Bruce Pennington

Appreciate the book recommendation Peter! I'd say you underestimate the passion of blade collectors when it comes to history and WWII though. I hardly read anything about the European side of WWII because my time is taken with the endless supply of books and stories of the Pacific war. You just won't see a lot of that talk here, though, as these forums are topic specific, and this one is about military swords.

It's a biggun'! Maybe Neil, Dave, or one of the other guys more experienced in koshirae can enlighten us?! Were the officer sarrute plain copper?

Posting the pics so they won't dissappear later when the website page goes inactive.

Well, it is possible this cut was done right after the war, right. And someone has simply “spiffed it up” for sale?

Aye yai yai! Oy Vey! I don't know which is worse - seeing the cut blade or seeing the high-gloss re-paint of the koshirae! I couldn't find a price, did you see one?

Ditto! Nice way to support our fellow collectors, Logan.

Chuck, I agree with your feelings that Japanese craftsmen were prettey precise about things. While there were a bit of variation from shop to shop, some things were pretty standard on WWII gunto, and the stamen were one of them (as far as I know!) at 3 per petal. I've included a pic of a well-made one. I don't think any of the ones posted on this thread are of enough pixel definition to really see the count on them, though.

I don't sell much, but 1 I sold on ebay, and another on NMB's for sale forum.

Jeremy, Mark's offer is a good idea. I will say I've seen a Mantetsu blade with a nakago far more eaten away and misshapen than this, yet it was a legit Mantetsu. So your blade could be legit. If so, like others have pointed out, this could be a "put-together" or as a minimum, the tsuka (handle) was redone in recent times. I would lean to the latter option as all the metal fittings seem to be made by the same manufacturer and not thrown together from various parts. Steve, you're a good translator, what do you think of the mei? Does it appear original and legit Japanese? John, Your example looks legit and very good quality, even if both sets of koshirae were bittsers, the tsuba and seppa seem origninal. The implication is that there WERE gunto during the war using this. Original, pre-WWII samurai rigs didn't use retention clips or leather straps/snaps, they used friction from the habaki. So, it's possible some family blades were refitted for the war in this manner. Of course, another option is that these were made from the manufacturer without latch holes so that the fitters at arsenals could cut their own depending upon the needs of each rig. Unused, uncut tsubas might have been found in shops after the war and sold on the collector market, picked up by a bittser hobbyist and, viola!, we have mystery gunto. All in all, an unknown.

Jeremy, I'm with John on this. I hope you got it for a really cheap price, or if you paid market rates ($900-1,200), you can return it. It's a mess. The ito (cloth wrap) looks new and poorly wrapped; the same' (rayskin under wrap) is black, which is a navy color (army is white); all the metal parts look incredibly cheap, though certain details seem correct that fakers usually get wrong (hence John's thoughts on 'late war'); Type 98's have latches unless they are fitted with leather covered combat saya; and finally, though pictures can be decieving, the hamon (temper line) look acid etched. The nakago (tang) is really poor for a Japanese-made blade also. If you are keeping this, you can find batches of seppa for sale on fleaBay. I've bought a couple of groups myself, and fitted some to loose gunto of my own. I'm not trying to be rude or harsh, just letting you know what you've got there so you can decide what to do next.

Sorry, but I have to ammend this, and it's too late to just edit the post: Thanks to Guy over on Warrelics, the inspector stamp is simply a poorly struck "To", with the lower "legs" struck heavily, and the top half too lightly.

George, I've righted the picture to put it cutting-edge up, and in that position, you can see the stamp is the same as in my other 2 examples - mirror image of the "ue". I think the scratched kanji (oddly written with cutting-edge down) might be exactly what you are describing.

I agree with Chris & Ray, and would add that the answer to what to do with it depends upon what the owner plans to do with it. If he's planning to keep it FOREVER and never sell it, then do what he wants to it, but with sound advice. If he thinks he'll sell it, what you do to it can be quite different. "Polishing" a blade can really mess up the look if done wrong. An ametuer with a car buffer or belt buffer puts a glassy finish on the blade that ruins the look. A real polish costs from $700 to $2,400 USD, but is worth every penny if the blade has sentimental value (like mine). In this case, the polish is worth more than the blade, as standard WWII officer gunto, fully decked out, are selling around $1,000 USD. You can find handles (tsuka) and handguards (tsuba & seppa) for sale on the internet, via dealers and ebay for a couple hundred each. You didn't say if it came with a scabbard (saya). But choosing HOW to fit it out depends upon whether this blade was Army or Navy, and having the saya would tell you that. Home-made fittings will detract from the value if he plans to sell. Selling it as-is is better.

One of the best Gifu stamps I’ve seen!

This one is clearly a Showa stamp, placed sideways. Your original is something else, like discussed above. I've love to see it with those small rust pieces removed from the stamp. It looks more like a Gifu than chimata, but without removing the rust pieces it's hard to say.

Thought I'd correct our discussion on this one. While it seemed it might be a "saka" stamp, I'm pretty sure now that it's the "Se", second inspection mark of the Kokura Arsenal From Ohmura: 　 Second Factory 廠Inspection mark Army Arsenal Kokura Second Factory inspection mark: "Se".

George,That was the theory from my earlier inquiry on the same kanji, but they said it's a mirror image of the actual. I'm posting a picture of mine. And I just noticed they're both on navy fittings too.

Geoff, I can't help with the scratched kanji, hopefully someone will; but the stamped mark is a mystery. It's a mirror image of a kanji, but as it's marked, it has not known meaning. I have collected 2 other pictures of seppa and tsuba with it. I believe it's likely a korshirae manufacturer's company mark, or an inspector of one.

Thanks John!

Thanks John!

After re-reading Nick's post, #66 on this thread: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/short-development-history-type-95-gunto-676112-7/it sounds to me like this could have been carried by an NCO. The order allowing NCO's to carry family swords states the rig must "be suitably converted to resemble regulation specs." We have all seen numberous variations on the tsukas of converted blades, but having an aluminum handle doesn't appear to be one of them, so I assume conversion kits only used officer-stlyed tsuka. Of course many of them used the original tsuka and simply replaced things like menugi, tsuba, seppe, etc; but some of them have full IJA tsuka. I would say this one falls into the "it could be any option of many" on how the NCO tassel got there.

That is a really nice blade Brandon. The experts will have to complete the read on the nakago. I have seen a couple of blades who's inscriber had poor writing skills, and both turned out to be legit. I guess some smiths just missed the whole "caligraphy" practice part of their apprentice-ship. If you don't get more help here, there's a guy named "Guy" over on Wehrmacht-Awards that is great at translation: http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59

John, great one thanks! Unpolished '39 in combat saya - 780,000 yen ($7,500 USD)!!!!!!!! Pics added in case the link goes dead in the future.

Neil, I've never seen a saya marked this way, so nothing to reference an opinion about this on. Your guess that the name was the surrendering owner is as good as I could come up with. The katakana & number above it would have some sort of meaning that he would understand, but this baby is just too unique to pin down.

Neil, The "Ho" was used by Kokura Arsenal as a "first inspetion mark", but why this would be marked on the outside of a saya is a mystery. Does the "83" match numbers on the other fittings?