China made Guntos

[geeepsy]

I have seen a lot of warnings regarding China made swords and copies.

I have lived in Taiwan over 20 years, and in China 2 years, and have stumbled across many so-called Japanese swords.

Whereas in Taiwan we still can find real Japanese swords (and some outstanding collector pieces) left by Japanese after the war -- and most time hidden carefully because Japanese swords were totally forbidden in Taiwan -- they are very rare pieces and quite expensive.

 

In China, a lot of copies were (and are still) made. However it is still possible to find some nice swords that were made in China during the Japanese occupation, and mainly used as parade or gift objects. Although these are a far cry from real Japanese fine smithing, they still can be nice to start a collection, as they are extremely cheap.

 

While in China, I have examined hundreds of swords, both old and recent, and most were rubbish. However I still found two nice pieces that look good on a shelf after a bit of restauration work.

 

If I ever happen to find one real good item, I will post it here, as I probably won't be able to afford it...

 

Cheers,

In budo,

Godfrey.

[stekemest]

How can you distinguish between fake and "occupation" swords?

[Grey Doffin]

Do occupation swords, made by Chinese slaves at the direction of Japanese masters, actually exist? I've always thought this to be a story made up by sellers of fakes to dupe the unsuspecting.

Grey

[Joe Choi]

I do think that occupational swords does exist, and I don't think that slaves were used.

Japan occupied ... well whole Asia, you could say.

There's very crudely made emergency issue swords and not Japanese made but fine blades with San Mai construction. Typically associated with the logo ( NORI ) stamped on the blade itself, see attatched pics below. Have seen 5 of them so far including 2 that I have. I know of one collector in England that has one and he's also reaserching for this logo, he might have some answer soon, pointing to Korea as it's manufacture. The ones without this logo so far I have seen does not LOOK to be forged. The tangs are crude with alphabets used and some with chinese characters?

Anyone with further info would be appreciated.

[Joe Choi]

More pics... if anyone is interested I'll post some more.