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Hamon : Vivid nioi deki choji midare. The hamon is packed with long nioi ashi and many yo. The nioi guchi is very bright.
Kitae : Very tight ko-itame that is nearly muji hada. The forging is flawless and tiny ko nie can be seen floating in the ji.
Boshi : Wide suguha in nioi with a ko-maru return
Sugata : This Kanehide has a wide mihaba and a longish chu kissaki that create a powerful impression. There is significant hira niku and one can easily see this was made for the serious business of war. The gendai sugata was designed in a practical length with a relatively wide moto-haba and a thick kasane. The aim of this was to help the blade cut well against soldier's uniforms, d-ring gear and belts but remain durable.
Koshiare : The koshiare for this blade is very interesting. It is a regulation 1944 pattern officers koshiare. The saya is the pale orange/brown variety and all of the fittings are iron. The nakago is marked 556 on the ura with paint. The inside of the tsuka is marked 556. Therefore, its original to this blade. The tsuba is marked 556 and 565. Its hard to explain why it has two numbers but it fits the blade perfectly and is most likely the original one. The tsuka is not wrapped like we would normally find on this model. Rather, its covered in leather and judging from the fit, this rare feature is original to the blade.
Two Stamp Nakago : This blade is particularly important for research because its bears two types of stamps on the nakago. There is a star stamp above and to the left of the mei. There is also a seki stamp on the nakago mune. The general belief is that the star stamp on nakago indicates a traditionally made blade and the Seki stamp means non-traditionally made. The Seki stamp on this blade is 5/64 square inch, much smaller than a regular Seki stamp. This might be the Seki Token Corporation's trademark or accepting stamp. There is a similar Kanehide illustrated in Sloughs book. (see photo below) It was made one month after this example. It too bears both of these stamps. The location of the stamps relative to the mekugi-ana are the same but the location relative to the placement of the date is different. This may indicate that the mekugi-ana and stamps were done before the mei and date were inscribed.
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