robinalexander

This RS was purchased from a board member and had a red tassel. (Nobumitsu March 1945). It looks exactly like a chinese tassel that you could buy now on Ebay. Its not silk. Have tried to find out its origin but no response from original owner. It has been on there a while by the look of it but definately no way it is IJA. Belived to have come from Saipan area bought back by a Marine (hi Stephen). Good story anyway. At this point it will be left on the sword because thats the way it came.....any future owner can decide differently if they wish. Rob

Thanks Bruce just dont want to hijack your yelllow thread. The tassel you are remembering is an unkown orange/red made of silk, and what sets it apart from a sword bag tassel or a jitte tassel or even an IJA bugle tassel are the two slide knots which are clearly part of the oackage and well made. Also the evidence of previously being fixed to something like a sarute. Still a mystery I'm afraid I bought it as part if a job lot of various IJA rank tassels, IJN tassels and sword hangers...all from a bona-fide lifetime collector (now deceased- RIP). Now..... the red one I was referring to above, I will post separately below.

Alas, I only have a red one on a RS (Type 3)...I'll wait for a 'red' thread.

Not sure if its my eyes but the Mune looks flat (Hira mune)? If so, its another reason it is not genuine, should be pointed (Iori mune). In any case I wouldn't buy it.

Nice work Bob...that's a noticeable improvement that wont adversely effect the blade at all. I can certainly see the old cosmoline now! You may be able to squeeze a little more 'glow' out of it if you keep going but that's up to you. Rob

Ok Bob....but please dont try the 'oil and bronze brush' on the 98

However, I should add that from what I can see, it looks a little more like natural oxidization of the blade that has occured over the last 70 odd years rather than WW2 preservative/grease. If that is the case then nothing short of a professional polish will improve the blade and that is often 'cost prohibitive'. Rob

Bob, if its Cosmoline on the blade then a product called Nevr-Dull will remove it.... eventually. If its not Cosmoline, then N-D will not hurt it or detract from any hamon or hada that may be present/see-able (if thats a word). Rob

Doesn't look like it but close.

I also have no expertise in regard to your question. My opinion only, I would have though that the sunray pattern on kai seppa would have come about as a direct result of WW2 design and subsequent regulations. Assuming for a moment that is true, its feasible that the sunray pattern itself could have been based on some earlier historical design that happened to appeal to those deciding on the design for the complete IJN. Just thoughts. Rob

Vittorio, Good smith, Gendaito and overall, nice piece of militaria. You will enjoy it. Maybe not a bargain price, but it was quite reasonable and you will not loose money on it Rob

I tend to agree Bruce, only human that some will want something a little different and it might have been possible with the right superiors, in the right location and with the 'right' favour. The colour reminds of of the 'red' that is so prominent on uniforms of British/Australian staff officers. A clear colour differentiation from other military types. I have no problem considering the possibility that some 'staff' officers' may have had more of bent on impressing others than those actually in the field. Rob

Bring it on Tony.

Bruce, @Bruce Pennington maybe this is not the full answer to your question but by chance, the message below just popped up on another current thread. Different-species Gunto & Civilian army employee swords (ohmura-study.net) ----- Army civilian employee Gunto by Bruno

Barrett.....now I'm being serious....i have someone very close to me with Bi-Polar that I have been struggling to help for over a decade ...your messages remind me so much of his unmedicated hypomanic bouts....and NO I am not saying you have Bi-Polar or NO I am not saying you are hypomanic, but your messages remind me way too much of this type of behaviour. Very sadly. I have said this in the past and I can not speak in behalf of the NMB but it may be better if you locate a forum that is better suited to your interests. I wish you all the best Barrett. Rob

"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).