paxton25

Oh OK so the original translation I was given was correct then? Thank you again!

Great! Thank you for the recommendation I will add that to my collection for sure! That's not a bad price either. Byron S

Thank you for reading. I am a new collector, I have a very nice late Shin Gunto and also a Wakizashi. I recently picked up these two parade swords, my only reference book right now is the Fuller/Gregory Military Swords of Japan and I am constantly going back to it and re reading as I absborb more. I believe I have the longer one identified as an army junior officer parade sword, ten petal blossom, also has an inscription that other members were kind enough to translate for me as an award for academic achievement. That one has a good blade and a rough scabbard, The other one has me more confused. It is nearly identicle to the army general officer's sword in plate 87 (ii) page 66 in my edition of the book. It has the spring retention and the Habaki but has what looks to me as a ray skin grip instead of horn and it appears to be a police version with the 5 petal blossom instead of 10 for army. I imagine there could have been a lot of options for customization in the police ranks than in the Army. I assume the hole in the pommel is where the police badge would have gone. So I am thinking this is a high ranking police officer's parade sword that was a copy of the Army general officer's parade sword? Unfortunately the blade is virtually trash on this one but has a nice scabbard. I realize these aren't extremely valuable or rare but I find them very interesting and I enjoy having them as much as my others. I am looking to expand my knowledge and learn more so I can appreciate what I have more, any observations on where I am right or wrong is welcome as well as any other observations. When I have more time I would be happy to post my other examples. Byron S

Ahh, thank you very much, similar to what I was told, an award but it was for academics. I appreciate the help. I will be posting my other one in the other forums. Thank you again. Byron S

thank you for reading, I am a new collector that started with a nice late Shin Gunto and a Wakizashi a friend sold me. I recently was offered a deal on a couple of parade swords which I will post in the other topics later as I have questions on those. I checked the links page as requested to learn certain Kanji but the only link I saw that had Kanji on it is a dead link. If I should check a link first I would be happy to, but I am not sure it would help with this one. The person I got it from said he was told the inscription was that it was awarded to someone as a marksmanship prize. I have a friend that is working in Japan and asked him to ask around for a translation but he and his friends are very young and they said they did not recognize many of the words. Any guidance would be helpful, I look forward to learning and hopefully educating myself enough to help others. I am including pictures for reference. Byron S