PNSSHOGUN

Florin, check the classifieds section here regularly, often there will be nihonto at very affordable prices perfect for entry level study and collection. Not too uncommon to find a wakizashi for well under $1000 USD.

I hope you didn't pay too much for it, hopefully it looks ok from a distance on a wall!

My only guess would be is that it's on consignment.

Very impressive.

Not uncommon to find unusual rust patterns on Gunto, they were military swords and subject to harsh environments and conditions.

A quick look at the examples of Fuyuhiro online it seems "hagashira shinogi ni kakaru" (thanks, Guido) or at least the hamon running very close to the shinogi, was a bit of a signature for one or more of the generations. https://www.aoijapan.net/katana-orikaeshi-fumeiorikaeshi-mei-unknown-mumei/ http://www.sanmei.com/contents/en-us/p1510.html http://new.uniquejapan.com/a-fuyuhiro-katana/

Not at all, my first thoughts were it was a Shinto blade so it was quite interesting to hear it was attributed Muromachi. Do we have any further information about the blade or generation of smith, Ben?

Thank you, they really can be nice decorative pieces. Do you have any examples of the nakagos used in flower arranging?

You may be the 0.0001% lucky guy who got something original from China!

Two reports of fraud, excuses, stories and excessive information..... Stay away.

As always fantastic information from Darcy both from a collectors and sellers point of view.

Japanese Antique Sharksin Last Samurai Samurai Sword Set Katana With Stand ;-)

They are nice little curios if you can get them cheap, especially to study blade construction, I picked up this one a few months ago and it has given me alot of pleasure looking at it closely through a magnifier now and again.

Interesting hamon indeed, was this a mid shinto era blade?

If anything this shows how stable exceptional blades have stayed in price over the years, and dare I say centuries.

In rough shape but seems OK from those pictures.

Signature does not look authentic to me.

I think this is a really good idea for the OP, the price also lets him easily buy a modern production sword as well.

The mei looks suspicious to me.

The Bugei Old Pine is a fine sword, especially the early models using the high alloy steel.

You can certainly find a decent condition shinto wakizashi for under $1000 USD. If you check the sales section you can get some remarkable deals from members. The recent surge of "cheaper" nihonto on ebay is not to be simply ignored, while many of these wakizashi coming out of Japan are neither particularly fine, papered or in excellent condition they are for the most part genuine swords. Most have gimei, flaws or are in poor condition and the prices reflect that. However my advice is to purchase through the reputable dealers, many of which post here, and come away without any doubts and a fine example of what you're looking for.

Keep it safe and oiled, proper WW2 artefacts like this are more important than the sword alone. Shame there was no story, I imagine the one behind it would've been remarkable.

Get a refund.

Many of us have either modern production or custom swords we use for iai, tameshigiri or reliving our favourite Zatoichi scenes. Use that to get it all out of your system before investing in fine Nihonto. It's a miracle alot of these swords have survived to this day, don't be the guy who enters his factory condition Boss 429 into a demolition derby.

I don't see any significant damage from a bullet strike, there is a large forge opening which can be common on older swords. If you can get some close up pictures of the damaged areas we can give you a better idea. My guess is late muromachi to mid shinto, which is very vague but without a signature and the condition of the blade it's difficult to really pin it down.