PNSSHOGUN

https://www.sho-shin.com/sag5.html Late Kamakura to Nanbokucho period.

Both are fine polishes, it's always difficult to say whether one is better than the other from photos. The second polish is perhaps better for a museum situation, whereas the original polish style can be enjoyed more in hand.

@Hoshi Yes the filter is great for options you want to see, being able to as easily exclude a dealer would be handy as well.

There were more than seven smiths, I suspect the seven usually cited in reference books are the smiths producing superior works and continuing forging traditions proper.

A small quality of life improvement for filters: currently all options need to ticked to then exclude any items/dealers you don't want to see. A simple show/don't show box would be welcome.

He can be contacted on Facebook.

The only vaguely standardised Kyu Gunto would be the arsenal blades, though even those had variations between makers and could be customised for length.

Really nice examples there, thank you for sharing.

The seller appears to have a vast amount of spare fittings and bare blades listed, wouldn't hold high hopes of anything being correct.

Are the mounts Navy, Army, or traditional?

Agree with Ian, this is clearly a WWII period made blade. The significant rust (likely from being submerged in water) gives a much older appearance.

Perhaps Owari Seki. Ideally photos of the full Sugata without Koshirae and clear shots of the Boshi on a neutral background would help.

That's a really great find and writeup, thank you for sharing. It isn't unknown for a general officer to still retain his field grade sword, Lt. Gen Baba's sword in the Australian War Memorial is a field grade cavalry Kyu Gunto with Shin Gunto general officers knot. From memory the black knot was authorised for use by all ranks in the field, the sword may have also been used by one of his sons? Did you have any details on how the sword came to the USA?

Dreadful fake:

Was this sword in military mountings? I understand quite a number of Japanese families emigrated to Brazil, it always amazes me where these swords show up.

Two examples in my collection. There may be a relationship between Gosan no Kiri and officers in the Imperial Guard divisions.

Nice collection, now the hard part is a general grade knot or tassel! You could use a generic black field knot too, there are plenty of photos showing General officers using those in the field.

The cross hatch filing pattern on the Nakago are textbook Mino Den.

Hi Thomas, glad you ended up with that sword. Could you please spare us some photos of the whole sword and mounts, this looks like a really good find.

A dreadful fake Yasutoku purporting to be made for Yamashita: https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1223043675

The other Seppa is stuck to the Fuchi, early swords sometimes only had two or four Seppa.

Another enjoyable article, do you know if any photos of the mounts are out there?

There are a number of photos of Meito on sho-shin.com that are noted as being gifted to Emperor Meiji, a few of those mentioned above show up if doing a site search. Chogi Haito Sword of Emperor Meiji Chogi Nagasa: 71cm Sori: 2.3cm Standing Itame Hada with JiNie, Chikei and standing Utsuri. Bo-Hi and Sobi run the length. Gunome-Midare ba moves inside a Notare line. There is Ashi and Yo and Kinsuji through the Mid. Yakiba widens in the Monouchi. Boshi is deeply set O-Gunome Midare mound turns to an abrupt Kaeri. Suriage Nakago has two Mekugi-ana and Bo-Hi resolves in Marudome. Signed in the Ji at the bottom: Bizen-no-Kuni Osafune Ju Nagayoshi (Chogi)

We would all love to see the entire Tsunagi and Koshirae someone thought worthy enough to make it for.

Looks like the style of Koshirae made by Wakase Fittings Company, may be something promising.