AS23412 Katana: Kanekado(in Army Koshirae)

Katana: In Army Koshirae

Signature: Kanekado
Date: Showa 17 (1942)
兼門
昭和十七年

At our company, we classify swordsmiths into four levels: Saijyo Saku (highest), Jyojyo Saku (superior), Jyo Saku (good), and Regular Saku.
This piece is ranked as Jyo Saku among works by Kanekado.
Habaki: Single-layered, made of plain copper
Blade Length: 62.8 cm (24.72 in)
Curvature: 1.6 cm (0.63 in)
Mekugi Hole: 1
Width at Base (Motohaba): 3.12 cm (1.23 in)
Width at Yokote (Sakihaba): 2.1 cm (0.83 in)
Thickness (Kasane): 0.71 cm (0.28 in)
Sword Weight: 660 g
Era: 1942 (Showa 17)
Shape: This piece has a wide mihaba, thick kasane, deep curvature, and extended kissaki, giving it an excellent and healthy form with remaining ubuha.
Jigane: Plain surface; categorized as oil-quenched.There is some rust on the mune side.
Hamon: Uniform gunome-midare with rounded boshi.

Features: Kanekado was a swordsmith who produced guntō (military swords) for the Imperial Japanese Army during the war.
Though this piece is oil-quenched, it is a well-made sword.
Over 75 years have passed since the war, and most people in Japan today have no direct experience of it.
The officer who once carried this sword likely received it from his father and headed to the battlefield with a sense of tension and duty.
The father would have stood proudly, while the mother must have earnestly hoped for her son’s safe return.
Carrying the pride of a young officer, he would have departed his home saying, “I’ll be back.”

About Oil Quenching: Traditional Japanese swords are made from tamahagane, a high-quality steel smelted from iron sand, which is folded and forged, then differentially hardened by heating and quenching in water to create a hardened edge.
Oil-quenching, however, involves shaping ordinary steel into a blade, heating it, and quenching it in oil instead.
This prevents the blade from chipping easily.
While oil-quenched swords can be polished, it’s difficult to distinguish them without close inspection.
This piece appears at first glance to be traditionally made from tamahagane, but it does not have fold-forged construction.
It is a war-time production, finely polished.

Koshirae: Imperial Japanese Army military mounting

Aoi Art estimation paper & Whole Oshigata
*Please note: The price does not include shipping fees