Dave R

This one has been bugging me, and eventually I found the picture in my files. Made from the steel of a Russian anchor. There is a question as to where the anchor came from, and my guess is a shipwreck. One of the reasons given for the 19th C. Western intervention in Japan was the Japanese treatment of shipwrecks and their survivors, the isolation policy and its attendant penalties extending even to such involuntary violations..

Like this? A Warabite forged probably by the Emeshi pre -Heian. Some discussion here. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6107-warabite-to/

A bit basic, and the bit on stamps now known to be wrong as in they are not Military acceptance stamps but manufacturers stamps. Still a useful precis of the options available for Showato.

This is a long silk cord that knots onto the "bail" aka the Sarute (monkey hands), it is an indicator of rank, and also prevents the sword being lost in the heat of the action.

Blood apparently also strips bluing or colour case hardening, the haemoglobin possibly reacts with the iron oxide. I got this from someone who had it happen to his revolver cylinder. (Accidental injury, not combat related).

Which is why I use a pure camellia oil for my swords.

I am sorry if you got the wrong impression here.I got the point from the start that you thought the sword was legit, and that your offer to buy was based on that judgment. The "coming clean" bit was more about you sharing your opinion in detail. Perhaps it's a problem with internet communication, without facial expression or vocal cues what is meant to be light-hearted comes over as something else.

Hmmm, I have reservations about this one. A nice "surrender package" is just a matter of going through the bits box if you are a dealer or a collector. I have a photo file of non standard and "Island" swords because they intrigue me. This looks more like a Sea-Bee special with some genuine parts.

I did wonder at Shamsy's eagerness to buy this one.... good on him for coming clean at the end. I have no real knowledge or real interest in the NCO patterns, but have seen enough from Shamsy to go with his judgment on them.

Section of a shattered gun or cannon barrel.

Hmmm, 80 yen in 1942 was a decent sum of money. I did a little research on this some time ago, and found that it equates to about £800 in modern money. This is what you pay for a decent cutting sword in modern steel now, and this price was for very much that sort of blade. Remember also that this was the fixed and authorised price, if you wanted to pay more for better then you were able to do so. I think that if you want to dispute Mr Komina's research then you will have to do some of your own, searching through Japanese documents in what is now an archaic script. Good luck!

A couple of points. The first is that Nick Komiya is a native Japanese speaker! The second point is that the Chinese swords are done for a price, and with a lot of shortcuts. Having done a couple of Tsuka the proper way with Hishi-gami under every turn, I can tell you that it takes about 6 hours to do a proper job. The style used on Rinji (type 3) does not use Hishi-gami for most or even all of the Tsuka and so takes a lot less time.

You also see two mekugi ana on the "Type 3" Rinji pattern Gunto.... Possibly for the same reason as you see them on the Chinese made blades, issues with quality control!

I don't like this one. I am perhaps too cautious but the ito-maki is odd for a Shin-gunto. The saya cover not what I would expect. Plenty more fish in the sea.

Define high end? Good condition, or good detail?

Properly speaking, there is no such thing as a machine made blade, there are blades made with the aid of machines, but that is another matter. Have a look through the forum for the various discussions on this subject.

A not particularly good or clear picture of a cut to the mune of one of my mumei wakizashi, with other pics of the blade. It arrived as a bare blade, so no idea of when it was last carried.

I would suggest taking this to the Military Sword section, lower down the landing page...... Which I see has now been done.

Short Shin-Gunto usually have an old blade in them, a re-purposed Wakizashi for the most part. I will point out though that the 24 inch 61 centimetre rule for the Daito is a modern one. IJA regulations considered 21.5 inches to be the minimum regulation length for an officers Shin-Gunto. Japan is not Germany, they have a lot of old swords and while they "might" have a special regard for certain great names, a perusal on this site will reveal a lot of cut off old blades. As for Showa era manufacturing methods.........

Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it any and every unlicensed blade gets the cut. So it could simply be that the original owner in Japan failed to license the blade, either because he did not have the money, or did not want to go to the trouble.

I think the bulk of them are "dealers special bargains". As you say, post war put togethers. Which is a bit rich on my part as I am putting some together myself.

Nothing new or odd about a wakizashi blade in gunto mounts, nothing odd about good condition either. Not every officer went out of Japan, the Japanese habit is to store koshirae in a bag. I have one gunto where the only wear on it apart from where the saya was held in the hand, is from the bag!

Just today another of these turned up on https://www.facebook.com/groups/255263006217/?fref=nf again a Korean War aquisition, and this time with an Ishizuki used as a Kabuto-gane. Adds weight to the theory of them being post war.

Something frequently seen on dealers tables.

I have had useful results going via the Japanese text, and using a different translation programme to what he used.