Mister Gunto

Auction Houses gonna Auction. I've seen a few that do actually try to be very honest in their descriptions. Others just want to bang that gavel and cash in.

Definately looks to be an old O-suriage nihonto blade. Nice habaki as well. Must admit, that's a much better bone tsuka than I usually see.

Now that is a beautiful Type 3!

Another vote here for that brand of Camellia Oil. I use it on all my blades. Has worked very well.

Perhaps a Commerical Export blade made in Japan or China, and re-handled later by a local shop in the Philippines?

Considering the age, (going on 80 years now) and that it was carried by a Japanese Officer during the war, the koshirae looks very good! The darkened same isn't exactly rare, but still uncommon. I have no experience with Shinsa, so I'm not sure if this smith's name would be enough to get it papers, or if they would reject it due to the Showa stamp/ Non-Gendaito. Regardless, you have a very nice Wartime Type 98 sword! There are so many out there in far lesser condition.

Even if it this one doesn't meet the standards to be called a "Nihonto", it's still a beautiful and excellently made authentic Japanese sword, by a well-regarded smith no less. I think as time passes, the Japanese are starting to get past the old "Showato" label, and are becoming able to look at the wartime-period blades and realize that some of them are quite good. Also, any pics of the Type 98 koshirae?

One of those "Super Ninja" swords we're always hearing about...

Nice clean condition and legit WW2-era Showato blade, a bit longer than most of the era. Most are in the 24-26 inch range. Looks like a surrender label on the saya. Probably the officer's name and hometown post office address. He was hoping we'd mail his sword back to him. Obviously wasn't going to happen, but an indication that he was very proud of his sword.

Very cool and interesting! I especially like the NTHK scoring and the info about saiha blades.

From what can be seen, it doesn't look promising. Without seeing what's under the handle, I'd pass. If you're ok with lesser-condition blades in your collection, you can find genuine nihonto out there fairly easily.

To me, that wrap and samegawa looks like it's original. Probably a custom order by the officer. He wanted some bling to his blade!

Looks to be an nice older blade. That saya used to be fitted with a leather cover for WW2 use, which has been removed at some point. Looks like an older traditional-type saya that was pressed into wartime use. You can see the kurigata has been removed, and a brass ashi has been fitted for use with a military belt.

Can vouch too. An excellent seller!

That thick kissai (tip) is very common for the wartime Showa blades. Also I don't see much jigane activity in the steel. I have a couple Showato blades in Shin-Gunto mounts that look similar. Looks to be a nicely-made WW2-era arsenal blade using western-type steel. Legit hamon, probably water-tempered rather than oil-quenched. I haven't seen a IJN sword with the light tuski-wrap before. Nice!