Bruce Pennington

Crimson Mist - https://www.cmmilitaryantiques.com/products.php?bec=83d3KypQVMurSrYuyEu3dfNycg1UCA5zdw9zDHEDC6dl5INkAA&v=905c07b- usually has a variety.

How do you get 1945 from this:

The peg should be within the first 2 or 3 diamonds up from the handguard. Sometimes you have to slightly move the cloth at the folded point, up or down to see it. SOMETIMES, the maker put the same' (in this case canvas, under the wrap) right over the peg, which would mean poking a hole in the canvas to expose it. See if you can move the wrap up or down a bit to uncover it. Otherwise, you might not be able to get to it.

Thanks Hamish! It's an interesting piece, Karen, so value is in the eye-of-the-beholder, as they say. An average Kyu-gunto with a fighting blade sells around $1,200. This one with the characteristics described above, like Dave said, would likely sell for less than that, but would just depend on where you sell it, whom is interested, etc. I personally like the uniqueness of the ground blossoms, and the shorter blade, so I'd start it at $1,000 and see if anyone bites, or sends offers. Thanks for sharing this gunto with us!

Thanks guys. Kiipu, over on Warrelics, postulated "Inaba": "The characters could be 伊奈波 [inaba]? Below are some links that might assist in the kanji identification. Kai gunto katana sword for review http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_159156486668813&key=371030782602e51f9316b570f87aa6a3&libId=kb5kkemf010009p9000MAh83lmn2f&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fjapanese-militaria%2Fhelp-mei-toyokawa-sourvenir-nakago-please-767397%2F&v=1&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fjapanese-militaria%2F&opt=true&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.militaria.co.za%2Fnmb%2Ftopic%2F31436-kai-gunto-katana-sword-for-review%2F&title=Help%20with%20Mei%20on%20Toyokawa%20Sourvenir%20Nakago%2C%20Please%3F&txt=Kai%20gunto%20katana%20sword%20for%20review%20-%20Military%20Swords%20of%20Japan%20-%20Nihonto%20Message%20Board Arsenal Stamps. Arsenal Stamps. - Page 14 - Military Swords of Japan - Nihonto Message Board

Sorry Karen, I normally try to use layman's terms but sometimes I forget! With this kind, it's very easy to remove the handle as it's just the bamboo peg holding it on. Push that out one side, and the whole thing slides off. You won't harm it at all. The point of interest is the shape of the tang, and possibly the age. Old family blades have a different shape than the mass-produced blades, so that is worth knowing.

Let's see if this is better:

Hey guys, Would someone be so kind as to translate this mei for me? It's on one of those post-war Toyokawa/Tenshozan sourvenir blades. {dang! Brian can you delete that "y" on Toyokawa in the title?)

Well, the ground-down emblem is definitely a 10-blossom sakura, but the blade could have begun it's life as a police blade, and then repurposed/refitted with an army handle at some point. I'm afraid we might have lost Karen, though. A picture of the nakago sure would be helpful!

Got one to add from Karen's post, here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32301-please-help-identify-unmarked-short-sword/?p=333592 An 18" waki kyugunto! Sakura ground off, likely as part of a sale to a non-military person.

Those blossoms are actually called sakura, or cherry blossom in english. The "mum" is the chrysanthemum, and on swords, is only found on Imperial Household swords and those of officials assigned the work there. 18" !!! So you have a wakizashi kyugunto! Can't say I've ever seen one before! Hamish, Vajo - ever seen one? Also, Karen, if you don't mind, I'd like to add your pics to the "Short Gunto" thread.

{Duplicate post} Might as well use the space! I just saw your orignal post where you already told us the length, sorry! All the more reason to PLEASE show us the nakago, as this is a wakizashi in size.

This was discussed on another thread, and remains "unknown", but it just dawned on me that it might be a mon. Any help guys?

Ok, so the buyer could have been a Japanese citizen, just not in the military. Karen I just noticed how short this looks, can you tell us the cutting length? Looks like a wakizashi in length.

Yup, that's what happened to me. So Emirates and DHL, neither will ship swords.

Dave, That is interesting to hear, and was where my thoughts were headed. The grinding job is thorough and done so well it didn't damage the surrounding area. It has the feel of something sold to a non-Japanese buyer. By "out of service" do you mean it could have been a civilian, not military buyer? Quite interesting! Matt, That was my first thought, too. But from the ones I've seen, they are usually roughly scratched or filed. This one is too good for that, it seems.

An interesting dicussion over on Warrelics about a mei where the faker switched a couple of kanji on purpose, likely to avoid fraud charges: From Nick Komiya: "The Mei is a complete fabrication meant as a joke to anyone capable of understanding what it says. It uses characters commonly used in real Mei, but reverses people and place names to avoid fraud charges. It's like writing "George New York of Barnes" instead of what should have been "George Barnes of New York". Normally it should have been 肥前住人杉山清次 (Seiji Sugiyama, resident of Bizen Province), but word order was altered to say Seiji Bizen, resident of Sugiyama Province (there was no such Province)." It's in legit WWII Type 98 fittings, and I feel the blade is legit but was mumei originally, before the faker got ahold of it. Others say the blade is likely fake too. The mei has that thin, dremmel look, that right away yells "Fake!" Found here: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/ww2-katana-767122/

Thanks Klaus!

I have found that if you crop a picture, even a tiny bit, they post upright for some reason.

And a picture of the design on the back strap

I would really like to see a close-up of the blossom on side of the handle backstrap. It is either ground down or worn down.

Transfering from the Short Gunto thread: Matt just found a tanto in military fittings that has striking resemblance to these daggers. The tanto is clearly legit, and in comparison, shows how these are not, but I can't help but think that maybe this is what the craftman had in mind when making the daggers. (post #40, here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/32030-short-gunto/page-2) Note that the maker used a kabutogane for a sayajiri. So there is precedent for using the "wrong" parts on gunto that are legit, though these still go too far by mixing navy and army parts.

This one is quite interesting. Whoever made it used a kabutogane piece for a sayajiri. It makes me wonder if the souvenir daggers we have been discussing are attempting to copy something like this! comparison:

Good catch there, Neil! Looks like an army tsuba. I just realized that I have no idea if their pilots were army or navy, or did they have both like us?

Before COVID, these were selling around $2,400. They're running about $1,400 now.