raaay

I agree with ken , no pun intended but he is ( spot on )

at a quick glance and no books to check , Seki no ju - - kanemichi possibly !

not sure it helps , but I once seen one with a all blue saya, blue same, blue ito and the fittings all gold plated, boy it was ugly with a 23rd generation kanefusa blade, you had to be a brave officer to ware that one IMHO.

John and with the new pic of the tang ,100% wrong you can still see the fire scale on the tang and the fresh drill marks and burr marks . sorry,

HI Ed hard to tell by the photographs supplied, looks like someone has attempted a DIY clean-up job on the blade IMHO , you would need to let a fully trained polisher see it to make a proper assessment for the restoration work and to see if the blade could take another polish, if that's the road you plan to go down, or just enjoy sword as it is.

Sorry , but it looks like a possible Chinese fake !! but I could be wrong, but it does look unusual to say the least that the Mei is running down the centre ?

Ford As Paul says cant explain in words how it speaks to me , but just love the movement , wow

this is a Showa sword IMHO , as previously said in other replies . sorry

sorry 150% fake

Hi Peter One tip if I can , get your self a Japanese JR-rail pass it will save you a fortune on train fares, purchase in the UK and get activated at the Airport train station on route to Tokyo if that's going to be your base !

And another similar style of mounting

hi John Sorry for what it is worth, it looks like IMHO , an acid / lemon juice polish on an oil tempered Showato blade, but obviously I could well of the mark.

Stephen not much help, but you could see the oil in question in many big stores in Japan for sale alongside all there kitchen knifes , got mine in the craft shop ( Tokyo Hands ) it cost me 480 yen for a bottle .

Hi I do not want to start a debate about oil again, but back in November I seen the bottle of oil in the video in Tsuruta san's shop being used.

Hi Bob is that what happens when you all drink Diet Coke !!!!!!!!!!! Ray

Hi Dave Yes that would be me, seen Alex at the weekend at the antique fair in Edinburgh where there we some lovely fake swords for sale ! sorry I digress. I do not want to say to much but I could tell from the pics who cleaned up your sword for the want of a better word and amateur polishing works is not a good subject to push on this forum I know lots of collectors have done it in the past, but please if you have anything worth a polish think twice before you go down the acid / lemon juice road, it will almost certainly ruin and devalue your collection, you just need to look at some UK based commercial sites to see what I mean, probably said to much already.

Dave I would say your sword is pretty tired looking, and it looks more like an acid polish I am afraid to say.

Hi Malcolm Good info, new it was Toyokuni and I had a good guess on the Toyokuni III, as I have a few somewhere. cheers

Hi I think the other prints are by Toyokuni ? difficult to see them clearly . and if I remember rightly Toyokuni 3 a later artist also changed his name to Kunisada , but don't quote me on that, you would need to check them out date wise .

Hi Thibault just to confirm this Shin-Gunto has always had a single Ashi only. regards ,

Hi as requested a little more info on my sword, This Shin-Gunto was taken from a w w 2 sword surrender in Singapore by a British Army Officer , who related the storey to the chap I acquired it from, and said he looked through a whole load of swords on the day and picked up what he thought was the best he could find . I cant remember the whole signature from memory but it is something like made in Tokyo at the Hachi-Man Shrine by Naostugu ( Gendai-to smith ) I have seen this smith mentioned a couple times in the past, but there is very little info that I have found out about him ! The mounts are IMHO high grade, maybe special order shin-gunto mounts with silver mon with a same covered lacquered saya and comes with its original sword bag and original sword belt hanger and colonel's or high ranking field officers tassel . and if I remember correctly purchased from the Officer in a about 1970. for £11.00 - not by me unfortunately .

This has been posted before , but worth another go.

And well done Tony Norman from the ( UK ) and Paul Martin

hi Ben o-kissaki , yes, but the yokote position looks a bit strange IMHO , it could be moved forward to the mitsukado and still leave technically an o-kissaki just a thought !

Hi Murray Where are you about in Scotland , there are few collectors scattered all over the place ,there might be someone near to you that may be able to help you out !