robinalexander

"Cannot make out any hada due to someone using what I suspect as never-dull. " Hello Dan, I very much doubt that Nevr-Dul on its own would cause that. Rob

Very interesting theads thanks Thomas.

Hi Stegel, Glad to see your detailed post and valued opinion. Would have liked to respond earlier but in fact, I have been madly packing the car to head to Melbs at 0430 tmoz for a week. In regard to the above quote, I'm glad you did include the scabbard colours/varations...good post...its the only way we can learn So the common thread here is both sayas (of the same colour variation) came from Iijima. That is something to look out for in future. In regard to serial numbers identifying (saya) arsenals, could you direct me to a thread on that info? What a good resource! Well the blue 95 is a little 'special'...do you belive it is a period repaint? It looks to be, but I suppose a lot can happen in 80 years. So we can probably safely discount the the issueing of 95's to navy NCO's. That only leaves the mysterious grey and I will have a keener eye out now for saya colour variations particulary Iijima (numbers would be needed 😊). Rob

Good eyes John...of course there is no fuller either.

Chris the figure in the first picture is not real.....its the Samurai Monkey But seriously, it could be an officer in SNLF or IJN The second picture/figure has rank badge of either 2nd Lieutenant or Corporal (very similar in black and white picture). But if you take the sword & tassel into account, he would be a corporal in the IJA. Not IJN. I scoured the web for hours today looking for any signs of grey 95's and also any naval NCO's with swords.....no luck with either.

Wikipedia 'says' SNLF uniforms ended up being greenish for most of the war years but there seems to be a fair amount of info suggesting they were more grey in colour. At least some SNLF or associated units seemed to have grey uniforms, ships were grey, so I suppose it's not beyond the realms of possibility that some SNLF NCO sayas were period repainted grey to differentiate. Pure speculation.

Interesting thread. John I reckon that would close to the mark in that it was only Officers/cadets that carried swords in the IJN. That is based purely on the fact that there are thousands (many) IJA NCO's in the world today and an equal number of references pictures of the same. BUT what evidence is there of junior ranks swords in the IJN???????? none. No swords, no pictures and no written references. Therefore they probably didn't exist (until proven otherwise )

Steve, when you say you have a few swords with the undercoat, I suppose that means the two coppers as shown but do you have any 95's that are all grey (undercoat) ? Thanks Rob

Thanks Steve....seems a mystery still but as an aside, does anyone know if swords were issued/held hy IJN non-coms as was the case with the IJA? Hopefully Stegel will have some more info or thoughts on the grey 95 saya.

Thanks Thomas...pic of mismatched serial number 56750 (saya) attached. @Bruce Pennington The number font is ok but the varying size of individual numbers is a bit 'unusual'. The saya is genuine...from the pic you can see the remnants of one side if the saya insert still in the saya. (Looks like I'll have to revisit the 'carpentry shop' for one or two inserts 😕) Thanks for the link...I will get into that later today when more time. Trystan, I just dont know if there was a 'navy' version either....or whether at some time/place in the war, some ordered that certain Type 95's should be repainted this colour. As I said, in original post, the actual colour of mine is identical to the one in Stegel's picture (despite the difference in my pics).

Couple more pics. (Sorry about the toes )

I recently came across Stegel's @Stegel pictures of the colour variations on Type 95 sayas (see first picture). As I recall, the one on the extreme right, was believed to be a IJN 'repaint' or origjnal grey paint? I have a similar Type 95 that I thought had been given a 'bubba' job (that word still cracks me up Bruce 😊) but after seeing Stegel's great post & pics I am hoping mine is a 'naval respray'. You can still see some remnants of original olive drab. The colour of mine is exactly the same grey/with just smidgen of green, as that shown in Stegel's, picture. Unfortunately, my pictures may not reproduce it's actual colour. So my questions are, how common are these 'naval' Type 95 grey coloured sayas? I just havent seen any. Is there a back story on them and did every IJN rating have one? Thanks Rob

I have one (Showa-To) Jonathon and definitely no core.

The blade, saya and mounts look authentic to me as well but that NCO leather knot looks to be in VERY good condition if its original?