SteveM

There are a lot of fake flags out there. The market is awash in fake swords and fake flags. What's worse, the copiers are getting better and better at making these things look authentic. Unrealistic war slogans, apparent unfamiliarity with Japanese names and Japanese kanji usage, poor balance, deliberately obscured kanji, all the signatures done by the same hand, etc... all of these things are dead giveaways for fake flags, but the copiers seem to be learning how to cover these tracks. In fact, I would not be surprised if some enterprising copiers lurk on these and other militaria sites to get intelligence on how to make the copies seem more authentic. So, that's the long way of saying I do not know if your flag is authentic or not. Yours doesn't strike me as an obvious fake. However, the "7th Meeting" at the side of the flag makes me think it is not a contemporary WW2 piece either (but, it wouldn't be too long after the war). It's a bit curious that I can't find any other reference to this mysterious Kaihō Kai. There are some other kanji under that bit - I think referring to a location (南浦?） maybe Morita-san can help out. My guess: some sort of post war veteran's relic. C. 1950's or possibly 60's.

I think its the exact same flag. It's got the same stain as yours in the white stripe at about the 11 o'clock position. The flag on the auction site is upside down, so that same stain is appearing on the auction flag at about the 5 o'clock position. (Well, that plus all the signatures are the same... )

The flag is says "7th Reunion of Kaihō Kai (海鵬会)" and then the rest are names. I have no idea what the Kaihō Kai is. When I put the kanji into a search engine, it spits out this same flag showing up on an auction site in Japan http://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/h186316657/ 第七回海鵬会総会 だいななかいかいほうかいそうかい Edit: I should add that the word "reunion" doesn't actually appear on the flag. However, since its the 7th (annual?) meeting of this group, I can only assume that it is some kind of veteran's reunion. Also, obviously one cannot discount completely the possibility that the flag is some kind of counterfeit.

Another thing that slightly inflates the price of this piece is its inclusion in the 日本刀大鑑　(Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords). Meaning it comes with a bit of a pedigree - its quality having been validated by the editors and publishers of the encyclopedia.

Hello Charlie, It will be tough, if not impossible, for any of us to tell you what the sword is worth. We'd need lots of high resolution pictures of the blade to see the quality of the work, check for flaws in the steel, check to see if the rust is repairable, etc... And we'd need to see if the name of the smith is inscribed on the handle, which will have an impact on what someone is willing to pay for the sword. To give you a rough idea, take a look at the site below which has a beautiful Kunishige sword (and beautiful photographs of the relevant bits) selling for JPY 1,150,000. http://katanakura.xb.shopserve.jp/SHOP/1403-K02.html That sword is in very nice condition, nice polish, full signature, and has authentication papers, all of which add to the price someone is willing to pay. Your sword could be worth as much, or more, if it is authentic, well-made, gets a proper polish, and probably a new wooden scabbard (and maybe tart it up with a new habaki). But all of that will take time and money, and you will need to get it authenticated before anyone will be willing to pay that sort of price. Also bear in mind that your sword would be worth considerably less (and maybe close to worthless) if it has any fatal flaws in the steel, if the rust is beyond redemption, if the sword isn't well-made, or is counterfeit. This is why its inevitable that you'll need to get the handle off. There are a fair few videos on YouTube that describe how to do it (search for a clever title like: removing a Japanese sword from its handle) Whatever you do, don't be tempted to remove rust by using anything abrasive or any funky chemicals. For a ton of other very useful information, search this site for keywords that might be relevant - removing rust, for starters. Edit: As Brian indicated above, normally the blade sits in the handle and is held in place by a removable peg. I've never seen one without a peg. Not a major worry, just an oddity.

Also, the Nakano School used the normal 中, 仲野 = The sword in this thread 中野 = The name of the imperial army school.

I'm afraid its just a jumble of kanji-like fragments, and perhaps some earnest attempts at copying real kanji. If I were being very generous I would say the kanji resemble something like the below, with the boxes representing illegible kanji. 正真囗囗肥囗 まさざね囗囗ひ囗 Masazane (something) (something) Hi (something) But in truth, the 正真 doesn't look anything like a sayagaki rendering of these kanji. As for the rest, 肥 is recognizable, but normally one would expect to see 後 after 肥, since 肥後 is a famous sword-making region and is quite common in signatures. In addition, the kanji 肥 itself is somewhat rare except for this one location name, and so the combination could hardly be anything but 肥後, 肥前, or perhaps 肥州, but as you can see from the sayagaki, the kanji after 肥 doesn't resemble any of these. I'm afraid it looks like somebody not familiar with kanji made an amateur attempt at fabricating a sayagaki.

Your reading is correct. It raises a question about the kantei-sho.

I would say the sayagaki is beyond crude and is into a completely different level of misery. The wakizashi is also a worry. I hate to be a buzzkill, so I will end on a good note by saying that I agree your scanner did a very impressive job!

Nobukuni (信国), more likely.

Nōshū-ju Kawasaki Nagamitsu Saku 濃州住川崎長光作 Kawasaki Nagamitsu is the name of the smith. Nōshū is the name of the area in which he worked.

I think 濃州(関住)人源天秀（謹作之）　 Nōshū (seki-jū) nin Minamoto Amahide (Kinsaku kore) The part in parenthesis is a guess. Compare to the one here http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/hanabishimn/GALLERY/show_image.html?id=3926720&no=1 I cannot read the mei on the cat. I suspect gimei.

Yes, its a stylized 美. Its not uncommon to find it written like this in signatures. 笹穂槍　銘　政常　美濃守藤原

I think 美濃守

Sorry Tobias... I tried, but its a bit too cryptic. Nice piece, though.

My kanji is wrong! 長村清宣 For the reading, I took it from here. http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2012/1210_1094syousai.htm Another one here... but I readily admit these auction sites are not authoritative. http://www.ribendao.com/en/gunto/122-%E9%95%BF%E6%9D%91%E6%B8%85%E5%AE%A3%E9%94%BB%E4%B9%8B.html For those who are curious, 宣 can be read as both nobu and nori (and a million other ways). He's a Showa smith, so you'd think there would be more information on him, particularly how to pronounce his name.

以安来鋼兼真謹作 Yasukihagane (wo) motte Kanezane Kinsaku The Yasu (安) has been completely obliterated, but this is the only possible kanji it could be.

Nagamura Kiyonori 長村清宜, I think.

Guido beat you to it, about three days ago. (咊 is a variant of 和)

The date on the sword is 2602 (二千六百二年). This is the year according to the Imperial calendar system, and corresponds to 1942. The imperial calendar system was a favorite of swordsmiths during the war years.

May also be interesting for those who have some familiarity with Japanese to use the site below. You can input any kanji and it will give you various tensho font styles for that kanji. (You can also change to koinsho, etc..) http://font.designers-garage.jp/ds/execute/FontSearch?searchType=1&saleType=0&category=09

No, this is a different Toshihide. There is a noted smith by this name (Asai Toshihide) but your sword seems to be made by a different Toshihide (sorry to be confusing, but many smiths used the same or similar names). I say it seems to be different, but his signature could have changed over time. In any event, it doesn't look like any of the Toshihide signatures I've seen on other swords by him. Mind you, I only know this smith from the 10 minutes research I've done today with the help of Google. Don't use sand paper on the blade. Don't worry about any rust on it just yet. Search on this site for tips on how to clean rust off. There is a very recent thread featuring a story similar to yours (rusty sword found in someone's attic). The short version is that if you use anything more abrasive than a towel or a wooden spoon, you will likely muck up your sword. One of the gendaito afficionados can explain better than I can, but your sword is probably one of three types: 1. traditionally forged sword 2. mass-produced sword 3. fake sword made in some random factory somewhere If its been in an attic since the war, then its a good bet its either 1 or 2 above (although fakes abound, from all eras). Since the smith took some time to add his name to it, and the date (1942) on the reverse, there is a good chance it is from the first group, and is a traditionally-made sword. In this case you should take good care of it, even if that means just keeping it lightly oiled so that it doesn't get any rustier. You can search on this site, etc.. for information on the process and expense of polishing Japanese swords. The short answer is: expensive - maybe £1000 for a ballpark figure. For WW2 swords its an expense that may be more than the sword is worth - a labor of love, if you will. For the other bits of the puzzle; manufacturing process, history, etc... you can search this site and the internet at large. There are lots of resources for learning about WW2 blades. The silk on the handle looks OK to me. Its definitely aged, and its hiding some rusting menuki, but the wrapping itself is OK. No need to rush into any restoration work yet, until you figure out what kind of blade you have. One of the gents here can provide the name of someone in the UK who knows a good blade when he sees one. Once you know if you have a great blade, or a very average one, you can figure out how much you want to spend restoring it. I urge you to fight the temptation to take the rust off using anything abrasive (sandpaper, commercially available polishing stones, etc...). The rust is fine for now.

I definitely defer to the gunto experts (which I certainly am not). My comment was more along the lines of "I didn't know such a thing existed". But for sure an interesting innovation. Must have had a problem with the sayas accumulating dirt and water during the war? Interesting piece.

You are right, Stephen. Toshihide (敏秀)

Hello Grev, If you look on the bottom of the page at the link below, you will find tensho renderings of kanji used in Japanese. It may be of some help/interest to you. The three remaining ones are a bit enigmatic. I'm wondering if they haven't lost some of the inlay bits that would make the kanji complete. For example, the kanji you've identified as being in the middle of the front of the tsuba looks like it might be missing the inlay from the top section. I've taken that photo and added a red line to show you what I mean. (It still doesn't help me identify what kanji it is, but maybe it will jog something loose somewhere). http://www.bellemore.co.jp/mean.html