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Puzzling Type 95 Nco


GuyC

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For the newer collectors in the NCO realm, i find this particular thread an invaluable read and learning experience ... there are always new wrinkles and discoveries in this hobby.     Thank you ALL for your posts/comments and I thank Guy for sharing the sword.  

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Thank you to everybody who has contributed, it has been invaluable  In summary: A good early type 95 with tsuka following the pattern of the earlier copper hilts. The consensus is that it is genuine. The saya is more problematic, could be an authentic example of an officer saya adapted to an NCO blade, could be a field repair or adaptation or could be post-war amalgamation of bits to replace a missing saya. I am happy with all of that which makes me a little nervous to raise something that hasn't been addressed specifically. The misalignment of the ha and mune-machi. As stated I have seen this on Chinese blades combined with a habaki that either just butts up against the ha-machi or is split at the bottom to allow the ha-mach to slide a little way into the habaki.  This sword, however, has a properly contructed habaki including machigane but lacking the usual mune-mach notch. The mune-machi notch is usually seen on both cheap Chinese, and authentic Japanese habaki Why would a forger go to the trouble of contructing a properly formed but unusual  habaki to put on a blade with an obvious error?  A cheap generic habaki would have looked more usual ( and authentic ) to the casual viewer.The rest of the blade looks good as people have pointed out, correct terminations of the bohi, good shape, good stamps and serial number. Is this a game changer?  Is this a feature sometimes seen on authentic blades? So a conundrum,  I await opinions with a good deal of trepidation. :-?

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Hi Guy,

Personally i haven't disassembled any of my swords, except for one which had a damaged handle. Unfortunately i did not notice anything unusual in this area and did not take photo's of it disassembled either.

 

However, i did come across some photot's of 3 blades which were offered for sale once and they were bare blades only... no habiki fitted at all.

The lower one is a Tokyo Arsenal blade the two top ones are Nagoya, and they all exhibit the same characteristics as yours, so i would tend to be inclined to not worry about the misalignment as it seems to be a common trait from both Arsenals.

 

You will find that not many people pull their swords apart as they tend to not re-assemble as well as original. As the blades are machine made and not traditionally forged, there is no real need to look for signatures as they do not have any.

That being said, Bruce has from memory had 2 or 3 of his apart due to some restoration work and has noticed some interesting stamps on the tangs such as the "w" - which makes me think that it could be useful to investigate further and document these.

Perhaps he has some photo's of his which he could add here.

 

I hope this puts you at ease somewhat, your sword is genuine 100%

Cheers

 

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Agree with both Stegel and Steve, all my 95's are offset like this - quite normal. Also agree that disassembling them can lead to some wiggle after reassembly. I'd say about half of mine got that way. But my curiosity makes me do it! I've found 3 or 4 nakago (tangs) with "W" stamps, and my late-war had a Seki stamp.

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Much relieved thank you. I must admit I belong to the "If it can come apart then take it apart school" :)  Anyway here is comparison shot for any who are interested.

Top to bottom:

Cheap Chinatana, ha-machi ahead of mune-machi

Nihonto katana, machi level (mune-machi not very deep and ha-machi worn)

Officers Type 98, machi level

Nihonto tanto  machi level

NCO type 95, mune-machi ahead of ha-machi

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