PNSSHOGUN

Having a look on past sales is a good way to quickly accustom yourself with what real Shin Gunto look like: http://www.guntoartswords.com/sold.html

Poor fake. Spend some time doing research and you'll see these things coming from a mile away.

Sensational examples, thank you for sharing. Were the large pierced Tsuba unique to the Type 94?

Commissioning swords would be more popular among Japanese rather than Westerners as it is often custom to have a sword made for a lucky or auspicious occasion.

That's a nice package IMO, at 1800usd with papers you aren't doing too bad. I would suspect that it is a Shinto Kanetsune rather than a Koto smith.

Could we possibly see the mounts and Sugata of the sword? Very nice piece by the way, with excellent provenance.

Appears to have been in Tachi koshirae at some point, whether that was the very average late Edo/Meiji tourist grade or something better is a gamble.

The imprint of the face is very macabre.

Better off getting a separate Gunto Koshirae with Tsunagi & having a Shirasaya made for the sword itself. You will get the same effect with display without the real headache that is trying to get a random Gunto Koshirae to fit your blade.

Yes, Grant is right, Bugei sword. They were one of the better quality martial arts swords available for a long time. I hope you didn't pay too much, but regardless it is a fine sword for display or use.

To me it looks more like marks from someone sanding it down, hada is usually random and wavy as opposed to straight lines. Having a look at the the nakago you posted, it is very nicely cut with well engraved mei. I can't see any arsenal stamps either so there is a chance of it being traditionally made.

It's in Marks book.....somewhere. I tried to find it again but without an index as such it is very hard. It's worth another read anyway.

Give them a case of beer each and handshake

Not really, plenty of tutorials on youtube, and materials to make good cast are available online and not too expensive. For a few hundred dollars + freetime you could make a accurate mold and cast decent replicas of small objects.

Just leave it alone.

When these were going for a few hundred bucks they were interesting, now they are going for thousands it's just sad.

I wonder if the practice originated in Manchuria, where sword use was more prevalent, or started later?

Common for officers who graduated top of their classes to be awarded swords for their efforts. I suspect this may be something like that.

Naval pride related I would image.

Like any proper testing you need a large pool of results, I believe Wazamono ratings were roughly given based on a certain amount of blades tested by one smith, if a certain number performed well in the tests a corresponding Wazamono rating was given. I think there will always be much research and testing on a weapons ability to kill even if there are now wars or situations that it will be used. We still test and use swords today to see how well they will kill (to quote Doug Marceida) and it's the exact same for firearms or other weapons, you need to know how far you can push them and how they will perform at the critical moment, even if you will probably never be in that situation.

Doesn't look immediately alarming.

I believe it was Kotetsu worked worked closely with the testing families.

I have Kai Gunto with a Seki stamped Showato purchased from a fellow forum member. There are uncommon because Kai Gunto chiefly used swords utilizing stainless steel properties, thus you will find the majority are made by Naval arsenals. There was also a strange and fierce rivalry between the two forces, which no doubt contributed to the detriment of the war effort, and I suppose that might play a small part in the discrepancy in military arsenal blades. To answer your first question directly; yes, it is certainly possible, but uncommon. Put togethers are another story that require careful Kantei.

Get it, great package at that price.

Yep, Naval parade saber with standard machine made blade. It's in quite nice condition. Did it include the Saya?