto have star-stamped blades, and not all star-stamped blades are in RS fittings; but there seems to be an inordinate amount of the RS gunto with star-stamped blades.
"The laws or regulations you wished you had" didn't exist, because officer Guntos were not arsenal produced unless they were Zoheito. The only reason the star appeared on some swords was, because the arsenal served as buying agent for Tamahagane and was responsible to the smiths for the quality. There simply won't be laws saying you did not need the star on swords made from Tamahagane bought outside army channels, as that would have been in the realm of free trade. You already have all you need on the star stamps.
Theoretically, when Kaikosha took delivery of a sword with a star, they only would have paid the smith for labor, and the arsenal separately got reimbursed for the material cost, while traditional blades without a star required Kaikosha to pay the smith for both material and labor.
By the way, for your future research, I need to remind you that laws are ALWAYS announced in the government gazettes in order to enforce them, but internal regulations for industry associations like that of Seki's blade producers are not government business, so gazettes won't have them.
"The laws or regulations you wished you had" didn't exist, because officer Guntos were not arsenal produced unless they were Zoheito. The only reason the star appeared on some swords was, because the arsenal served as buying agent for Tamahagane and was responsible to the smiths for the quality. There simply won't be laws saying you did not need the star on swords made from Tamahagane bought outside army channels, as that would have been in the realm of free trade. You already have all you need on the star stamps.
By the way, for your future research, I need to remind you that laws are ALWAYS announced in the government gazettes in order to enforce them, but internal regulations for industry associations like that of Seki's blade producers are not government business, so gazettes won't have them.
Sorry Nick I'm mixing topics. The law I'm refering to is the one that required all non-traditionally made blades to receive a stamp. The only reference I know of is:
From Ryujin Swords Kevin Jones (http://ryujinswords.com/shostamp.htm):
“Tang stamps were introduced precisely because swordsmiths and collectors could not distinguish the best quality non-traditional swords (i.e. ‘mill steel’ gendaitō) from traditionally made swords. It was discovered that, as a result, some smiths were forging replicas of older swords, giving them false signatures (gimei), and passing them off as the real thing. Several smiths were subsequently arrested. Amidst mounting concern, the government passed a law requiring all swords that were non-traditional in any way to be marked with a tang stamp, although the actual stamp used was left to the manufacturer."
and Ohmura's discussions on stamps.
But no official documentation of when it took effect or who ordered it. The rumor is 1938 and a "government law."
As you know, Ohmura himself told me it was only hearsay and I have already confirmed that no such law was ever issued by the Ministry of the Interior. It is true that the Seki stamp was adopted by the Nagoya Arsenal as an acceptance stamp for its Seki outpost and therefore a substitute mark was needed, but his story on where the Sho in cherry blossom came from is bogus.
The earliest reference that mentions the 桜に昭 stamp that I am aware of is a 1967 book entitled 関市史. The table of contents of which can be seen at the link below. 関市史
(2) Reconstruction of the sword industry and the Seki forged cutlery industry ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ 591
A. Seki Swordsmith Association
B. Mino Sword Polishing Association
C. Seki Sword Trade Association
D. Japanese Sword Forging School
E. Seki Sword Co., Ltd.
F. Noshu Japanese Sword Training Center Co., Ltd.
G. Seki swordsmiths [戯冶????] during the Showa era
<...>
(3)
(7) Patriotic Guntō and the War Situation Quandry・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ 617
Rikugun Jumei Tosho (RJT) Star Stamped Blades - Documentation?
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by nick komiya
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