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WWii Japanese tang translation

Submitted by Brian Everswick on Mon, 2014-01-20 01:07

Would like translation of tang signatures on both sides of WWII Japanese machine made? sword

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wwii_jap_sword_014.jpg438.4 KB
wwii_jap_sword_005.jpg569.28 KB
wwii_jap_sword_011.jpg409.53 KB
wwii_jap_sword_012.jpg519.48 KB
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#1Submitted by saipan59 on Mon, 2014-01-20 02:24.

Showa blade

The date is October 1943.
The name (something)-HIRO.
The two kanji appear to be old Nelson numbers 4703 and 1499.
I don't know the corrent reading for the first one, but my books say that possibilities are: TSUu, MICHI, YUKI, MITSU, TOu, NAO.
"MichiHiro" rolls off the tongue pretty well, but it's just a guess.

Can't say much about the "machine made" part, because your pictures don't show anything except the kanji. But most likely, it is a typical "Showa-to", meaning that it was made with some "shortcuts" - not a completely traditional blade.

Pete