173 - An officer's shin-gunto (katana) signed Koa Isshin Mantetsu

An officer's shin-gunto (katana) signed Koa Isshin Mantetsu dating: Second quarter of the 20th Century provenance: Japan, Shinogi-zukuri blade, iori-mune (nagasa 67 cm). Hamon and hada present but not so visible. Some light signs of use and time, and a few small pitting. It needs a professional cleaning. Nakago with one mekugi-ana. Mei: “Koa Isshin Mantetsu Saku Kore / Showa Mizunoe Uma” (year 1942). In officer’s military mounts, with silk tsukamaki, well preserved, with light signs of use and time. Complete with saya, with some missing parts to the finish. Mantetsu blades were produced in Dairen, in occupied Manchuria, by the Japanese railway company of the same name, using special steels and industrial processes designed to withstand extreme cold. In December 1938 a finishing department was set up in the former Futaba kindergarten, next to the memorial to deceased employees. In 1939 Yosuke Matsuoka (a well-known political figure and president of the company) introduced the propagandistic designation “Koa Isshin”. This new type of steel, developed at Mantetsu’s experimental centre, became known as “Kusaka Juntetsu” (after its inventor); the finest examples of Koa Isshin Mantetsu produced in Japan were made at Zama, in Kanagawa Prefecture.