Gunto Latch

[IJASWORDS]

It is always interesting finding oddities amongst the GUNTOS you collect. As a wise man said, nothing would surprise him what is found on WW2 swords.

Got this KOTO blade in a type 98 outfit, with wooden scabbard. The sword is equipped with the standard  98 TSUKA latch. But the throat of the scabbard is plain copper, definitely machine made, and the wood work inside and out fits perfectly. Is this a prototype? This is the one and only I have seen. Also because it has no decoration, is it designed to be hidden under a leather cover? Does this then mean then that the sword then had a latch, fully intending to be covered by a leather cover, where other 98's were retrofitted with combat covers? Neil.   

[Bruce Pennington]

Neil,

 

Never seen that before either! The habaki is a higher quality, and with the little view we have of the fuchi, it appears pretty high quality too. It's possible this was a custom job with higher quality work which would account for the specialized koiguchi.

 

Can't address the saya without more pics. There were uncovered wooden saya, but they were painted/laquered. Saya intended for leather covers usually had different ashi than uncovered ones. Pics will help.

 

Looks like you've got another beauty.

[Dave R]

 I have seen these koiguchi before, basically an alternative to the leather strap more commonly seen on the wood and leather saya. Here is one retrofitted to a traditional saya.

[IJASWORDS]

Thanks Dave, you usually nail it! Neil.  

[Dave R]

I suspect a damaged "formal" saya led to a replacement being made using the original Ashi. The repair team sent out to China reported that most of their work involved sorting out damaged saya.