Dave R

Every so often blades like this turn up, and create havoc! They are a known type, Amahide is known to have made them, and I have seen one of them in hand, with a good provenance. As far as I can make out, they are a flashy blade option, possibly influenced by 19th century blades from Western manufacturers, Solingen sold Damascus blades as an option for private purchase. http://www.antiques.com/classified/1134564/Antique-Imperial-German-Naval-Officer-Sword--Damascus-Blade

An article about Amahide...

The Amahide factory made good quality non traditional swords, so I suggest having a trawl through the various sales sites to get an idea of what these go for. Or take it along to a militaria show and see what they offer.

If the Ha and Mune were altered to fit the tsuka, then the odds are that it is a "shotgun job", aka a dealers special. If you bought it recently, you want your money back! There is nothing wrong with assemblages, provided they are honest jobs, and the price reflects that status.... But cutting the nakago to fit a spare Tsuka is very bad indeed.

Very likely cut down (suriage) long before it went into gunto mounts. WW2 Gendai and Showato had long nakago, almost full length of the Tsuka in many cases.

Frankensword.... The comment about upper seppa is a dead give away. Seppa+Fuchi units are found on those odd post war whatsits that get mistaken for Navy swords.

Perspective....

Exactly! I bought it, sold the hilt fittings, and had the blade checked out. It turned out to be a nihonto, probably of Meiji/Taisho date and made for a Kyu-Gunto originally. I have since remounted it. A bargain blade, and an example of what you have to be aware of.

I agree with all of the above, you are highly unlikely to get one that fits. It's only worth a gamble (at very bad odds) if you don't have a tsuka that already fits.

I use small plastic clamps, 4 to a card from "Poundland", clamping as I make each wind. Traditionally you also rub a soft resin based glue on the Ha and Mune as you work your way up the tsuka.. Some useful discussion here... http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/3799-resin-glue-or-bitumen/

t's nothing like a sageo knot, in fact it's a bit of a bugger,but doable!, and frankly you can get away with stuff on a late war gunto that would get you spanked on a nihonto.

...Two pics from my files which explain what you do with the "other end (aka the Tare) of the Ito.....

Do you remember this one?.... Discussed on two different forums, aluminium hilt, traditional blade, and definitely a shotgun job.

Yup, as the curtain came down, Japan became interested in, and sympathetic to, how other Eastern Nations fared under Western colonialism. Japan became something of a haven for fleeing Indian and Chinese nationalists

Some time ago I started a thread in the hope of achieving some sort of consensus as to what exactly defined a "Satsuma Rebellion" sword. It didn't head in the way I hoped, but I did come to some conclusions of my own. I am seeing some interesting stuff coming up here on this thread, and the Indian coins as menuki are very nice! These are just the type of coin I have seen reused (shank soldered on the back) as buttons elsewhere, so I wonder if that is what they arrived as in Japan? Used to own one in fact, but sold it a while back....

Looking at it again, I think it's not a standard "Satsuma rebellion" tsuka, it's too nice!

Have a go at it yourself, it is the easiest wrap variation, and was meant to be so, as it was often done by schoolgirls during the war. The most difficult bit is the end knot, but there is a lot of info out there that will help. http://www.tsukamaki.net/PDF/ArtTsukamaki.pdf

According to Ohmura some rust resistant blades did go to the Army.. and the Ito does look very new and shiny, but that could be the photo's.

Check out the posts on cleaning and maintenance on this forum so that you do no damage. Value it for what it is, a family heirloom, brought back from a war zone where he had served. Sometimes people here focus too closely on perfection rather than other reasons to value something.

Face the fact, miltaria and nihonto are different worlds, when they coincide they are sublime... otherwise,....

Looks fairly typical of it's type. Decent condition, out of polish and the usual faded to brown lacquer on the saya.

By every definition "Island Swords" are not Nihonto. They are WW2 militaria at best, and you should not expect an informed discussion of such here, which is fair enough.... There are other sword collectors sites. The best of them are swords made for serving IJA officers needing a sword, but no longer on the supply line, and having them locally made by skilled but non Japanese smiths. The other legitimate contenders are those made for subject and collaborator troops and officers, also by local skilled smiths. And then there are the souvenirs, made by CB's or other allied support units,(or local bazaar traders) to be sold to follow up and other non front line troops who wanted a sure-nuff samury sword to take home. Below this in the pecking order are post war fakes.... still being made and sold to the unwary. Opinions are divided as to whether these categories are collectable, or worth discussing, but for better or worse this site is fairly unanimous that they are not!

Nooo! Never ever admit to self polishing! Delete post and hide til everyone forgets.

The single biggest give-away of a Chinese fake is the tang, and sadly this has all the usual give-aways of the type.

Japanese cavalry cleaning their swords...... Nothing like Nihonto at all. Mr Komiya has posted a good article about how these were treated at the time. http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/sharpening-dulling-blades-were-taken-granted-675938/