S5E2: Decoding My WW2 Samurai Sword, Relic Bring Back

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[POOKUDOO]

This is Type 98 新軍刀 Shin Gunto, Dated 昭和十八年九月(Showa 18 Years 9th Month )1943 September, Maker/Smith 祐光 （Sukemitsu）， his civilian name 福田吉二 （Fukuda Yoshiji), he works as Imperial Japanese Army swordsmith.

[Orpheonix]

The name 祐光 is "Sukemitsu" in Japanese Kanji - many well known swordsmiths have carried this name since the Eido-era, and you can bet quite a few of them would have been conscripted into forging shin-gunto for the military.

[Leman.Russ.thLegion]

You need to stop the corosion on those finger prints from eating that sword. It's been etched by the stupid act of not wiping it clean. Now you need to make sure the etching stops.

[benoitdesruisseaux]

The mei (inscription on the tang) for japanese sword made during ww2 are often like this one. On the omote side (side of the tang facing outward from you when wearing it) you have the name of the swordsmith who made the sword. On the ura side (side of the tang facing the person who wear the sword) is the date the sword was made. The date can be read this way: In order from top to bottom, the nengo (era of reign of an emperor), the nen (year into the reign of the emperor), the gatsu (month) and the hi (day). so reading from top to bottom on the ura side of this sword : sho wa juu hachi nen kuu gatsu. This means showa era (emperor Hirohito 1926-1989). The emperor always gives a name to the era of his reign, Hirohito chose showa, the term could be roughly understood as meaning "enlightened peace" or in some interpretations "radiant Japan". Hirohito is also known as emperor showa. So we start the date with 1926 or do we ? 1926 is the 1st year of the reign of Hirohito, showa 1, 1936 is showa 11, 1943 is showa 19. The japanese dont want to start counting from the number 1 they want to start with 0, so 1926 (year 1) + 18 is 1944, if we want to start with the number 0 we have to substract 1 year, so 1925 + 18 will be 1943. After sho wa comes juu hachi nen which means 10, 9 and the word year, so 10 + 8 year, 18 year. That is the 18 years we had to showa 0 (1925) = 1943. The kuu gatsu which means 9 month = september. There is no hi (day) in the signature. So september of 1943.

[johnwayne]

Time for a lesson in swords.
Not all swords are easily traced back to a family, Relics would sometimes have a family crest or possibly traced back to a famous family name or the sword was made to be in service of the shogun. If they were in service to the Shogun there would be a crest carved in the tang.
A lot of swords were manufactured to be in service for various civil wars throughout the history of Japans feudal periods. They are high quality blades but not the highest quality with family names, famous sword maker, manufactured date back in the 13th thru 16th century and the number of bodies it cut to determine its sharpness.
If you ever manage to find a sword a good way to tell if you have something special is the tang will have a lot of writing. The more writing the more exciting but always be sure to get it verified before purchase. Serial numbers along the blade near the hand guard will indicate that it's a war produced sword and will most likely have a solid Copper or aluminum handle. Nice but not great.

Not just Samurais carried swords during the feudal periods but many conscripted to fight in the wars, when the wars were over most of those swords were gathered up from the peasants and the battle field and stored in the armory for another war. You don't want the peasants revolting do you?
The same is true in WWII as the war wore on the swords were cheaply manufactured due to steel being an expensive commodity. Guns, Ships and engines needed higher quality steel.
Now in the early part of China's occupation and then early WWII a lot of family swords were remounted to have military handles and scabbards.
Officers and NCOs carried swords. In this example this is an Army Officers sword.
The sword that he has is still a nice sword but looks to be a lower quality sword, i.e. it didn't take 18 months to make. Since it was made in 1943 it's a general issued sword. Nothing special. Here is how I know it's not that high quality of a sword. The hamon (Near the cutting edge) is barely visible and this sword still has a nice polish. If this was a high quality sword and it was in that state of polish the hamon would be screaming out to say, notice me.
Please familiarize yourself on how to handle a Japanese sword so as not to damage the blade like you are doing in this presentation. Kind of like someone picking up a firearm. I can tell in less than 2 seconds that someone is not familiar with firearms by the way they hold it.
Since your Grandfather was sent over to the Pacific late in the war he was assigned to cleanup duty, Sweep the battle field of anything not organic. All military equipment. Plenty of GI's came home with the swords in their duffel bags. You are correct those that tried to mail them were intercepted but they did that at the post office in occupied areas not stateside.
My grandfather did the same thing and came home with a Japanese Rifle and Bayonet. The rifle was loaned to a friend and we all know what happens when you lend out things to friends. The bayonet was lost later on but I remember playing with it as a kid and was like a sword since I was young. I managed to buy one off of eBay for cheap. Japanese Bayonet steel is magnificent.
The Sword blade needs to have some oil placed on it and clove oil is recommended.

[benoitdesruisseaux]

The swordsmith is suke mitsu = Sukemitsu. There we 3 swordsmith named Sukemitsu making blades during war time.I do not recognize the signature of this one.

[raphlvlogs]

blades can last much longer than hilts if properly preserved

[rickcimino]

My dad had that exact sword type hanging in his gun cabinet ever since he brother came back from Japan. They were both vets but my uncle went to Japan, my dad elsewhere. Anyway, my dad gave it to my nephew....not even his brother's son. Kills me every time I think about it. They go for about 2500 on Ebay.

[kickit]

Here is something you didn't bring up! There were navy & army Samurai which are different. This one is the army model! It looks to be factory made with the evidence presented. Interesting Samurai sword!

[Vangent]

I think everyone assumes the blood is Japanese but what if your grandpa or grandpas buddy was battled and bloody and a Japanese soldier in a bonsai charge attacked and the soldier had no choice but to grab the blade and after a brief struggle stopped the threat with his 1911 and took that sword as not even a war trophy but a reminder of how close he came to death.

[yasaryanik]

It is the funniest video. Both are my teachers 🤣🤣🤣

[barefoofDr]

The name on the sword is the Makers Name.

[LyleH-]

I hope you someday discover if if the fingerprints date correctly

[hoasjhdfiadsf]

should be easy to find that signature- the name. Just search for makers of shin gunto in that year

[aljephoneabao]

How to return samurai sword to owner?..

[nickc]

One side is the date. And other side is swordsmiths name.

[akiyajapan]

Pretty funny seeing Japanese names being written in Chinese pronunciation style 😂

[brusmichiko]

he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about you take a Chinese to look at a Japanese sword 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[wolfwest]

It would be interesting to know the swords chemical make up like the alloy composites I don't know whether when they were making the ww2 shin-gunto whether there was a specific quality control or if it was left to the swords smiths at the time but I do know that usually smiths would use a material they are familiar with and fold it in a style that they remember so say some work would be folded more times than others, I dunno just really thinking outside the box of course it would destroy the blade so it's not a option an I don't really know if there is any tech today that can see the microfolds in these blades an if there are enough samples from that time period from different sword smiths to even track down a specific swords Smith

[benoitdesruisseaux]

The traduction made by the chinese guy is ok for the date but wrong for the era and swordsmith name. He translate in chinese, not japanese. A common mistake.