I love Japanese swords and I have tried to read up a lot on them. But I'm still a newb in some aspects as some of this is hard to understand.
I bought this sword at a show and would like to find out more about it. From what I can research on it, it is a WWII stainless steel machine made blade. It has the Toyokawa naval stamp on it. It also is in a Shirasaya which I believe is for a blade to be stored in. Not actually used. Even though I have to admit I think it looks really neat.
From what I read online I saw that most Toyokawa stamped blades aren't signed. This one is, and I tried to find a picture of a signature like this one and I could not. I was curious if someone could tell me what it means.
Also why would the sword be in a Shirasaya and not regular military mounts? The blade looks to have been never used so maybe it wasn't? I am curious everyone's thoughts.
Also the Shirasaya is coming apart on the scabbard. It's only held together with a piece of tape. Otherwise it will separate in two halves. Do I just use a little bit of wood glue and rubber clamps to glue it back together or is something more acceptable than this since it is a Japanese sword?
I think I am going to get a sword display stand and put this up on the mantle. I think it is very neat looking!
Steve Norton