『MARK OF KIYOTADA CHISELS』

1：Mark from the first generation KIYOTADA era.His name is 嶋村忠五郎(Shimamura Chugoro). By the way, the second generation KIYOTADA (嶋村幸三郎・Shimamura Kouzaburo) is his adopted son. 

2: The most common stamp of 2nd generation KIYOTADA chisels form Suiheiya shop in Tokyo Asakusa. The Chinese character in the circle at the top of the stamp is ”别“. By the way. If the Chinese character in the circle is ”特“, it comes from the Suiheiya shop in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

3: KIYOTADA chisels form Suiheiya shop in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

4: The original mark of the second generation KIYOTADA. But the Suheiya store registered the mark before the blacksmith. As far as I know, only Tsuchida stores have the rights to use this mark. I have seen the same mark on planes and chisels at the Suiheiya store in Asakusa, Tokyo, but they were not made by Shimamura Kouzaburo.

5: Mark of 左清忠(Hidari Kiyotada).From my experience, this marked KIYOTADA chisel comes from a wholesaler in Niigata. Recently I asked the owner of the tsuchida store. He told me that the kiyotada chisel with this mark most likely came from a wholesaler called nagaoka in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

6: Mirrored mark of 左清忠(Hidari Kiyotada). Also from the nagaoka wholesaler in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

7: Reverse the text of the mark. (清忠→忠清). Also from the nagaoka wholesaler in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

8: Mark of 忠幸(Tadayuki). Also from the nagaoka wholesaler in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

9: Mark of 国行(Kuniyuki). This marked KIYOTADA chisel comes from the Naohei store in Tokyo.

10: Mark of 天峯(Amamine). Also from the nagaoka wholesaler in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

11: Uncommon kiyotata mark. The Chinese character “嶋”in the circle comes from his surname “嶋村 SHIMAMURA”. Also from the nagaoka wholesaler in Sanjo Niigata Prefecture.

12: Uncommon first generation KIYOTADA mark.  Added the early Tokyo Chisel Smith Guild mark. The Tokyo Chisel Smith Guild mark is usually above the Chinese character, but some are below it.  The Tokyo Chisel Smith Guild announced that chisel blacksmiths within the guild should use the guild's mark when the guild was established. But this is not mandatory. The first generation of Kiyotada used the guild mark but stopped using it shortly afterwards. This also happened to the third generation of Ichihiro Chisel. He stopped using the guild mark toward the end of his career. Of course, the blacksmiths won’t refuse to put the guild mark on it if you ask them to.

I would like to thank Mr. Tsuchida for his help on this issue. This photo is a composite as I don't have the actual chisel.