jeep44

I also have a Nagamitsu blade in RS mounts. It is in storage at the moment, but I do have a few photos of it:

here's the stamp on that stick:

I'll add one of mine to this topic. This saya came to me with a type 98 sword in it years ago. I happened to later buy a number of empty saya, and one with a very nice leather field cover happened to fit this sword perfectly, so that's where the sword is presently. The "swagger stick" next to it also has a small blue label on it, if that is of any interest.

I'm pretty sure it's some sort of paper, rather like sandpaper. You can see how it's torn around the mekugi hole. The bottom blade is a standard arsenal-made blade, while the top one has an old, hand-forged blade in it.

Here's my type 97 swords. the bottom sword obviously has a paper same-I don't know if that is what you are looking for, but here it is.

I've been a collectorall my life-stamps, coins, old motorcycles, militaria, Japanese swords, etc. One of my other interests is finding sets of photo slides taken in Asia during the 1940s-'70s. Usually taken by US Servicemen using the best film ever made, "red border" Kodachrome slide film. I scan them and put them in albums on my Flickr page. Color film from this period had to be sent back to Kodak for processing, so color images of places like Japan and Korea are rare-most people living there could not afford the film. Many of my albums have been featured in Asian TV programs, museum exhibitions, etc-many viewers have told me what an amazing thing it is to see their countries in full color-they had no idea such photos existed. Unfortunately, since I started doing this, others have gotten the same idea, and good photo sets on ebay have become shockingly expensive-as in thousands of dollars! (I suspect institutions are buying them). Anyway, here are my albums. click on each image to see the full set behind it.

https://www.flickr.c...58451159@N00/albums/

On 8/25/2023 at 12:25 PM, Kiipu said:

 

Douglas, I note that your sword has two subassembly numbers on it.  One on each side of the tang.  My question is which of the two numbers do the parts match to, 7 or 64?

It's put away right now-it might be a week or so before I access my swords again, but I'll check

Here's a 98 that I've had for many years, that came to me with this brown tassel on it. unusual that the actual "tassels" are missing-apparently cut off. The sword was stored poorly, and the blade is in poor condition-the name on the handle is barely visible through the heavy rust.

On 4/7/2023 at 2:50 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Yes, quite unusual!  Even the gunto above it has an unusual brown cord wrapped around the haikan (ashi) on both sides.

 

If you ever get time to pull that out, it would be interesting to see the rest of it.

That one is an unusual one-another I've had for quite a long time. The mounts are nicely done and of decent quality, but the blade is of poor quality-the nakago is rough and not well-shaped-very similar to another in one of the other threads here. I'll get it out one of these days.

Here's an oddball one I've had for many years. The seller claimed it was always like that (for whatever that's worth) The photo is rather poor-I haven't had it out of storage for years to take a better pic.  There are two tassels on the ends of the cord wrapped around the saya.

I just got the Plimpton book today. These souvenir swords are presented as "Navy/Army late war Officers Grade"

I just got an email stating that this book has arrived at the warehouse and will begin shipping soon.

last photo:

Here's  another photo of it:

I didn't realize you were keeping a register of these swords-here's mine:

Here's page 46:

Here's the Tokyo PX in 1954:

I just found that magazine, and photographed each page (6 pages) . The article claims no swords were made for almost 10 years after the war, but it also mentions that the shop had been open before that, and US Servicemen were bringing "souvenir" blades to the shop for repair. A member of the USMC Tokyo Honor Guard brought an NCO sword to the shop, and asked if they could make one like it. Apparently, the whole Honor Guard ended up with NCO swords made in the Japanese traditional manner, along with swagger sticks, which the shop also made for them. Finding one of these Japan Sword Company NCO swords now would be a very interesting find, I think.  I don't think I can post six pages in the photos here, so perhaps I should email the photos to you, Bruce?

I'll have to dig that magazine out again, but in the article, the sword shop was making a USMC NCO sword, with a traditionally-forged blade.

Mine also came with a mismatched saya, but it was the correct type for a copper handled NCO. I had all the other types of NCO swords, and I knew these early ones were quite rare, made in limited numbers, and had to survive the whole war. I jumped at the only one I'd ever seen for sale, and I'm glad I did. Maybe I paid too much at the time, but what are they selling for now?

Has anyone actually received their copy of this book yet? I ordered mine way back when I saw it mentioned on a YT video. it's getting close to March...

I always have a table at a local antique arms show. almost all the good deals and trades happen between the tableholders before the doors even open to the public ( or close to closing time when someone doesn't want to take some item home, and is willing to deal on the price). I've bought many swords before the doors opened in the morning.

Well, more than a few years ago. I actually only bought the NCO sword just to get the tassel -the only one I've ever seen "in the wild". It's in very fragile condition-if I tried to remove it from the sword, it would probably crack. 80 year old leather with tight bends is prone to cracking.

Wow! I bought one of these for $250, and it came with an NCO sword attached....

Here's an article from the August 1955 "Leatherneck" (magazine of the Marines). It tells of how Marines are getting NCO swords made at the Japan Sword Company, with lots of photos of the processes used in making them. The second photo is the Japan Sword Company shop of Mr Hakusui Inami, at the corner of 12th and B street in Tokyo. They were forging blades at this time.