Bruce Pennington

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.

I agree. He blocked me, I can't even buy a mekugi from him, because I pointed out the fakery of his stuff. And like Steve said - I wouldn't put good stuff willingly in his hands to be butchered with his bad horimono.

David, I have records of the Seki stamp from '41 - '45. Gifu just '44-'45. So they were used simultaneously. Don't know WHO was using one or the other, though.

Ah, the sword upright on the naugahyde seat!!! Definitely the Monkey. BACK AWAY FROM THE MONKEY PRODUCT....THE RUN! (not kidding.)

Neil (IJASWORDS), I believe, has a tsuka that appears original that has no mekugi ana. But I don't think it came on a blade.

Well now ....... after seeing the close-ups of the ito, it doesn't look like it was ever held/carried. I'm starting to think this tsuka was a Type 98, and someone has started to covert it to a Rinji tsuka, and they didn't finish the job. I'm thinking the wrap-job is just a Bubba-job.

The stamp if a “Gifu” inspection stamp, if that helps. Gifu was a specific area.

Just realized I had 2 examples of the early ito wrap. One a Gifu, as mentioned earlier, and the other a Tokyo. Pics posted for comparison.

Hi Jeff, You've got a Contingency Model of the officer Type 98 gunto. Often refered to by collectors as the Type 3. You will lately see more and more calling it the Rinji-seishiki model (which is simply the Japanese words for contengency, or temporary, model). Long intro, but this wasn't an "official" model or Type. It was designed to test simpler fittings that could withstand the rigors of combat a bit better than the standard Type 98 fittings. It was also intended to be cheaper. Officers had to buy their own swords. Like Chris said, the ito (wrap) has shifted and covered the holes. I've attached a photo of one of mine so you can see where to look. It won't hurt anything to lightly move the wrap up and down, here and there, till you find them. Most Rinji models used a metal screw in the hole nearest the tsuba and a mekugi in the upper hole. I'm sure I speak for everyone here - PLEASE give us some full pics of the nakago (both sides) and blade! We have addictions that need their fix and the forum has been a bit slow lately. I've been starting to get the shakes! {Note to Brian - this could move to the Military forum}

That's really cool Neil. So you weren't looking for Kanemichi, they just kept popping up as you found a gunto you liked? Also, with the 3 blades you show, to my untrained eye, they are all so different in style that it makes me wonder about shinsa teams trying to attribute a mumei blade to a particular smith.

Here's another Sadayoshi, found on a link by SteveM, at the Hattori Samurai Art Shop http://www.katana-hattori.com/katana/gassan.html

Pic added from Steve's link (in case the item isn't there in the future). Wow! I've never seen a mei with the sword shop's name!

Jeff, That's amazing! It looks new, like made yesterday! Hopefully the translation guys can help. I wonder about that star. Could it be a versioin of the Yamamoto Guntoya company: