Showato or fake?

[Kronos]

Picked this up for next to nothing but after looking at the nakago it seems a bit 'off'. It's clearly been cleaned but can't tell if an amatuer has just ruined it or possibly a fake, yet the blade looks ok to me. I'm not getting anywhere with the mei which lead me to believe maybe a very good fake. I'll try to get photo's of the blade tommorow.

 

 

 

[Stephen]

Looks ok, Navy Stainless steel blade, yur safe.

[Daniel]

Ditto :-)

[Kronos]

thats good to know. Everything seemed good until I got the Tsuka off expecting to find some rust :lol:

 

 

I seem to of found the answers I was looking for:

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=468

http://www.antique-swords.eu/672-WW2-Japanese-Naval-Officers-Kai-Gunto.html

 

Now a whole bunch of other questions, namely who or what is Inaba...

[AikiScott1]

I have a similar sword, kai gunto also marked Inaba. I know there have been previous threads here detailing more what all this means but if I remember correctly Inaba was an imperial navy contractor and if you look closer you might see another stamp on the tang besides the anchor stamp and from my understanding this means genuine, as in this sword is a genuine item made by Inaba, implied being of rust resistant steel, for the Japanese navy. I hope this helps and please let me know if I have gone wrong anywhere.---Scott M.