JAPANESE CIVILIAN SAMURAI SWORD BY KURIYAMA KENJIRO MADE IN THE WW2 PERIOD
Item Description.
This sword has been assessed by UK Japanese sword expert Bill Tag. A copy of his hand written notes which includes a sketch of the tang and blade characteristics accompany the blade. In extracts from his notes he states " Civilian Katana, this blade was made circa 1943-1944, the two mounting holes would indicate it was made for 1944 pattern military mounts. It has a Cherry Blossom stamp which means it was made post 1940 and also means that it is not a Tamhagene Gendao.
This blade is of a very good quality and has been made by a real swordsmith. It is signed Sukosai Kane Aki Tsukuru-No, real name Kuriyama Kenjiro born 1888. He was a student of Watanabe Kanenaga and other good teachers. He died in 1966. He is mentioned in a few books and listed as a Rikugunjumei Tosho or Army approved swordsmith. He is also listed as a Jokonoretsu (Master) by Akihide who trained over 200 smiths. He was placed in 2nd seat in a National Sword Making Competition in 1941, He also won a gold medal in another competition. I think this blade is a Mill Sttel Gendaito, using scrap iron mixed with Tamahagane (Japanese sand iron) then forged and folded undergoing the Yaki Ire process then water tempered to produce a high quality blade (by 1943/44 It was hard to get supplies of Tamahagane for sword making), There is a very good section on the different methods used in sword making in Fuller & Gregory's book on Japanese swords (the last one that was published). The blade is in very good polish and well balanced.
The civilian mounts are modern Japanese made for martial arts, I used to sell them in the eighties to martial arts enthusiasts, This particular level of mounts were expensive, at the time they were about GBP 500 ($AUD 1000) for the leather wrapped Tsuka examples. A perfect sword for a Iado Man with a quality real blade and good mounts.
.