OSHIGATA OF SHOWA ERA
JAPANESE SWORDSMITHS


This is a collection of oshigata of Japanese swordsmiths of the Showa (WW II) era. These oshigata have been collected over the years from a variety of sources. As these oshigata were gathered from a variety of sources, the quality varies considerably. However, I believe they are all readable and therefore usable. These oshigata should be used as an aid in translation only, not necessarily as examples of shoshin (genuine) mei. No distinction has been made between those smiths making gendaito or showato as many smiths made both. With few exceptions, most are fully translated. This collection is far from complete in that it does not begin to document all the swordsmiths working during this time period.

This page can be searched using the "Find in Page" feature of your web browser. The oshigata can be searched by the smith's name (ex. Kanesane) or by the first or last part of the swordsmith's name (ex. chika). In some cases there are multiple oshigata of the same name. This is to show variations in the mei of the swordsmith or different swordsmiths using the same name (for example, there are at least four different smiths signing Nagamitsu). I apologize for any errors in the translations. I hope you will find this collection useful. - Richard Stein

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Akihide
Akimitsu (Echigo)
Akimitsu (Fujisan)
Akimori (Miyagi)
Akinobu
Akinobu 2
Akinori
Akisuke (Tomonaga)
Akitomo
Akiyuki (Musashi)
Amahide
Amahide (Minamoto)
Amahide (Ichimonji)
Chikahide
Chikamitsu (Horikawa)
Daido
Daigo
Emura
Emura 2
Emura (Chounsai)
Emura (Chounsai) 2
Emura (Chounsai) 3
Gunsui (steel)
Hachiman (patriotic)
Harutsugu
Hattori (factory)
Hideaki (Minamoto)
Hidehiro
Hiromichi
Hiromitsu (Kajiwara)
Hiromitsu 2
Hiromitsu 3
Hiroyoshi
Hisakuni (Takahashi)
Hisatsugu
Hyaku Ren (stamp)
Ichimonji (Seki)
Ichimonji (Nara)
Ichimonji (Nara) 2
Ichiryushi
Ichiryushi 2
Ichishin
Ishido
Jumyo (Kato)
Ka (Shibata)
Kaneaki (Yoshida)
Kaneaki (Minamoto)
Kaneaki
Kaneaki (Suikosai)
Kanefumi (Fukuda)
Kanefumi (Noshu)
Kanfusa
Kanefusa 2
Kanefusa 3
Kanefusa (Morita)
Kaneharu (Minamoto)
Kanehide (Seki)
Kanehide (Seki) 2
Kanehide (Noshu)
Kanehide (Kanefusa)
Kanehiro (Goto)
Kanehiro (Goto) 2
Kanehisa
Kanehisa 2
Kanehisa 3
Kanehisa (patriotic)
Kankado (Noshu)
Kanekado
Kanekado (Yoshida)
Kanekado (Seki)
Kanekami (Kanetaka)
Kanekiyo
Kanekuni (Ogawa)
Kanekuni 2
Kanemasa (Toki)
Kanemasa (Toki) 2
Kanemasa (Seki)
Kanemasa (Murato)
Kanematsu (Noshu)
Kanemitsu (Okamura)
Kanemitsu
Kanemitsu 2
Kanemitsu (Noshu)
Kanemoto
Kanemune (Fukumoto)
Kanemune (Fukumoto) 2
Kanemune
Kanenaga (Fujiwara)
Kanenaga (Fujiwara) 2
Kanenaga (Fujiwara) 3
Kanenaga (Amaike)
Kanenaga
Kanenao
Kanenao 2
Kanenao 3
Kanenori
Kanenori (Kojima)
Kanesada
Kanesane (Kanezane)
Kanesane (Asano) 2
Kanesane 3
Kanesane 4
Kanesane 5
Kanesane 6
Kaneshige (Seki)
Kaneshige (Murayama)
Kaneshige (Matsumasa)
Kanetada
Kanetaka (Hirata)
Kanetaka
Kanetaka (Matsuda)
Kanetake
Kanetatsu (Kanematsu)
Kanetoki
Kanetoki 2
Kanetomo
Kanetoshi
Kanetoshi 2
Kanetoshi (Kumazawa)
Kanetoshi (Noshu)
Kanetsugu
Kanetsugu 2
Kanetsuna (Ikeda)
Kanetsuna
Kanetsura (Nakano)
Kaneuji (Yoshida)
Kaneuji (Noshu)
Kaneuji
Kanewaka (Fuwa)
Kanewaka
Kaneyoshi
Kaneyoshi (Fujitani)
Katsunori
Katsukiyo
Katsumasa
Katsumasa 2
Katsumasa (Kanaya)
Katsumasa (Kanaya) 2
Kazunori (Fujiwara)
Kazunori
Kikumitsu
Kinmichi
Kiyohisa
Kiyokane
Kiyokuni
Kiyonobu (Osamura)
Kiyotsugu
Koa Isshin
Koa Isshin Mantetsu
Koa Isshin Mantetsu 2
Koa Isshin Mantetsu 3
Kunifusa (Kojima)
Kunifusa (Rai)
Kunifusa (Rai) 2
Kunihiro (Kataoka)
Kunihiro (Noshu)
Kunihiro
Kuniie (Yoshihara)
Kunimichi (Kobiyashi)
Kunimichi
Kunimitsu (Fujiwara)
Kunimitsu
Kunimori
Kunishige
Kunishige (Fujiwara)
Kunitada (Okimoto)
Kunitoshi (Rai)
Kunitoshi (Noshu)
Kunitoshi
Kunitoshi (Mori)
Kuniyasu
Mantetsu (Manchurian)
Masaaki
Masafusa (Kemura)
Masafusa (Tenryushi)
Masahiro (Hattori)
Masahiro (Hattori) 2
Masahiro (Hattori) 3
Masahiro (Takayama)
Masahiro (Shibata)
Masahisa (Matsumoto)
Masakiyo (Minatogawa)
Masakiyo 2 (Minatogawa)
Masakiyo (Amatsu)
Masakiyo (Hizen)
Masanao
Masanori
Masasane
Masasane (Bishu)
Masatada
Masataka
Masataka 2
Masatsugu
Masatsune (Amachi)
Masatsuru
Masauji
Masayasu
Masayuki (Yoshikazu)
Masayuki (Noshu)
Masayuki 3
Masayuki (Miwa)
Masayuki (stamped)
Michihiro
Michisane
Michisane 2
Michizane (Nagao)
Mitsuhiro (Hizen)
Mitsunobu (Seki)
Mitsunobu (Seki) 2
Mitsunobu (Seki) 3
Mitsunobu (Ishido)
Mitsuoki
Mitsuoki 2
Morikuni
Morinobu
Morinobu 2
Munemitsu (Izumo)
Munemitsu (Dewa)
Munemitsu (Dewa)
Munetoshi
Munetsugu (Shimotsuke)
Nagamitsu (Ichihara)
Nagamitsu 2
Nagamitsu 3
Nagamitsu 4
Nagamitsu 5
Nagamitsu 6
Nagamitsu 7
Nagamitsu 8
Nagamitsu 9
Nagamitsu (Endo)
Nagamitsu (Kawasaki)
Nagamitsu (Kawasaki)
Nagamitsu (Noshu)
Nagatoshi (Seishinshi)
Nagayuki
Naosuke
Naotane (Ishihara)
Nobufusa
Nobufusa 2
Nobumitsu
Nobumitsu 2
Nobumitsu (Sukemitsu)
Nobumitsu (Seki)
Nobumitsu (Chikushu)
Nobutoshi
Norimitsu
Norisada (Kato)
Okimasa
Okimitsu
Rikugun Kaikosha
Sadaharu
Sadahiro (Minamoto)
Sadahiro (Ikami)
Sadakatsu
Sadakatsu (Gassan)
Sadakatsu 2 (Gassan)
Sadakiyo
Sadateru
Sadateru 2
Sadatsugu
Sadayoshi (Amada)
Sadayoshi (Yamaguchi)
Seishoshin (aka Ushoshin)
Shigefusa (Genbusai)
Shigefusa
Shigemitsu
Shigenaga
Shigenori
Shigenori (Sato)
Shigetsugu
Shigetsugu 2
Sukechika
Sukehiro
Sukekuni
Sukemitsu (Fukuda)
Sukemitsu (Seki)
Sukemitsu (Sukegawa)
Sukenobu
Sukenori
Sukeyuki
Tadahiro
Tadakatsu
Tadakazu (Tadaichi)
Tadamori (Unshu)
Tadayoshi (Izumo)
Tadayoshi (Fujiwara)
Takao (Fujiwara)
Takashi
Takehisa
Takenori
Takeyasu
Takeyoshi
Tenshozan (Naval forge)
Teruhide
Teruhide (Ishido)
Teruyoshi
Tetsu Damashi (patriotic)
Tofuji
Tomomaro
Toshiharu
Toshihide (Noshu)
Toshihide (Horii)
Toshimasa
Toshimitsu
Toshinori
Ujifusa
Ujifusa 2
Yasuaki
Yasumitsu
Yasumitsu (Noguchi)
Yasunori
Yasuoki
Yasutada
Yasutsuna (Ittosai)
Yasuyoshi
Yorimasa (Hattori)
Yoriyoshi (Hattori)
Yoshiaki
Yoshiaki (Mishina)
Yoshichika (Minamoto)
Yoshichika 2
Yoshichika (Nidai)
Yoshichika (Noshu)
Yoshichika (Noshu) 2
Yoshifusa
Yoshiharu
Yoshikane (Unshu)
Yoshikane (Fujiwara)
Yoshikane
Yoshikazu
Yoshimasa
Yoshimichi
Yoshimitsu (Noshu)
Yoshimitsu
Yoshimune (Koide)
Yoshimune
Yoshinao (Fujiwara)
Yoshinao 2
Yoshinao (Takeyama)
Yoshinori
Yoshiomi
Yoshiomi (Takeyama)
Yoshiomi (Seki)
Yoshisada (Okishiba)
Yoshisada (Okishiba) 2
Yoshisada (Ishihara)
Yoshishige
Yoshitsugu
Yoshitsugu 2
Yoshitsugu (Yoshida)
Yukihiro
Yukimitsu
Yoshimune
Zuiho


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