RIKUGUN JUMEI TOSHO
ARMY APPROVED SWORDSMITHS

  RIKUGUN JUMEI TOSHO SWORDSMITHS  

The presence of a STAR stamp on the nakago of a WW II era sword blade is an indicator of a blade made by swordsmiths of the Rikugun Jumei Tosho. To become Rikugun Jumei Tosho, a swordsmith had to pass tests and examination of his blades. Once accepted as an Army Certified Swordsmith (Rikugun Jumei Tosho), the smith was given a regular allocation of tamehagane with which to make sword blades. Jumei Tosho smiths also made blades using non-traditional materials, mainly forged mill steel. Blades with star stamps and which show nie in the yakiba are considered by some collectors to be gendaito; whereas other stamps were indicative of blades made by non-traditional methods and are therefore not gendaito. It is still hotly debated as to whether all tang stamps indicate non-traditionally made blades or whether certain stamps such as the star stamp indicate blades made in the traditional manner. Some star stamped blades have received origami from the NBTHK. A complete list of Rikugun Jumei Tosho swordsmiths was published in Showa 17 entitled "Rikugun Jumei Tosho Meibo". There were also Navy commissioned swordsmiths (Kaigun Toko), but little information is currently available on them.

Miyairi Shohei (Akihira) Niigata Akihisa Hiragawa Akimitsu Kasuga Seizou Tokoro Harumoto Chikuzen (no) Kuni ju Muto Hidehiro Hidemine Chikuzen ju Kajihara Hiromitsu Ikusa no Kajitsu Hisakuni Yoshu Seiunshi Hisatsugu Noshu ju Kuriyama Kaneaki (star + Kitae stamp) Kaneharu Noshu ju Kanehide (star + Seki stamp) Seki ju Kanehide Noshu ju Kanehisa (Kojima) Kanemichi (star +Showa stamp) Noshu Seki ju Kanemichi Takeuchi Kanemitsu Seki Kanemoto Kanenaga (star +Seki stamp) Noshu ju Kanenobu Noshu Seki ju Kanenori Kaneshige (star + Seki stamp) Noshu ju (Morita) Kaneshige Seki ju Kanetomo (star + Seki stamp) Noshu ju (Murayama) Kanetoshi (star + Seki stamp) Gunma Imae Kanetsugu Joshu ju Imai Kanetsugu Seki ju Kanetsugu Tsushima Kanetsugu Kawai Kaneyoshi Inoue Katsukiyo Tokyo Dai Ichi Rikugun Zoheisho Katsunobu Yoshida Katsunori Sanjo ju Fujiwara Kazunori (may also be read as Ichinori)

Oki Kuni ju Kikumitsu (star + tai stamp) Senshu Kiyokane Choshu ju Kiyokune Izumo (no) Kuni Kiyomitsu Choshu ju Kiyotsugu Hizen ju Kunimitsu Mori Kunitoshi Noshu ju Kunitoshi (same as Mori Kunitoshi) Sendai Kunitsugu Iwashiro Kuniyasu Shoda Masafusa Hitachi Shishi do Isobe Masahiro Kagawa Masahiro Masakuni Mizuno Masanori Ritsumeikan Masatake Saga (Hizen) Masatsugu Hizen kuni Masatsugu Ryu Masayoshi Ritsumeikan Masayuki Seki Mitsunobu Miyagi Morikuni Watanabe Morikuni Kanatoshi Minamoto Morinobu Minamoto Moritaka Minamoto Moriyoshi Munehatsu Dewa Kuni Tsuchiyama Munemitsu (Yamagami) Munetoshi Chikugo ju Endo Nagamitsu Seishinshi Nagatoshi Onoki Naoji (star + Seki stamp) Hokke Saburo Nobufusa

Minamoto Nobushige (Yoshihara) Nobutake Noriaki Tsukamoto Ikkansai Okimasa Oki Kuni ju Okimitsu Sanuki Kuni ju Okimitsu Shimane Okimitsu Kawano Sadashige (aka: Minamoto Sadashige) Minamoto Sadateru Echigo kuni ju Uyemura Sadatoshi Genbusai (Kojima) Shigefusa Ikkansai Shigemasa (Tomita) Sukehiro Sukekuni (star + Showa stamp) Sukenao Noshu (no) ju Sukenobu (Toki) Sukenobu Koshun(?) Tadatoshi Shimotsuke ju Fujiwara Tadayoshi Yamashiro ju Higashi Tokimitsu Furuhata Tomomaro Toshihide Noshu ju Toshihide Baba Tsugukiyo Bizen no Kuni Akazaki ju Toshimitsu Tsuguyoshi Yasukuni Ritsumeikan Yoshikazu (Narii Kesayoshi) Yoshikuni Noshu ju Ishihara Yoshisada Okishiba Yoshisada Iwami Yoshikiyo Hirasaki ju Yoshinobu Hizen (no) Kuni ju nin Yoshitada Saga (Hizen) Yoshitada Hizen Kuni Kinoshita Yoshitada Zuiho (same as Shigefusa)

The above list is very incomplete. Not all blades by Jumei Tosho swordsmiths were star stamped. If the blade was a private or direct purchase or not for military use, there will be no stamp appearing on the nakago. Many of the above listed smiths made gendaito which do not bear a star stamp. Smiths who were Jumei Tosho also produced non-traditionally made (non gendaito) blades. Each blade must be just individually, on its own merits.

In addition to the above known star stamped blades by the listed swordsmiths, the following swordsmiths are listed in either the Nihonto Meikan, Tosho Zenshu or John Slough's An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths 1868-1945. This list was compiled thanks to the research of Jinsoo Kim. There are undoubtedly some duplications with the above list as some smiths did not sign their family names or may have signed with more than one mei.

Kawase Akikane Echigo no Kuni ju Tesshushi Akimitsu Ishii Akifusa Shiono Akiharu Yoshihara Akihiro Nikara Akihiro Yamaue Akihisa Kondo Akikuni Shiono Akimichi Ikarashi Akimitsu Tanaka Akimori Konno Akimune Shiozawa Akinaga Kato Akinori Musashi no Kuni Akinori Nikara Akisada (aka Kunitoshi) Iguchi Akisada Sanjo Akitada Nakabayashi Akitaka Tamura Akitaka Kotani Akitaka Kotani Akitomi Akimoto Ikkansai Minamoto Akitomo Wakabayashi Akitoshi Takahashi Akitsugu Baba Akitsugu (aka Tsugukiyo) Fujita Akiyoshi Sasakawa Akiyoshi Kurihara Akiyuki Arai Akiyuki Tsutsumi Amatsugu Sakurai Chikafusa Horigawa Chikamitsu Tashiro Douyama Okada Genjou Kitamura Harunobu Takefuji Hidehiro Koshi Wasasaburo Minamoto Nyudo Hidemune Yatomi Hirokiyo Torio Hiromasa Yoshu Hojo ju Hiromasa Kajihara Hiromitsu Takefuji Hisahiro Koga Hisakuni Imai Hisatsugu Yoshihara Hisayoshi Takahashi Kagefusa Fukuda Kaneaki Fujii Kanefuji Morita Kanefusa Nakata Kanehide Otsuki Kanekuni Kato Kanekuni Kuriki Kanemasa Takeuchi Kanemasa Godo Kanemitsu Motomura Kanemoto Kaneko Kanemoto Kiribuchi Kanemune Godo Kanenari Niwa Kanenobu Kojima Kanenori Fujii Kaneoto Koda Kanesada Murayama Kaneshige Moriyama Kaneshige Morita Kaneshige Sato Kanesumi Koketsu Kanetaka Kiribuchi Kanetomo Miwa Kanetomo Kozuke junin Ryuminsai Kanetomo Shoka Kanetoshi Murayama Kanetoshi Tsukahara Kanetsugu Imai Kanetsugu Ryuminsai Kanetsugu Fujitani Kaneyoshi Kawai Kaneyoshi Murayama Kaneyuki Sato Kanezumi Inoue Katsukiyo Onuma Katsutoshi Miyano Kazuichi Ikeda Kazumitsu (aka Yasumitsu) Suzuki Kazuyuki Sakamoto Kikumitsu Kobayashi Kiyokane Tsutsui Kiyokane

Sato Kiyokatsu Sakurai Kiyokuni Nagamura Kiyonobu Koyama Kiyosuke Yamauchi Kuniharu Takajima Kunihide Kataoka Kunihiro Sakai Kunihisa Yoshihara Kuniiye Miura Kunimitsu Konoshima Kunimitsu Shibata Kunimitsu Kiku Kuninobu Yoshihara Kuniie Yoshihara Kuninobu Suzuki Kuninori (aka Suzuki Kuniyoshi) Mizuta Kunishige Nagao Kunishiro Taguchi Kunitaka Horigawa Kunitake Ishiwata Kunitoshi Nikara Kunitoshi (aka Akihiro) Mori Kunitoshi Murayama Kunitsugu Kikuchi Kuniyasu Ono Kuniyoshi Haga Kuniyoshi Miyaguchi Masafusa Isobe Masahiro Semimaru Masahiro Ikeda Masahisa Toriwa Masahisa Takano Masakane Katsumura Hitachi no Suke Minamoto Masakatsu Oshu Iwashiro ju nin Choushi (Tsukamoto) Masakazu Yakumo Amatsu Masakiyo Kobayashi Masakiyo Morita Masamichi Miura Masamitsu Hirai Masamitsu Fukuda Masamitsu Sakai Masamizu Ishimichi Masamori Ito Masanaga Nozawa Masanao Mizuno Masanori Okajima Masatada Morioka Masataka Hiramatsu Masatomo Okishiba Masatsugu Taguchi Masatsugu Sakai Masatsugu Tokunaga Masatsugu Amachi Masatsune Takahashi Masayoshi Kosaka Masayoshi Sunaga Masayuki Yoshihara Masazane Tashiro Michitoshi Yamaguchi Mitsuhiro Takefuji Mitsuhiro Hizen no Kuni Mitsuhiro Arai Mitsunori Miyake Morichika Miyagi Morikuni Sato Morikuni Sakuma Morikuni Watanabe Morikuni Terada Morinobu Miyake Moritaka Momota Munehide Yuki Munemitsu Ikeda Munetoshi Yamaue Munetoshi Tanaka Munetsugu Endo Nagamitsu Ichihara Ichiryushi Nagamitsu Sato Naganari Kuwahara Naganori Osanai Nagayoshi Ichimura Naohisa Dewa Yamagata ju Heiryo Naohisa Okuyama Naomasa Shimura Naotake Kobayashi Naotsugu Takahashi Nobufusa Nobuta Nobukuni Okishiba Nobushige Iwasaki Nobushige

Yoshihara Nobutake Akiyama Nobuyuki Inoue Nobuyuki Morioka Noriaki Yasumoto Norimitsu Chikuzen Fukuoka Moritsugu Norisada Tsukamoto Okimasa Hara Okimitsu I Hara Okimitsu II Tominaga Riyuu Wagou Sadajiro Gassan Sadakatsu Kaminura Sadakiyo Onishi Sadanari Echigo no Kuni ju Imai Sadaroku Kawano Sadashige Yoshu Saijo ju Nyudo Sadashige Akimoto Sadatomo Kamimura Sadatoshi Takahashi Sadatsugu Takai Sadatsugu Enomoto Sadayoshi (aka Yorikichi) Nishimoto Sadayoshi Kawasaki Sadayuki (Kaigun Toko) Andachi Sadayuki Kato Sanekuni Kato Saneyoshi Sato Shigechika Ikkansai Shigemasa Kusakabe Shigemichi Hirose Shigemitsu Yodogawa Shigetoshi Wakabayashi Shigetsugu Tomita Sukehiro Kato Sukekuni Takeshita Sukemitsu Toki Sukenobu Kanesaki Suketoshi Fujiwara Sukeyuki Ihara (Fukutaro) Teruhide Ihara (Kametaro) Teruhide Shibutani Terukatsu Kawashima Terumitsu Ihara Teruyoshi Furuhata Tomomaro Izumi Tomoyoshi Ikkansai Toshihiro (aka Yasuhiro) Imazumi Toshimitsu Baba Tsuguhiro Morita Tsuguiye Baba Tsugukiyo (aka Akitsugu) Takahashi Tsugumasa Kozuke ju Tsugumasa Kozuke ju (Tsukagoshi) Tsugunobu Imai Tsuguyoshi Kato Tsuneyasu Morishita Ujiyu Hino Ungo Motomura Yasuhiro Moritaka Yasuhiro Ikari Yasukazu Takeshita Yasukuni Matsunaga Yasumitsu Ryozen Ikari Yasukazu Yoshimi Yasutsugu Kojima Yasuyoshi Motojima Yasuyoshi Enomoto Yorikichi (aka Sadayoshi) Osaki Yoshihira Nikara Yoshihiro Sato Yoshihisa Fujita Yoshikane Taniguchi Yoshikane Kawai Yoshikazu Kihara Yoshimasa Tanaka Yoshimitsu Yasumoto Yoshimitsu Fukuda Yoshimitsu (Kaigun Toko) Takahashi Yoshimune Koide Yoshimune Takeyama Yoshinao Tangi Yoshinobu Nikara Yoshinobu Yamamura Yoshisada Kinoshita Yoshitada Chikugo ju Muto Yukihiro Takefuji Yukihiro Moritsugu Yukimune Taguchi Yukiyoshi Fukuda Zenshiro

CAUTION ! Gimei blades (blades with false or fake signatures) of gendai swordsmiths have been reported. With the increase in interest and hence prices of gendaito in recent years there are sure to be unscrupulous people trying to cash in by faking gendaito. While this is not yet a wide spread problem, collectors should be aware of the possibility.